From the country that brought the world its first 3D printed office building, a million dollar 3D printed museum, and a crash course towards 75% self-sustainability through the sheer finesse and innovation of 3D printing tech, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is holding true to their overarching theme of 3D printing by setting out to 3D print the world’s very first Research and Development Laboratories.
Construction of the country’s attempt to tackle yet another industry first is designated to take place in the city of Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Solar Park, where Convrgnt Value Engineering, a UAE-based construction firm, will begin the process of 3D printing. The company, who has been in operation since 1974, won the bid for the prestige of 3D printing the world’s first R&D labs from the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA).
The city of Dubai has set an ambitious goal for itself, where it hopes to ideally 3D print a quarter of its infrastructure by 2030. While that leaves a little over ten years for the city to attain this goal, Dubai is taking itself very seriously and stepping up its game even from its last 3D printing endeavor.
The 3D printer used to construct the world’s first 3D printed office building was two stories tall, 40 feet wide, 120 feet long, and did all of the work off-site. This time around, Dubai will 3D print the work onsite; citing one major difference between the two projects. At an estimated $140,000 dollars and two weeks worth of construction time to complete, Dubai’s first attempt at 3D printing was impressive enough. Bringing the work onsite will be an even more ambitious attempt at cutting time and costs on the R&D project.
The prestige of not only 3D printing the world’s first R&D labs, but being the first city in Dubai to 3D print an entire structure onsite, is one that the UAE and Convrgnt’s Vibin Paul are greatly looking forward to, saying,
“We are extremely pleased with the award, and even more so since this will be the first 3D printed laboratory in the world and the first 3D building in the UAE that is fully-printed onsite. 3D printed building technology is not only new to the Gulf, but also the world, and we are fortunate to be at the forefront with this project.”
The UAE has proven to be firm believers in the ingenuity and resourcefulness of 3D printing technologies, which leaves little reason as to why they chose four main R&D laboratories to sustain their research. The four labs are categorized as the Electronics Lab, the Software Lab, the Mechanical Lab, and the Prototype Lab, all which include outdoor-testing facilities.
The purpose of the labs will be similar in vein but different in approach and execution. Each lab will conduct research on drones and 3D printing technology to support DEWA’s ongoing projects as per DEWA’s press release:
“The lab will conduct research on the use of drones to develop the performance of photovoltaic panels to increase their efficiency, credibility, and lower their cost, as well as study and test different photovoltaic technologies. DEWA has been using drones for the last three years to monitor its electricity and water production, transmission and distribution systems.”
Respectively, each of the four labs will concentrate on centralized research. The Electronics lab will conduct electrical design and repair services for drones that can be used by R&D staff and Dewa employees, where staff will be able to design and build customized circuits for different drone applications. The Software lab will develop and provide DEWA with innovative products, research, and educational solutions as well as run tests on avionic systems, flight controls, and electric power units.
The Mechanical Laboratory will conduct theoretical and experimental investigations into phenomena related to the behavior of certain materials and combustion. And finally the Prototype lab will allow engineers to further develop their ideas through an outdoor flight-testing facility equipped with a large landing area.
While no official date for the estimated completion of the laboratories has been released, Dubai’s ambition to fully convert to a 3D printed-only infrastructure system is as impressive as it is real, and we won’t be surprised to hear word on the project sooner rather than later.
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