IHI Aerospace
Assembly Line
Micro Dispensing: From Semiconductors To Sushi
The phrase “micro fluid dispensing” is generally associated with applications like medical device assembly or battery manufacturing. It certainly doesn’t conjure up visions of sushi – at least not yet. If engineers at IHI Aerospace and Yamagata University have their way, though, 3D printed sushi will be served to space tourists as they circle in low Earth orbit.
To make sushi practical in orbit, where every gram of mass comes at a steep price, IHI had to look beyond specialty chefs, sharp knives, and coolers of fish and seafood. The solution? Printing the sushi with a lightweight countertop micro dispensing system. By integrating a Nordson EFD PICO Pµlse piezo valve technology with a compact robot, the group created a precision micro fluid dispensing system capable of printing sushi that rivals products from the local sushi bar.