Design and additive manufacturing prototyping of a multi-sensor helicopter platform = Design and additive manufacturing prototyping of a multi-sensor helicopter platform

The purpose of this dissertation is the design, prototyping and eventually the production of a multi-sensor helicopter platform. The whole development has been done in collaboration with HighTek S.r.l., a startup based in Castel San Giorgio (SA) Italy, which, in turn, is supported by the company AlfaBit Omega S.r.l.. The same company will produce and commercialize the final product, assembling the sensors and offering customers service and maintenance. Firstly, a brief description of the sensor and companies will be presented, to better contextualize the environment in which the product has been developed, and so the constraints and peculiarities linked to this; then a more technical part, containing the production methods and the whole design process, will be presented in detail. This last part will be divided between the sensor itself and the design of the auxiliary PSU, designed to always guarantee the necessary power supply of this device. The whole design of the products and prototyping have been assisted by additive manufacturing processes, which allowed both a cheap preparatory production using polymers, and then a more expensive but precise production, using metal materials. Some of the challenges as cooling, volumes optimization, impermeability or the care for a conceivable assembling procedure will also be discussed, as well as a hint of future developments.