Resumen de Low-cost additive manufacturing: A new approach to microwave waveguide engineering education through 3d printing
Irene O. Saracho- Pantoja, José Ramón Montejo Garai, Jesús María Rebollar Machain, Jorge Alfonso Ruiz Cruz
This paper explains the applications of additive manufacturing to microwave waveguide engineering education, inparticular the advantages of the low-cost technique called Fused Filament Fabrication. The promptness to print models,the variety of feasible geometries previously unachievable by subtractive methods and specially the reduced price, makemanufacturing designs available to students and small labs without great resources. In addition, it gives students theopportunity to be involved in a full design process, including the manufacturing and measurement of their own devices,with the invaluable experience which it entails. In order to illustrate the process, several well-known passive waveguidedevices working in Ku band have been printed, metallized and measured: a band-pass filter, a diplexer, a branch-linecoupler and a horn antenna. Finally, the analysis of results proves the potential of 3D printing, although the mainlimitations are also highlighted to give a deep insight of this new technology.
