Additive Manufacturing for the Energy Industry

AM opens up huge opportunities by revolutionizing the manufacturing and repair of components

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Be it rapid prototyping or manufacturing parts for aero-derivative, gas and steam turbines or compressors, they can be designed faster, with increased flexibility, better materials, and optimized efficiency. This way, 3D printing enables cutting edge technologies with reduced time-to-market and quick upgrading of existing assets. Being both a pioneer and a leader in the industrialization of AM, Siemens Energy is in an excellent position to give its customers the products and tools they need for the next generation of power products.

What’s up in AM?

BMBF project "IDEA" - Two production lines with exemplary character for industrial 3D printing

In the BMBF joint project "IDEA", partners from industry and research developed and built two production lines for the automated, additive manufacturing of gas turbines and metal components. Siemens Energy and AT Toolcraft AG produced components using 3D-printing to demonste how not only large corporations, but also SMEs can economically utilize additive manufacturing for individualized components in medium batch sizes. Fraunhofer ILT's Laser Power Bed Fusion process and digital engineering along the entire product development chain play an important role in optimizing the components.

Read the press release

Siemens Energy and Zeiss invest in start-up MakerVerse

Investment in new digital platform for on-demand additive manufacturing services

Additive manufacturing (AM) has taken on a major role in the development and production of components and spare parts for Siemens Energy in recent years. In addition to setting up its own AM production lines and acquiring AM service provider Materials Solutions in 2016, the company is now expanding its commitment in this area with its investment in the start-up MakerVerse.

Read the press release

Our Portfolio

Rapid Prototyping

Parts can be rapidly printed and checked for certain properties before serial production beings, massively speeding up innovation cycles.

Rapid Repair

With AM, parts for industrial gas turbines and compressors can be repaired up to 60% faster and even upgraded to the latest part design.

Spare Parts on Demand

Traditional stockpiling of parts becomes a thing of the past. Since an AM-printer can precisely reproduce many parts from 3D-datasets, there is no need to have them physically on hand.

Rapid Manufacturing

AM enables the use of new materials and the creation of innovative parts with higher performance and new product features, while at the same reducing time lead times.

Gallery

Innovative technology for a proven gas turbine

HybridTech - new repair and upgrade technology

IDEA

Additive Manufacturing at Siemens Energy

3D-printed vanes have proved successful in the real world

HybridTech Repair

Additive Manufacturing paves the way for testing new energy sources (C) Göteborg Energi

Innovative technology for a proven gas turbine

HybridTech - new repair and upgrade technology

IDEA

Additive Manufacturing at Siemens Energy

3D-printed vanes have proved successful in the real world

HybridTech Repair

Additive Manufacturing paves the way for testing new energy sources (C) Göteborg Energi

Insights

Customer reference

Relying on each other: A successful cooperation between Siemens Energy and E.ON Energy Projects has made testing 3D-printed parts for gas turbines under real life conditions possible. They help to run turbines more efficiently, lower their emissions or, if so desired, extend their service life.

Press Feature

Additive Manufacturing and repair experts at Siemens Energy have developed a solution to upgrade turbine blades instead of just repairing them. Specifically, it is now possible to implement cooling structures in critical areas to prevent blade tip failure

SatellitePro ME Article

Ole Geisen, Head of Engineering Services AM for Siemens Energym ist sure that AM is not only a temporary trend.Read more in the current issue of Satellite Pro Middle East Magazine (Page 30 ff)

Press Release

Rich Voorberg, President of North America for Siemens Energy, joined President Biden and a group of U.S. manufacturers at the United Performance Materials facility in Hamilton, OH to launch AM Forward (Additive Manufacturing Forward). AM Forward is an initiative designed to upgrade the capacity of America’s small and medium-sized manufacturers using additive manufacturing or 3D printing.

AM projects at the Werner-von-Siemens Centre for Industry & Science

R&D

Two AM research projects, High Temperature Applications (HTA) 2.0 and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) 2.0, have been kicked-off in summer 2020 and, besides all odds of the pandemic crisis, are successfully reporting the first milestones already.

Youtube

Equinor used a drone tof fly a 3D-printed part for the lifeboat system from the Mongstad base to the Troll A platform in the North Sea.

E&P Plus Article

The Siemens Energy AM Monitor’s machine learning algorithms impartially evaluate the recoating during the printing of a 3D-printed component.

E.ON Reference

Additive manufacturing is revolutionizing the development and production of components in the energy sector. 3D-printing makes it possible to produce almost any structure. It accelerates rapid prototyping, which in turn shortens the design and market introduction of new components and devices.

How does additive manufacturing bring speed to decarb journey

Trade media

Our AM masterminds Markus Seibold and Vladimir Navrotsky joined forces and eplained the role of additive manufacturing for the decarbonization journae. Read the latest article at TURBOMACHINERY INTERNATIONAL online.

Youtube

Joel Telling - successful Youtuber and 3D Nerd - visited the Goerlitz AM workshop.Watch his latest video!

Industry survey and report

Together with IQPC we also conducted an exclusive survey and asked industry experts how they rate the status of AM in their business enviroments.

Story

Complex metal parts can now be 3D printed, offering unimagined design possibilities in a faster and more flexible manner than conventional manufacturing.

Turbomachinery Magazine

Siemens Energy recently began its Onsite Specialty Services that includes welding and coating technologies and CNC and robotic on-site machining. The company’s additive manufacturing capabilities comprise mechanized cladding, micro laser welding, cold spray silver coating and laser metal deposition.

IDEA – Additive Manufacturing for Series Production

Research & Development

The inauguration of the prototype of a serial production line at the gas turbine factory in Berlin marks an important milestone for the IDEA project. It is part of the initiative “Line integration of additive manufacturing processes”, funded by German Ministry of Education and Research.

World Pipelines Article

Radial impellers play an integral role in the performance and reliability of turbocompressors. AM can optimize the production of centrifugal compressors.

Case Studies Siemens Energy is driving the industrialization and commercialization of AM processes. Here are some examples of 3D printed parts working in the real world.

DREWAG

Dresden, Germany

3D-printed vanes proved successful

DREWAG AG operates a 25-year-old CCPP with three Siemens V64.3 gas turbines. As part of a lifetime extension and modernization upgrade, Siemens Energy replaced conventional turbine vanes with 3D-printed ones.
Phase 1 focused on the reproduction of the vanes, while in phase 2 improved, re-designed vanes will be installed. The initial phase already brought remarkable results: The vanes are characterized by high accuracy and show an excellent operational behavior after nearly 8,000 EOHs.
The new generation of vanes, that will be installed in June 2021, have an advanced air cooling design, that can contribute to increased efficiency and decreased emissions.

Additive Manufacturing - Gas Turbine Swirlers

Siemens Energy Customers

Globally

Industrialized swirler production

Production of more than 1,000 gas turbine swirlers per year with qualified industrial production process.
Lead time for critical component reduced by 20%, with reduced post-processing by 80%.
Optimized design for AM enables part consolidation from 10 pieces to one single piece.

E.ON

CCPP Philippsthal, Germany

Long-lasting success

3D-printed gas turbine burners have been “on duty” for more than 8,000 operating hours in E.ON’s plant, which provides electrical energy and steam for a potash mine.
The burners were manufactured in Finspång, Sweden. Each burner is manufactured in one piece, whereas they used to require 13 individual parts and 18 welds.
"As an energy service provider, precision and durability of our turbines are absolute necessities for us," says Niklas Lange, project manager at E.ON Energy Projects. "In our experience, additive manufacturing delivers this and even improves performance compared to older models.”

Nuclear Power Plant

Krško, Slovenia

Extending life after 35 years

Siemens achieved a breakthrough with the first successful commercial installation and continuing safe operation of a 3D-printed part in a nuclear power plant in Krško, Slovenia.
Produced in 1981, the replacement part is the impeller for a fire protection water pump that is in constant rotating operation. Its original manufacturer is no longer in business.
3D printing allows mature operating plants to continue operating and achieving or, as in the Krško case, even extending, their full life expectancy.

JSW Steel Ltd

Salem, India

Milestone for steam turbines

Siemens installed 3D-printed sealing rings on SST-300 steam turbines operating in India.
The 3D-printed parts are two oil sealing rings used in keeping oil separate from steam inside the steam turbine using pressurized air.
Siemens engineered, designed and developed the parts as part of a collaborative project between Siemens experts in Germany, India, and Sweden.

Power Plant

Brno, Czech Republic

First gas turbine with 3D printed parts

Materials Solutions in Worcester, UK, produced 3D-printed burner components for a Siemens heavy-duty SGT-1000F gas turbine in a power plant in Brno in the southeast of the Czech Republic. The plant supplies district heating as well as electricity.
The turbine’s operations are now supported by spare parts that no other large Siemens gas turbine before it has used in commercial operation.
It has operated since 2016 without causing any forced outages.

The Technologies

In use at Siemens Finspang and Materials Solutions in Worcester and Orlando

Selective laser melting (SLM), also known as direct metal laser melting (DMLM) or laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), is a rapid prototyping, 3D printing, or additive manufacturing (AM) technique designed to use a high power-density laser to melt and fuse metallic powders together. SLM is often considered a subcategory of selective laser sintering (SLS). The SLM process has the ability to fully melt the metal material into a solid three-dimensional part unlike SLS.

In use at Siemens Gas and Power in Nuremberg

Laser cladding is a form of surface coating that incorporates the use of lasers and a feeding mechanism to coat the substrate with a layer of desired metal or ceramic material. The laser melts the metal and coats the moving substrate with a fine layer. The feed metal is fully melted while the laser also transfers some of its energy to the substrate. This allows for the creation of a strong metallurgical bond between the substrate and the coating.