Develop and Deploy Energy-Efficient Turbomachinery Components Faster and More Cost-Effectively
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Gas turbine firing animation with compressor and power turbine
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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.
Given 3D Systems' extensive experience in turbomachinery and turbine components development and manufacturing, helping customers meet these goals is one of our top priorities. Our team stands ready to guide OEMs and suppliers through design optimization and rapid manufacturing deployment and will see your company achieve lasting success in this high-tech, fast-paced industry.
Additive Manufacturing Applications for Turbomachinery
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Combustor Components
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.
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Stator Vanes
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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Impellers
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.
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Casings and Ducting
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.
NoSupports enables metal powder-bed printing without support structures.
Powered by 3DXpert software, NoSupports expands the design envelope, accelerates design cycles, and unlocks new applications.
Customer Stories
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Comparing Cost and Quality of a Complex Impeller Casting Made from 3D Printed SLA QuickCast Patterns
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Addressing Turbomachinery Challenges
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Application Development
The 3D Systems Application Innovation Group (AIG) leverages its decades of additive manufacturing expertise to help OEMs and suppliers develop optimized solutions for their applications. By utilizing a "design for additive manufacturing” (DFaM) approach, you can quickly develop and produce parts that consistently meet or exceed industry requirements.
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Large Metal Parts with Additive Manufacturing Solutions
Our hardware, software, and materials offer customers unprecedented design flexibility, economics, and product reliability that is unmatched by any subtractive manufacturing method. From the production of intricate direct metal printed parts to extra-large, lightweight, antimony-free patterns for precision investment casting, we can meet your turbomachinery needs.
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Production Capability
With our production facilities, we can be your agile manufacturing arm, helping you transition smoothly from prototype to production, while offering increased supply chain capacity and flexibility.
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Technology Transfer
From installation, hands-on training and consulting support, and 3D Systems’ ability to develop pre-qualified manufacturing processes for our customers’ critical parts, turbomachinery OEM manufacturers and turbine parts suppliers are quickly able to reach production volumes on their own to reduce costs and accelerate delivery times. Our dedicated team works with you across every step, from pre-production to full-scale volume production.
How 3D Systems Helps Manufacturers Gain a Competitive Advantage
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Scalability and Flexibility
Between our expert teams, manufacturing facilities, equipment, software, and materials, 3D Systems helps industrial gas turbine manufacturers and suppliers scale up to reduce costs, boost performance, and accelerate delivery through each stage of a product’s lifecycle.
Resources
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Additive Manufacturing for Turbomachinery
Improve performance, uptime, and efficiency by designing components for metal 3D printing and investment casting to optimize turbine performance and service life.
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Rethink Design and Manufacturing Processes
Download this eBook to learn how to reduce total part count, streamline production and elevate part performance with metal additive manufacturing.
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The Digital Foundry
Digital processes and new additive manufacturing technologies are poised to deliver massive time and cost savings: Production workflows that traditionally take weeks can now be done in hours.
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Optimizing Fluid Flows with Additive Manufacturing
Find out how additive manufacturing resolves issues of traditionally manufactured turbine components by removing assembly operations, taking out excess weight, and enabling the production of more organic shapes.
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Design for Performance
Design, test and produce metal parts with 3D printing that are simply not possible with standard manufacturing. Create lightweight, high-strength structures and deliver new capabilities. Read the Metal Printing Design Guide to gain invaluable insight.
Want to Learn the Latest About Turbomachinery Additive Manufacturing Applications?
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Application Innovation Group
Our team can help you solve your most difficult design and production challenges with additive manufacturing solutions. Together we’ll identify your needs, working with you to optimize your designs, prototype, validate and define a manufacturing flow.