SBIR Phase I: A Flexible and Efficient Manufacturing System for Radio Antenna Reflectors

The broader impact of this (Small Business Innovation Research) SBIR Phase I project includes enabling widespread affordable satellite communication. Today there are approximately 2,000 satellites in orbit and there are not enough dishes on earth to communicate with all of them. The number of satellites is anticipated to grow to 16,000 in the next few years.

Current manufacturing processes are too slow and expensive to meet this rapid growth. Dishes for satellite communication are made of metal sheets that must be curved into a bowl shape. In the past, that shaping process has been done by flexing, stamping, or composite processes that are expensive.

Dish designers have been limited to the few curved shapes that are mass produced. This project will develop a commercial fabrication process to quickly shape customized curved panels for satellite communication antennas.This project will develop a fast, flexible process to customize new shapes enabling higher data rates to expand access.

This SBIR Phase I project will combine induction heating and adjustable mold technologies to shape flat metal sheets into precise compound curved panels. An induction coil uses high frequency and high power electric currents to create a strong magnetic field. This magnetic field induces eddy currents in the workpiece, heating it and enabling it to be pressed into an adaptable mold.

The reconfigurable mold can quickly change its shape to form different sections of a parabola or other freeform shape. Using an adjustable mold saves the cost of machining a high precision mold for each unique reflector segment. The adjustable mold also allows for easy correction of springback, mold wear, and other errors to achieve higher shape accuracy than other mass production processes.

The low tooling cost allows this technology to economically produce any batch size. The project will model and test induction heating and forming processes, ultimately designing a workstation to produce curved panels.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.