The 3D Printing Industry interview series on3D printing and renewable energyturns to additive manufacturing within the wind energy sector.
一家公司开创了该领域内3D打印的公司GERenewable Energy。“Additive manufacturing has the potential to bring a step-change in cost and performance competitiveness in the wind industry,” says GE Renewable Advanced Manufacturing Technology Leader Matteo Bellucci.
Bellucci shares the latest updates from GE’s ongoing efforts to improve wind turbine efficiency and performance with 3D printing and discusses the benefits of the technology to the wind energy sector.
The US sawwind energy grow at a record pace in 2020, with onshore wind power installations outpacing those in solar power for the first time in several years. The country’soffshore wind pipeline grew 24 percent in 2020compared to the previous year. Another notable emerging trend involves an increased interest in using offshore wind to produce清洁氢。
为了使欧盟（EU）到2026年达到其40％的可再生能源目标，从那时起，每年需要安装32吉瓦的新风电场。在欧洲的风装置2021年仅17.4 GW由于全球供应链问题和瓶颈，是否有3D打印的黄金机会可以增加其在空间中的采用？
通过3D打印来提高风能的竞争力
在2021年2月，GE被授予了670万美元的项目美国能源部(DoE) to explore the design and manufacture of3D打印的风力涡轮刀片。与之一起工作橡树岭国家实验室（ORNL）和国家可再生能源实验室(NREL), GE seeks to increase the competitiveness of both onshore and offshore wind energy by leveraging 3D printing to reduce manufacturing costs and improve supply chain flexibility.
“已经对几种设计和过程概念以及新的热塑性材料进行了筛选，从而更好地清楚了我们将如何实现在刀片制造中使用3D打印的目标，以及其他高级流程，以及高度的自动化贝鲁奇说。
他解释说,涡轮叶片制造usi的建议ng 3D printing and thermoplastic composites will have several benefits, including being lighter than conventionally manufactured counterparts. Lightweighting allows larger rotors on turbines to generate more power while also easing the strain on the entire turbine, reducing wear and tear on its gearboxes, drivetrains, bearings, and foundation, and reducing lifecycle costs for turbine operators.
3D printed thermoplastic blade tips could also be melted down and recycled when they reach the end of life, an essential aspect of the project for GE Renewable Energy. The team is also exploring what other parts of the turbine blade could benefit from 3D printing technologies and thermoplastic materials to increase the component’s time-to-market, quality, and sustainability.
Bellucci says that not only will 3D printing bring cost and performance competitiveness benefits to the wind sector, but the technology will also “help GE Renewable support our customers in driving the energy transition farther and faster.”
在九月，Fraunhofer IGCV和binder jet system manufacturervoxeljetannounced they would be building the“world’s largest” wind turbine 3D printer迄今为止。该系统被称为“预先铸造单元”（ACC），专门为打印为GE海上铸造零件所需的模具Haliade-Xturbine, which can weigh as much as 60 tons each.
贝鲁奇说：“该计划仅在几个月前就开始了，我们仍处于其概念发展的早期阶段。”“当我们讨论该项目去年年底授予该项目时，该项目的目的是加速和优化GE Haliade-X Offshore涡轮机的关键铸造组件的生产。具体而言，3D打印提供了在离岸风项目附近生产大型涡轮组件的灵活性，从而降低了运输成本并带来了环境福利。”
贝鲁奇说，该项目团队目前正在编译打印机的规范详细信息，然后VoxelJet将开始项目的设计阶段，包括新打印机的机制。
AM对风能的好处
In line with ambitious削减温室排放的目标, wind energy has become the subject of increasing attention to combat the global climate crisis. To this end, a significant amount of research is being poured into making wind turbines themselves more eco-friendly.
例如，NREL开发了一种用3D打印制造风力涡轮刀片这提高了他们的性能和寿命终止可回收性，而缅因州大学正在生态友好涡轮刀片模具3D打印过程backed by $2.8 million in federal funding. Elsewhere, engineers fromMcGill University和瑞尔森大学正在努力将风力涡轮机叶片废物转换为novel 3D printable PLAmaterial for fiber-reinforced parts.
Regarding GE, “3D printing technology is already mature in helping us with tooling for small and large components, and rapid prototyping with direct and immediate impact on the efficiency of our factory operations,” Bellucci says. “To use 3D printing directly into our products, it will still require some time, but the potential is very disruptive, and we are actively exploring different use cases.”
Looking at the entire regenerative energy portfolio beyond just wind, Bellucci says GE sees all the traditional benefits of 3D printing depending on the use case as relevant. These benefits include time-to-market, 3D printing of molds for castings, more resilient, local, and agile supply chains, and increased quality consistency driven primarily by the technology’s automated and digitized nature.
“In addition, 3D printing opens the door for more efficient designs that can be customized to specific locations and applications,” he continues. “For example, whereas the standard design for a wind turbine at a given site might call for towers to be 90 meters tall, more detailed analyses on-site might show that in one specific section of the wind farm towers that are 120 meters tall make more sense.
“In that case, we can 3D print 30-meter tower components on-site to add to the existing, standard 90-meter base to get optimal performance.”
According to Bellucci, this approach is more sustainable than existing practices in two ways. Not only would it maximize the total amount of clean, renewable energy that can be generated, but it would also lower the project’s carbon footprint by reducing the number of parts needing to be manufactured and transported from long distances.
用3D打印协助可再生能源过渡
贝鲁奇（Bellucci）看到3D打印有助于GE可再生能源，并且更广泛的能源领域在许多方面加速了向清洁能源的过渡。
“It is generally a less energy-intensive manufacturing process and generates less waste,” he says. “For example, 3D printing will allow the exploration of new design practices, using tools like topology optimization, which is a design approach that enables our engineers to experiment with multiple designs to find the most efficient and cost-effective solution to a given challenge. As a result, our teams can use parts that take less energy to produce and create less waste.”
Bellucci also points out the technology’s potential to simplify manufacturing assembly processes and logistics, which helps reduce the company’s carbon footprint.
他解释说：“ 3D打印可以使我们能够通过将几个不同的组件合并为一个部分来探索改善给定组件的设计的方法。”“通常将许多零件制成的机械组件作为单独的组件制造，然后将其汇总在一起，可以作为单个单元加在一起制造，即使组合装置的几何形状非常复杂，也可以将碎片打印和组合。”
Additive Manufacturing allows GE to reduce the number of parts needing to be designed and manufactured, thereby simplifying the assembly process and improving the durability and reliability of its products. Consolidation contributes to a more efficient end-of-life disassembly process that enhances the firm’s material recoverability and circularity.
贝鲁奇补充说：“ 3D打印也将使在我们的设计中更容易地将回收材料和二级材料流纳入我们的设计。”“例如，我们正在探索使用将在3D打印塔的新涡轮机的3D打印塔时使用将在退回的刀片中生产的材料的方法，从而有效地交叉汇总了我们与Holcim建立的两个有前途的合作伙伴关系。
“Likewise, we’re exploring ways to use 3D printing in combination with thermoplastic materials for new advanced wind turbine blades, supported by the US DoD.”
结合使用，这些3D打印创新可以大大减少生产新风力涡轮机所需的材料量。根据贝鲁奇（Bellucci）的说法，最近的生命周期评估（LCA）分析表明，这种先进的制造工艺可能会在塔顶的大型铸件中制造高达15％的温室气体排放。LCA还表明，先进的制造技术可以将温室气体排放量减少多达10％，而在制造高涡轮机塔期间，高达10％。
“Going forward, we will continue to collaborate with customers and other industry partners in developing innovative technology that helps to accelerate the energy transition in a way that is consistent with our focus on using sustainable, circular design to maximize environmental benefits for all stakeholders,” Bellucci concluded.
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特色图片显示turbine blades heading for Block Island offshore wind farm. Photo via LM Wind Power.
