Senior design team sees plan come to life

9/22/2016

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The MechSE senior design team that won a national competition for creating a 3-D printable excavator cab was in Tennessee last week as the cab prototype was actually printed. The cab will be exhibited at the International Fluid Power Exposition (IFPE) trade show in March 2017. 
 
The students--Naomi Audet, Jowon Kim, Luke Meyer, Andrew Peterman, and Sharon Tsubaki--teamed up for the Spring 2016 semester. Their Senior Design faculty advisor was Assistant Professor Sam Tawfick, who also traveled to Tennessee.
 
From IFPE: "Coming to IFPE will be the first fully-functional 3-D printed excavator and the first large-scale use of steel in 3-D printing, known as additive manufacturing. The technology will allow for innovative integration of fluid power. The printed boom will have the fluid flow passages embedded inside the superstructure. A printed cooling system will increase efficiency and reduce weight. The additive manufactured excavator will also include a futuristic cab and human machine interface designed by the student engineering team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign."

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This story was published September 22, 2016.