Fieldable platform for large-scale deposition of concrete structures

Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility is developing a novel, large-scale additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, system. The Sky Big Area Additive Manufacturing (SkyBAAM) system will ultimately be a fieldable concrete deposition machine with pick and place abilities that will allow for full-scale, automated construction of buildings. The system will be implemented with existing construction equipment meaning conventional cranes will be used to suspend the print head. SkyBAAM will be cable-driven by four base stations and suspended from a single crane. The elimination of a gantry system, found commonly in large-scale additive manufacturing systems, will enable SkyBAAM to be quickly set up with minimal site preparation. The medium-scale version of SkyBAAM is currently in development. The system design, cable stiffness analysis, and tactics for freezing rotational degrees-of-freedom (DOF), detailed in this paper, will provide a basis for the final, large-scale version of the SkyBAAM system.