GOALI: Adaptive Control of Inkjet Printing on 3D Curved Surfaces

University Of Texas At Dallas, Richardson TX

Investigators

Abstract

This Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) project will apply engineering techniques in adaptive control to greatly expand the surface geometries accessible to inkjet depositing. Inkjet depositing is a valuable technique, with potential applications that vary from wound treatment to advanced manufacturing. However, this potential is currently limited by the practical restriction of inkjet depositing to printing on flat surfaces. This research will enable new classes of technologies, products, and services. The work will be done through a university-industry partnership between researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas and experts at MicroFab Technologies, a Dallas-area organization. The team will focus on two real-world applications: 1) printing customized wound treatments directly onto wounds arising from cancer tissue removal or traumatic injury, and 2) printing labels onto manufactured parts to increase assembly efficiency. Research outcomes will be integrated into engineering education workshops at UT Dallas, as well as exhibits at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in downtown Dallas. There is a lack of specific knowledge of droplet motion on curved surfaces after deposition/impact, necessitating methods to detect and alter drop placement to regulate final fluid distribution. This is a complicated problem incorporating estimation of surface geometry, surface chemistry, materials science, and estimation and control theory to regulate correct drop placement with a moving print head. This project requires innovative sensing and control strategies incorporating feedforward, feedback and adaptive control to address uncertainty in the surface measurement and models of the interactions between liquid and surface. Specifically, tools of information theory, nonlinear estimation, optimization, Lyapunov-based stability theory and geometric control will be used to establish a formal approach to conduct such printing with robot manipulators, along with understanding of liquid properties and surface chemistry.