It was indeed a turning point when one of my Professors offered me to work as an undergraduate research assistant in her laboratories. I got the wonderful opportunity to work on different types of 3D Printers simultaneously.

At that time, groundwater contamination in the vicinity of my college was a fatal issue for the local community and was making a lot of news in those days. The laboratory offered to work on different types of 3D Printers. This combination was the motivation of the project that later on went on to become a new technology

Initial phases of my research work comprised visualization and crystallization of a concept of a design which could be used as a filtering mesh, followed by evincing the concept on CAD software. My experience with working on tools like SolidWorks and CATIA coupled with the abstract design formulation techniques assisted me with a clear plan of action. The research involved optimisation of the mesh pore size of geometrically stacked helix for filtration by varying the stacking angle and the minimum off-set distance of various components of each layer and then testing each design computationally using basic FEM techniques to check mesh strengths at varied loads.

Additive manufacturing techniques were then used to make the actual prototypes with the utilisation of various Stereolithography techniques on photo-sensitive polymer resins to get the best mechanical properties of the mesh by varying curing times and light exposure during printing. The final check was done when a pressure input mechanism (a device that we engineered at a local workshop) was used to dispatch block holes created by liquid polymer resins.

This onerous research work resulted in the formation of first ever 3-D Printed fluid filter, a technology patented by Indian standards