From old to not only new but even better ... thanks to #HybridTech and #AM

We’ve been very successful over the years in using additive manufacturing technologies in our gas turbine business by creating parts for applications around the world. Thanks to AM, we can dramatically reduce time-to-market, make impossible designs possible, and significantly improve the efficiency and environmental performance of products.

We’ve now achieved another breakthrough: the combination of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology with our repair business. The birth of HybridTech!

The highlight here? We’re not only able to refurbish gas turbine blades using AM but can even improve their performance.

High temperatures coupled with high gas velocities causes burn-off at gas turbine blade tips during operation. Ultimately, this process forms gaps which lead to a measurable drop in a turbine’s performance. Our solution was to use metal printing technology to produce 3D structures with high-resolution inner channels on the existing blade. With this new design, highly stressed areas on the blade tip can be effectively cooled, preventing or at least minimizing material loss.

Faster and more cost-effective

The advantages are obvious: the process is faster and more cost-effective than conventional repairs. At the same time, design improvements can be realized that wouldn’t be possible with conventional methods. In the case of our gas turbines, a comparatively low effort significantly increases the efficiency of the entire machine.

Our experts in Berlin already successfully repaired the first blade sets and are currently converting our refurbishment process. We’ll be using the technology for other turbine components in the future and even be able to develop completely new component designs.

With HybridTech another AM application has made the leap from the R&D world into serial production respective repair at Siemens Energy. Upgrading existing parts with AM opens up completely new possibilities, not only for gas turbines but also for other sectors such as the aerospace and automotive industries. Which use cases do you see?