Design of Ammunition Feed Subsystem - Using 3D Printing in Product Development

Abstract

KPS is a supplier of 30 mm calibre turrets to the US Army. The turrets are currently equipped with a customised ammunition handling system. As the current supplier is the sole manufacturer of the system, KPS wants to investigate the opportunities for development of an alternative system. The specific problem to be solved is the linkless ammunition transport between the ammunition container inside the turret and the cannon itself. Due to increasing accessibility to prototyping technologies, the present thesis also aims to investigate how extensive use of prototyping can affect the product development process. Consequently, the thesis has two objectives. The industrial objective is to develop and verify a concept for the ammunition handling subsystem. The academic objective is to extract lessons learned and present key takeaways from the use of rapid prototyping in product development. By the use of state-of-the-art product development methodology, i.e. concept generation and selection, and extensive use of prototyping, a final concept was developed. Lessons learned from prototyping during the process were extracted, and presented in the form of industrial takeaways. In order to make the product ready for production, further detailed design is required.