Accelerating Innovation with Additive

At GE’s recent ‘Industry in 3D’ event in New York we outlined our vision for additive manufacturing and demonstrated how it is adding value to businesses around the world. Additive is already disrupting industries and accelerating the way products are designed and manufactured, with a focus on reducing the cost of non-quality. Our renewable energy sector is no exception and our additive journey is well underway.  

Together with the GE Additive team we are working to understand the entitlement of 3D printing technology for our business. We already identified several use-cases where we believe there are opportunities to reduce product cost and ultimately reduce Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE). Additive technology can help simplify supply chain logistics with lighter, smaller, or even fewer individual parts, develop differentiated product offerings, consolidate multiple components, and reduce the cycle time of prototypes. Some of the projects we identified are long-term, game-changing technologies, while others are more shorter-term achievements.

The cost of additive technology, especially related to components made with polymers, has decreased significantly over the last few years, while the size of what can be printed has substantially increased. As this trend continues, even more additive applications will be possible for us.

Our teams are beginning to see some exciting results from the cross-functional collaboration with GE Additive and our manufacturing partners. Here are some examples:

Bigger, Faster, Better

• A few weeks ago, at a foundry in Spain, we successfully printed a 55% 3D-printed scale model prototype casting component for the Haliade-X offshore wind turbine. The scale model was created using a 3D-printed mold that continues to push the boundaries of size.
• Substantially reducing the time from conception to completion, the project demonstrates the ability to significantly reduce lead times compared to traditional methods while also reducing tooling costs and preserving the ability to remain open and flexible to design changes.
• Next steps involve a comprehensive analysis of the scale casting and exploring the potential to use the Additive casting approach to pour a full-scale version prototype of a machine head component.
• On the onshore side, last year the team delivered the largest ever 3D printed prototype GE has produced to date, a full-scale mockup of the 2.5 MW rear entry hub. The printed Mockup was delivered directly to our Pensacola factory and used to validate a number of critical design features to gain the necessary confidence to order production tooling sooner. 

3D printed prototype

• Even after ordering tooling, the Pensacola team continued to use the prototype in advance of receiving their first castings. Earlier assembly line setup and training, safety assessments, and exploring additional cost out opportunities were just a few of the additional benefits of having the full-scale mockup.
• Standing inside this 3D printed part is a big deal. The cost savings from allowing us to reduce the design to production time by about 5 months is even bigger.

Saving Costs and Time

In our Hydro business, another engineering and supplier quality team has also received the final acceptance of the first additively-manufactured prototype of ~1-meter diameter Francis runner, the rotating part of the turbine which transforms the kinetic energy of water into torque thanks to the shape of its blades. Additive technology means that the mold accuracy and the casted component accuracy were far better than traditional methods.

3D model of Francis runner

That means significant cost and time savings to achieve the hydraulic profile due to fewer and simpler manufacturing steps. Thanks to this additive technology, we have already demonstrated immediate, significant savings in the cycle time.

Other large prototypes are being performed using 3D-printed molds. GE is pushing the boundaries by creating some of the largest 3D-printed molds ever seen, and by taking just a few months from conception to completion of the casted proof of concepts. These projects show that we can significantly reduce lead times compared to traditional methods while also reducing tooling costs and preserving the ability to remain open and flexible to design changes.

Compared to the aerospace industry where Additive is already heavily ingrained in the manufacturing process, the renewable energy industry still has some way to go, but I anticipate it will have a positive and potentially disruptive impact, bringing down further the cost of renewable energy in an accelerated time frame. It is remarkable to see what our teams have already achieved in such a short space of time using Additive to drive impressive production cost, improved quality and time savings.