Advanced Infrastructure Technologies Launches Third Division – AIT Manufacturing
Share Article BREWER, Maine (PRWEB) February 16, 2021
Advanced Infrastructure Technologies (AIT), a leading provider of innovative fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite solutions, today announced, the addition of a new operating division: AIT Manufacturing. This new division adds to AIT’s two existing divisions: AIT Bridges, a composite bridge supplier that utilizes technology developed at the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC), and AIT Buildings & Structures, a marketing division for all non-bridge related composite solutions. AIT Manufacturing specializes in the fabrication of FRP composite reinforcing solutions for the infrastructure industry.
AIT Manufacturing is located in North Randall, Ohio, and is overseen by Charles Robertson (US Army, Engineers, Retired). AIT Manufacturing current
February 5, 2021
As the market for wind energy continues to grow, it becomes more important to be able to design and manufacture wind blades quickly and at reasonable costs. The development of molds and tools for large blades can take more than a year and cost more than $10 million. The University of Maine (UMaine) Advanced Structures and Composites Center is looking to change that paradigm by developing a 3D printing solution for fabricating large, segmented wind blade molds.
While working on the 3D printing project funded by a $2.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the UMaine group will also work on a $4 million project with researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to apply robotic deposition of continuous reinforcing fibers in wind blades. ORNL has developed a new process that reduces the cost and the time required to fabricate the molds by incorporating 3D printed heating elements allowing robotic depos
Rendering of a 3D-printed wind blade mold segment that will be produced as part of the ASCC s research effort to accelerate wind blade development through additive manufacturing. Photo Credit: UMaine ASCC
On Jan. 28, the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center (UMaine ASCC, Orono, Maine, U.S.) was awarded $2.8 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to develop a rapid, low-cost additive manufacturing (AM) solution for fabricating large, segmented wind blade molds. Further, the UMaine Composites Center will be collaborating on a $4 million award to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.) to apply robotic deposition of continuous reinforcing fibers in wind blades.
In Maine, the US Department of Energy has awarded the University of Maine $2.8 million to develop an additive for 3D manufacturing of wind turbine blades. The grant will see large wind blade molds printed at UMaine’s Composite Center, home to the world’s largest polymer 3D printer, according to Habib Dagher, executive director of UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center. The turbines will ultimately be produced using biobased materials reinforced with wood.
“By combining cutting-edge 3D printing manufacturing with bio-based feedstocks, our team estimates that new blade development costs can be reduced by 25% to 50% and accelerated by at least 6 months,” Dagher says. “Molds produced using these materials can be ground up and reused in other molds, making them a more sustainable solution.”