Metal AM Drives Improvements to Wind-Turbine Performance
March 18, 2020 Stay informed with the 3D Metal Printing newsletter
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Metal AM Drives Improvements to Wind-Turbine Performance |
Renishaw
has collaborated with the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC), in
Canada, to produce two ocean turbine parts using metal additive
manufacturing (AM), for industrial design firm Biome Renewables,
specialists in designing wind turbines. Using metal AM to produce the
parts reduced costs by 80 percent, and enabled the turbine components to
be developed in two months.
Biome Renewables approached NSCC when it decided to expand into
tidal-wave energy, because of the college's expertise in ocean
technology and its engineering research facility, which builds
prototypes for several industries. The plastic solutions previously used
by NSCC had proved unusable for tidal environments, so the team decided
to use metal AM to make the parts stronger.
Renishaw assisted in designing two parts for Biome. The first is a
PowerCone, a retrofit part that sits on the hub of an existing turbine
and improves efficiency by 10 to 15 percent, by allowing the blades to
rotate at slower speeds. Renishaw also helped, thanks to metal AM,
produce propellers with a curved design to reduce drag when the blades
turn in the water. |
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Guidelines Developed for AM Parts for the Oil & Gas and Maritime Industries |
After
2 years of work and discussion, two seamlessly aligned joint innovation
projects (JIPs) recently were concluded in Norway by DNV GL (a
registrar and classification group) and the consulting services company
Berenschot. The goal of the two JIPs was to develop guidelines for the
qualification of parts produced by the laser powder-bed fusion and
wire-arc additive manufacturing processes, as well as develop an
accompanying economic model, to be used in the oil and gas and maritime
industries. Among the 20 companies working on the JIPs: Siemens,
Voestalpine, SLM Solutions, Additive Industries, Quintus Technologies
and Sandvik.
Read here of several case studies of parts developed under the programs,
including a crank disc printed from Inconel 718, using an EOS M290
printer, by fluid-power specialist Aidro. |
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The History of AM in the Aerospace Industry |
From Stratasys Direct manufacturing engineer Andrew Carter comes this review of the role metal AM has played among the private and public sectors of the aircraft and aerospace industries. From product development and concept visualization, to testing and final production, Carter has seen the use of AM “take off.” Read this article to see where he thinks it’s heading. |
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Coming in 3DMP's Spring 2020 Issue |
Metal Powders for Additive Manufacturing—What’s new, and how do these new powders impact the use of metal AM in applications throughout industry. |
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Technologies:
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