3D Printing of High Voltage Printed Wiring Boards

In the last decade, research has focused on 3D printing for not only creating conceptual models but functional end-use products as well. As patents for 3D printing expire, new low cost desktop systems are being adopted more widely. This trend is leading to products being fabricated locally and improving supply chain logistics. However, currently low cost 3D printing is limited in the number of materials used simultaneously in fabrication and consequently is confined to fabricating enclosures and conceptual models. For additively manufactured end-use products to be useful, supplementary features and functionalities will need to be incorporated in to the final structures in terms of electronic, electromechanical, electromagnetic, thermodynamic, and optical content. The University of Texas at El Paso has recently been reporting on embedding electronic components and electrical interconnect into 3D printed structures either by interrupting the process or by inserting the additional content after the structure has been built. However, only until recently and with an investment from the presidential initiative on Additive Manufacturing “America Makes” has there been a concentrated research focus on developing technology that produces multi-functionality. This presentation will describe a project in which copper wires were used to supply a short burst of energy at high voltages in order to activate electro-propulsion. Pulsed Plasma Thursters provided by Busek were demonstrated where one joule of energy was supplied at 2000 volts in order to ablate the thruster in a vacuum and provide precise micro-newton-levels of force - as required for attitude control in small and nano satellites.