Throughout numerous industries like aerospace, protection, vitality, and transport, additive manufacturing applied sciences are paving the way in which to larger effectivity and provide chain resilience, significantly the place spare elements are concerned. The expertise, utilized in mixture with reverse engineering instruments and digital twin fashions, can reproduce lacking or hard-to-source elements on demand, minimizing system downtimes and reliance on advanced provide chains. In a latest case research from EOS, this new, extra agile paradigm for spare elements enabled by 3D printing is illustrated within the context of oil and gasoline.
A worldwide supplier of valve companies teamed up with EOS’ Additive Minds consultancy to leverage polymer LPBF within the manufacturing of vital valve elements, all within the curiosity of constructing a extra resilient, versatile, and value environment friendly workflow, whereas nonetheless assembly the strict necessities of the trade. This partnership was targeted on test valves, a sort of element utilized in produced water pipelines. Produced water (wastewater generated as a byproduct of oil and gasoline extraction) can include extremely corrosive salts and chemical compounds and thus pipeline valves are usually produced from extremely corrosion-resistant supplies. Even when produced from costly metals like tremendous duplex metal, nonetheless, the elements must be changed each six months.
The frequency of valve adjustments was leading to upkeep challenges, together with the requirement to maintain a big stock inventory of spare elements, in addition to exceptionally lengthy lead occasions (52 weeks+) when spare elements weren’t instantly obtainable. As EOS acknowledged: “The mixture of excessive alternative frequency, huge stock necessities, and a precarious provide chain resulted in exorbitant prices.”
The valve companies firm due to this fact started to discover using AM for this utility. In first assessments, polymer 3D printed elements failed throughout high-pressure gasoline testing, reportedly exploding once they reached 325 psi. Working with EOS’ Additive Minds crew, nonetheless, AM’s potential was realized because of superior design and supplies.
Utilizing a simulation-driven design strategy, the companions got here up with a test valve design that might meet the demanding necessities of the produced water pipeline. This strategy, which mixed materials science, superior topology optimization, simulation, and testing, finally landed on an optimum answer: a 3D printed valve produced from EOS PA 2200—a Nylon 12 recognized for its energy, rigidity, and chemical resistance—that might cut back most stress from 58 MPa to lower than 27.5 MPa.
The half’s design was optimized for hundreds, constraints, and bounds utilizing topology optimization software program and was in the end printed on a high-productivity EOS P 396 machine. The printed elements had been then completed utilizing DyeMansion’s vaporfuse smoothing expertise, which gave the valves a water-tight and bubble-tight seal.
Ultimately, the redesigned 3D printed test valve met crucial requirements (API 598 and API 6D) and handed all assessments, together with hydrostatic shell and seat assessments as much as 450 psi and 325 psi, respectively. Bubble-tight properties had been additionally confirmed in extended-duration air and high-pressure nitrogen gasoline assessments. Lastly, after an hour-long prolonged period hydrostatic assessments at most load, the printed half confirmed no indicators of creep or plastic deformation. Different advantages in comparison with the unique element included a 15% discount partially weight and a complete value of possession discount of at the very least 30%.
From a workflow perspective, the swap to EOS 3D printing resulted in a significant lead time discount: from 52 weeks for the unique metallic element to only one week. The hope is that this course of, confirmed for the test valve half, will result in the streamlining of different spare elements and the institution of a complete digital spare half program for the oil and gasoline valve supplier, which can eradicate the necessity for huge inventories and the reliance on advanced provide chains.
