TY - GEN
T1 - 3D printing in turbomachinery
T2 - ASME Turbo Expo 2019: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition, GT 2019
AU - Novotny, Vaclav
AU - Spale, Jan
AU - Stunova, Barbora Bryksi
AU - Kolovratnik, Michal
AU - Vitvarova, Monika
AU - Zikmund, Petr
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TACR), project no. TJ01000090 Research of additive manufacturing (3D print) possibilities for manufacturing of expanders for low-temperature decentralized energy applications.
Funding Information:
This technology is widely investigated and experimentally tested for turbomachinery applications. ICTM Aachen – International Center for Turbomachinery Manufacturing as a joint initiative of Fraunhofer Institutes and RWTH Aachen University merged into a Europe’s largest turbomachinery manufacturing hub. The scope of this research centre is broad and covers not only AM but also conventional methods for turbomachinery production. Fraunhofer ILT in the 1990s developed and established LPBF as an AM method. It continues to develop it further. This research center launched a project funded by the European Commission with an ambitious task to reduce the repair costs by 40% and the same percentage of time during repairs of turbine blades using this technology. This research focuses on LPBF printing using Inconel 718 material for both whole parts and blade repair patches. Besides fundamental research on AM in turbomachinery, Fraunhofer institutes also aim at repairs and overhaul of turbine blades and blade clusters using AM. [25]–[27] Siemens uses AM for burner tip repairs of their gas turbine SGT-700/800. As a result, they reduced the amount of material that has to be removed from 120 mm to only 24 mm. [24] GE Aviation created a separate branch “GE Additive” with a goal to print turbomachinery for aircraft. Their laboratories are equipped with in-house developed LPBF printers able to print rotors up to 1 meter in diameter. The lasers of these printers are of a kilowatt power. [28] MAN Energy Solutions uses AM for manufacturing customized and turbine characteristic guide vanes in their gas turbines MGT 6100. [29] Turbomachinery manufacturer TURBOCAM offers LPBF printed rotor prototypes as a standard solution and talks about the revolution in this industrial area. [30] Another significant player in the turbomachinery LPBF manufacturing industry in Europe is directly AM machines manufacturer EOS GmbH. Their focus includes aerospace turbomachinery sintered from Inconel powder. The company holds many patents for these technologies and the trademark DMLS. [31] LPBF technology is frequently mentioned also in popular media, some trending examples can be 1,2.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2019 ASME.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Customization and providing tailored products, while keeping highly automated production with minimum manufacturing personnel, is a general trend, and one of the expectations of manufacturing companies from developed countries to stand in competition against cheap mass production. This trend, often also called “industry 4.0”, is taking advantage of many innovative and quickly developing technologies like AM or 3D printing. Applications of 3D printing are also getting into the field of turbomachinery. The first part of the paper provides a review of current 3D printing technologies with respect to applications in turbomachinery field. Several technologies, mostly for producing a metal or plastic product, exist and can be considered. Applications for the components range from single Watts to hundreds MW scale and similarly for various other operating conditions. The second part briefly describes possible practical applications concerning multiple situations as research and development, customization of end-product, operative field-testing, or temporary replacements.
AB - Customization and providing tailored products, while keeping highly automated production with minimum manufacturing personnel, is a general trend, and one of the expectations of manufacturing companies from developed countries to stand in competition against cheap mass production. This trend, often also called “industry 4.0”, is taking advantage of many innovative and quickly developing technologies like AM or 3D printing. Applications of 3D printing are also getting into the field of turbomachinery. The first part of the paper provides a review of current 3D printing technologies with respect to applications in turbomachinery field. Several technologies, mostly for producing a metal or plastic product, exist and can be considered. Applications for the components range from single Watts to hundreds MW scale and similarly for various other operating conditions. The second part briefly describes possible practical applications concerning multiple situations as research and development, customization of end-product, operative field-testing, or temporary replacements.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075517418&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1115/GT2019-91849
DO - 10.1115/GT2019-91849
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85075517418
T3 - Proceedings of the ASME Turbo Expo
BT - Ceramics; Controls, Diagnostics, and Instrumentation; Education; Manufacturing Materials and Metallurgy
PB - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Y2 - 17 June 2019 through 21 June 2019
ER -