TEI is one of the largest users of 3D sand printing in the US and runs a fully equipped aluminum foundry in Livonia, Michigan. The engineering expert decided to invest in the second VX4000 3D printer to further expand its already existing capacities for additive manufacturing and quickly and economically realize technically demanding projects for prototyping inquiries as well as production orders. The 3D printer will be installed at TEI’s Livonia facility in Livonia, Michigan.

“At our facility we cover the full workflow, from printing to casting to heat treatment and machining.” says Oliver Johnson, president of TEI. “With the second VX4000 in house, we are able to further capitalize on the advantages 3D sand printing has to offer to metal casting. By eliminating the need for tooling and thanks to the large build volume of the 3D printer we can reduce delivery times drastically, which in turn greatly benefits our customers, whether it’s the automotive or aerospace industry. In addition to that, we can produce parts that cannot be made conventionally, such as light-weight components and topology optimized parts.”

Michael Dougherty, Managing Director at voxeljet America Inc. adds: “When it comes to castings for industries with very high standards, such as the aerospace or automotive industry, the VX4000 is the perfect tool to meet the requirements for dimensional stability and accuracy and still be able to produce the parts needed as fast as possible. We are very proud to support TEI’s growth in additive manufacturing technologies and see the potential of this technology develop further.”

About TEI
TEI is a global leader in the design, engineering and manufacturing of prototype, pre-production and mass production equipment for the casting industry. TEI products are the highest quality and are backed by a reputation for innovation, design excellence, and precise first-run performance. TEI is a full service, vertically integrated supplier offering a complete range of services in Engineering, Tooling, Casting, Machining and Inspection complete on one site. This approach delivers TEI and its customers’ fundamental advantages in terms of timing, confidentiality, and quality.

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New Highlights

• Project to accelerate and optimize the production of a key casting components² of the GE Haliade-X Offshore Turbine
• 3D Printing provides flexibility to produce large turbine components near offshore wind projects, lowering transportation costs and bringing environmental benefits
• Trials of new technology expected to begin in Q1 2022

The project involves the development of a new, large format 3D printer capable of producing sand molds for casting the highly complex metal parts of different shapes and sizes that make up an offshore wind turbine nacelle.  The modular 3D printing process, which is based on voxeljet’s core Binder-Jetting technology, can be configured to print molds for castings up to 9.5 meters in diameter and 60-plus tons in weight, dimensions.

Juan Pablo Cilia, Senior Additive Design Engineer at GE Renewable Energy, said, “The 3D printed molds will bring many benefits including improved casting quality through improved surface finish, part accuracy and consistency. Furthermore, sand binder jet molds or additive molds provide cost savings by reducing machining time and other material costs due to optimized design. This unprecedented production technology will be a game changer for production efficiency allowing localized manufacturing in high cost countries, a key benefit for our customers looking to maximize the local economic development benefits of offshore wind.”

The Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV is responsible for casting and materials technology issues as well as digital process monitoring. “We are taking a close look at thermal management during casting, and we will evaluate the ideal proportions of the printing materials,” said Dr. Daniel Günther, Head of Department Molding Processes and Molding Materials at Fraunhofer IGCV. “Also, we will develop and test new approaches to process monitoring as part of the project.” Based on prior experience the team expects to significantly improve the environmental footprint of processes involved in producing the Haliade-X type wind turbines. This sustainability aspect is a firmly established guiding principle of research at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, according to the institute’s director, Prof. Dr. Wolfram Volk, who adds: “We aim to optimize the mold printing to avoid extremely costly misprints or even miscasts, to save on binder and activator, and to improve mechanical and thermal behavior during casting. By developing a process that conserves resources as much as possible, we want to help to improve the environmental and cost balance in the manufacture of wind turbines.”

Christian Traeger, Director of Marketing and Sales at voxeljet, said, “The test mold we printed for GE in 2019 consisted of dozens of individual parts. With the ACC, we aim to print a significantly reduced number of parts for the full set. Added to that, the mold can be optimized in terms of functionality and material consumption. This optimization makes completely new casting designs possible that can further enhance the efficiency of the turbines.”

“While offsite on-demand 3D printing provides many benefits for small quantities of cast parts, running a 3D printing system on-site leverages the technology to its fullest capacity. Given the demand for offshore wind turbines, that will help a lot to fulfill project schedules and high market demands,” adds Dr. Ingo Ederer, CEO at voxeljet. “With our productive “Binder-Jetting” technology in combination with our experience in large format industrial 3D printing, we are serving customers in the foundry industry for over 20 years. It is our mission to bring 3D printing into true industrial manufacturing and we are therefore very excited to be part of this groundbreaking project.”

The International Energy Agency³ has projected that global offshore wind capacity will increase 15-fold by 2040, becoming a 1 trillion dollar industry, thanks to falling costs, supportive government policies and technological progress like that behind the Haliade-X offshore turbine from GE Renewable Energy.  GE Renewable Energy has been selected to supply its Haliade-X turbine for 5.7 GWs worth of projects in Europe and the US.  The company is a member of the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) and as part of that supports various initiatives that aim at increasing the production of sustainable wind energy.

Notes

1. A nacelle is a housing unit on top of the tower of a wind generator that contains its mechanical components.
2. Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process.
3. Source:  https://www.iea.org/reports/offshore-wind-outlook-2019