Additive Manufacturing for Semiconductor Capital Equipment
Advance Power generation and Fuel Efficiency with Optimised, High Performance, Reliable Turbomachinery Components
Develop and Deploy Energy-Efficient Turbomachinery Components Faster and More Cost-Effectively
The turbomachinery industry is not only highly competitive but faces calls from the marketplace for increased fuel efficiency, lower maintenance costs, and reduced greenhouse gases. With that comes the need for shorter design cycles along with an unrelenting demand for high-quality, reliable, and high-performance components that meet or exceed design criteria.
Additive Manufacturing Applications for Turbomachinery
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Fuel injectors, mixers, and other combustor components have intricate geometries that are both difficult and costly to produce using conventional methods. Additive manufacturing changes this equation by enabling the realization of functionally optimized designs and reducing the need for multi-part assemblies. Designers can consolidate and produce high-end turbine parts, with advanced materials while increasing overall efficiency.
As with many of the components found inside turbomachinery, compressor and turbine stator vanes, and integrated stators endure intense thermal and structural loads. Consolidating multiple part assemblies into a single part increases manufacturing yield and component reliability, while the integration of highly efficient cooling channels improves thermal performance.
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Fuel efficiency and equipment life are top on the list of turbomachinery requirements. By using additive solutions for impeller manufacturing, new levels of machinery performance can be unlocked through improving design features and leveraging extreme temperature-resistant materials. All of this can be accomplished while reducing manufacturing costs and eliminating the need for expensive, long lead-time tooling and 5-axis machining.
Proper exhaust gas evacuation is just as important to gas turbine efficiency as a generous supply of intake air. Both are achieved through ducting that may be relatively unique across installations based on customer site requirements. Additionally, high-strength turbomachinery enclosures are a mix of very large part sizes, specialized materials, and functionally efficient complex features. Creating and maintaining physical tooling for these applications is costly and time-consuming, and a tool-less approach allows for customization per installation requirements. Here again, additive manufacturing simplifies prototyping and production with highly accurate casting patterns.
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How 3D Systems Helps Manufacturers Gain a Competitive Advantage
Design Flexibility
With complex, accurate, extra-large investment casting patterns and direct metal 3D printed components that were previously unthinkable to produce, features such as conformal cooling channels, novel gas and fluid flow, and consolidated part assemblies can be optimally designed for the highest efficiency and reliability.
Performance and Economics
Through component consolidation, greater thermal efficiency, and streamlined supply chain, additive manufacturing can help increase reliability and uptime, reduce maintenance costs, improve fuel efficiency, and lead to increased power generation.
Faster Time to Market
With Direct Metal Printing, tool-free investment casting patterns, and 3D Systems’ manufacturing capabilities, manufacturers can reduce the time between design iterations, enabling rapid time to market.. Post-installation, these capabilities can also be used to produce maintenance repair overhaul (MRO) parts to help reduce inventory and increase customer satisfaction.
Broad Expertise and Capability
With Direct Metal Printing technology and stereolithography for investment casting patterns, 3D Systems is your experienced consulting partner to establish advanced additive manufacturing capabilities with all the benefits of “designed for additive manufacturing” components.