The diploma thesis focuses on risk assessment in the area of occupational health and safety, specifically on the risks in the implementation of 3D printing into the production process. The introductory part of the work introduces theoretical background in the area of occupational health and safety, together with the knowledge of 3D printing and methods for identification and risk management. In the following part, the identification, analysis and assessment of risks is carried out on a concrete example. Appropriate measures for their minimization, including financial evaluation, are proposed for the assessed risks.

The asymmetrical arrangement of cellular structure allows for an accurate functional adaptation at all levels of hierarchy, which derives excellent features for the development of new materials. The main objective of introducing a hierarchy into cellular structures is to improve the mechanical behaviour of the material while maintaining its elastic properties. A part of this work is devoted to the literature review related to the lightened cellular polymeric materials with hierarchical cellular structure. The rest is focused on the preparation of PLA based polymer structures using 3D printing, followed by a saturation in CO2 and a foaming in a silicon oil at elevated temperature. Samples were prepared from natural and white PLA filaments. Based on a series of experiments, optimal conditions for the saturation and foaming process were identified. Through 3D printing and foaming, a one-, two- and three-level hierarchy was introduced into the beam-shaped samples and the effect of the internal cell arrangement on the strain response of the material was examined by the means of a mechanical three-point bending test. Increasing the level of the hierarchy led to an increase in material resistance, which resulted in high values of strength and strain energy (toughness) based on the samples density. The best results were achieved by samples with “sandwich” structure with three levels of hierarchy and 30% filling. Despite the shorter plateau, there was a significant increase in strength and strain energy compared to gradient structures. At the same time, the contribution of the polymer structures prepared in this field of research was demonstrated by comparison with the theoretical model.

The diploma thesis deals with the influence of colouring additives and setting of the process parameters of 3D printing on the mechanical and surface properties of samples made of PLA material. The work describes the process of filament production, as well as the printing of normalized samples on a 3D printer using the additive method Fused Deposition Modeling. The impact of 3 types of colouring additives is evaluated on the basis of tensile test, hardness test and surface analysis. The evaluated quantities are primarily tensile strength, hardness, surface texture, roughness and corrugation. The work also evaluates the influence of the percentage of sample filling, the direction of the fibres of the inner filling and the orientation of the samples in the printing chamber of the 3D printer on the mechanical properties. The results are evaluated on the basis of the tensile test and the evaluated quantities are mainly the tensile strength, the ultimate stress and the modulus of elasticity in traction. The work is completed by evaluating the results and overall recommendations for filament manufacturers and users.

The diploma thesis deals with the production process of optical part of headlamp module produced by additive technology. The thesis contains the characteristics of headlamp, current manufacturing technology and description of additive manufacturng methods. The practical part is focused on the production of a reflector using 3D printing. The conclusion of the thesis is dedicated to the measuring of light output and its evaluation.

The thesis deals with the possible use of additive technology in the production of strong thermally exposed components of turbine engines. The first part of the thesis is dedicated to the issue of processing heat-resistant materials by SLM method, introduction of conventional production of selected part and outline of currently used progressive methods in precision casting technology. These theoretical findings are further applied in the practical part of the thesis, which deals with the analysis of mechanical properties of cast and printed material IN 939. Experimental part also includes production of the blisk of the first stage turbine of the auxiliary power unit S5L by SLM additive technology. The thesis also includes analysis of fracture surfaces and metallographic analysis of samples using light and scanning electron microscopy. The thesis ends with the evaluation of the achieved results.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to design and create a prototype of automatic pipetting head that will be useful for pipetting in laboratories after attaching it to a robotic manipulator. In the beginning, a research about various types of automatic pipetting heads was made followed by a device design and component analysis. The prototype was made using 3D printing method and it utilises a peristaltic pump, Arduino microcontroller and Bluetooth interface. A measurement of repeatability and dispensing accuracy was made on the finished device. The results are evaluated in the conclusion.

The diploma thesis presents an overview of additive production technologies and a summary of technologies used for 3D metal printing using a robot. All of them are generally described and at the same time assigned to their specific commercial use, or the academic research that deals with them. The work examines the suitability of the material EN ISO 14341-A: G 3Si1 for 3D printing, for which a modification of the Col Metal Transfer technology, Cycle Step is used. The experimental printout of the sample is evaluated on the basis of surface and mechanical tests. Capillary test, examination of microstructure a macrostructure, tensile test and microhardness test. All of them were satisfactory and the suitability of the welding wire for 3D printing was confirmed by the given technology.

Efficient oil production and refining processes require the precise measurement of water content in oil (i.e., water-cut) which is extracted out of a production well as a byproduct. Traditional water-cut (WC) laboratory measurements are precise, but are incapable of providing real-time information, while recently reported in-line WC sensors (both in research and industry) are usually incapable of sensing the full WC range (0 – 100 %), are bulky, expensive and non-scalable for the variety of pipe sizes used in the oil industry. This work presents a novel implementation of a planar microwave T-resonator for fully non-intrusive in situ WC sensing over the full range of operation, i.e., 0 – 100 %. As opposed to non-planar resonators, the choice of a planar resonator has enabled its direct implementation on the pipe surface using low cost fabrication methods. WC sensors make use of series resonance introduced by a λ/4 open shunt stub placed in the middle of a microstrip line. The detection mechanism is based on the measurement of the T-resonator’s resonance frequency, which varies with the relative percentage of oil and water (due to the difference in their dielectric properties). In order to implement the planar T-resonator based sensor on the curved surface of the pipe, a novel approach of utilizing two ground planes is proposed in this work. The innovative use of dual ground planes makes this sensor scalable to a wide range of pipe sizes present in the oil industry. The design and optimization of this sensor was performed in an electromagnetic Finite Element Method (FEM) solver, i.e., High Frequency Structural Simulator (HFSS) and the dielectric properties of oil, water and their emulsions of different WCs used in the simulation model were measured using a SPEAG-dielectric assessment kit (DAK-12). The simulation results were validated through characterization of fabricated prototypes. Initial rapid prototyping was completed using copper tape, after which a novel reusable 3D-printed mask based fabrication was also successfully implemented, which would resemble screen printing if it were to be implemented in 3D. In order to verify the design’s applicability for the actual scenario of oil wells, where an oil/water mixture is flowing through the pipes, a basic flow loop was constructed in the IMPACT laboratory at KAUST. The dynamic measurements in the flow loop showed that the WC sensor design is also equally applicable for flowing mixtures. The proposed design is capable of sensing the WC with a fine resolution due to its wide sensing range, in the 80 – 190 MHz frequency band. The experimental results for these low cost and conformal WC sensors are promising, and further characterization and optimization of these sensors according to oil field conditions will enable their widespread use in the oil industry.

Increase in population and limited resources have created a growing demand for a futuristic living environment where technology enables the efficient utilization and management of resources in order to increase quality of life. One characteristic of such a society, which is often referred to as a ‘Smart City’, is that the people are well informed about their physiological being as well as the environment around them, which makes them better equipped to handle crisis situations. There is a need, therefore, to develop wireless sensors which can provide early warnings and feedback during calamities such as floods, fires, and industrial leaks, and provide remote health care facilities. For these situations, low-cost sensor nodes with small form factors are required. For this purpose, the use of a low-cost, mass manufacturing technique such as inkjet printing can be beneficial due to its digitally controlled additive nature of depositing material on a variety of substrates. Inkjet printing can permit economical use of material on cheap flexible substrates that allows for the development of miniaturized freeform electronics. This thesis describes how low-cost, inkjet-printed, wireless sensors have been developed for real-time monitoring applications. A 3D buoyant mobile wireless sensor node has been demonstrated that can provide early warnings as well as real-time data for flood monitoring. This disposable paper-based module can communicate while floating in water up to a distance of 50 m, regardless of its orientation in the water. Moreover, fully inkjet-printed sensors have been developed to monitor temperature, humidity and gas levels for wireless environmental monitoring. The sensors are integrated and packaged using 3D inkjet printing technology. Finally, in order to demonstrate the benefits of such wireless sensor systems for health care applications, a low-cost, wearable, wireless sensing system has been developed for chronic wound monitoring. The system called ‘Smart Bandage’ can provide early warnings and long term data for medical diagnoses. These demonstrations show that inkjet printing can enable the development of low-cost wireless sensors that can be dispersed in the environment or worn on the human body to enable an internet of things (IoT), which can facilitate better and safer living.

An experimental study has been conducted to develop a process allowing the creation of biologically accurate aerodynamic test models mimicking the slotted primary feather geometry of the Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis). Preserved examples of both a full Brown Pelican wing and a single primary feather were 3D scanned and digitally reconstructed using a combination of MATLAB and CAD software. The final model was then 3D printed as a collection of smaller components using a LulzBot TAZ 6 printer and Taulman3D T-Glase PET filament. After using various surface finishing techniques to improve the finish of all 3D printed parts, an assembly was designed to mount the model in the low speed wind tunnel at the California Polytechnic State University. Prior to aerodynamic testing, airfoil sections of the pelican wing were generated in CAD and several common airfoil measurements and characteristics were investigated. At a flow velocity of 5 m/s (Re ~1.21 x 105), wind tunnel smoke and laser visualization testing highlighted the vortex generation of multiple primary feathers, as well as large-scale flow deviations in the vicinity of the feathers. A total pressure rake and total pressure probe were used to create detailed plots of the ratio of the local velocity to free-stream velocity (Vx/Vx∞) at two planes downstream of the model, which revealed vortex positioning consistent with that predicted by smoke visualization testing and provided a metric by which to evaluate the relative strength of each vortex. The model creation process and wind tunnel testing results outlined here provide a strong foundation for future investigations into the potential aerodynamic benefits provided by the slotted primary feather geometry employed by the Brown Pelican and other large gliding avian species.