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Title: A Comparative Study of Direct and Indirect Additive Manufacturing Approaches for the Production of a Wind Energy Component

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) was developed in the 1980s to create three-dimensional prototypes through layer-wise approaches to fabrication. Since then, these approaches have seen improvements in both materials and processing technologies. To date, there are now 7 types of additive manufacturing processes and hundreds of materials, which can be directly printed – going directly from digital design to fabricated components. In this project, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Vestas Wind Systems, and The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) collaborated to evaluate the effectiveness of state-of-the-art large-scale AM processes in the production of a structural component for use in a wind turbine nacelle, through both direct and indirect manufacturing approaches. Here, experienced AM design engineers detail techniques for AM design, including topology optimization (TO), support minimization, reverse engineering, and techniques for mitigating poor interlaminar performance. Fabrication of the components is presented, including printing parameters and postprocessing, and followed with full-scale component testing by a 3rd party testing laboratory. To evaluate the potential of the developed approaches, a complete techno-economic analysis is provided which evaluates the cost of these techniques given current and near to long-term projections of AM system capabilities.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Vestas Wind Energy Systems, Aarhus (Denmark)
  3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
OSTI Identifier:
1809969
Report Number(s):
ORNL/SPR-2021/1905
DOE Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
42 ENGINEERING; 17 WIND ENERGY

Citation Formats

Post, Brian, Atkins, Celeste, Jackson, Amiee, Chesser, Phillip, Roschli, Alex, Barnes, Abby, Nycz, Andrzej, Meyer, Luke, Jensen, Peter, Vcelka, Martin, and Carron, Scott. A Comparative Study of Direct and Indirect Additive Manufacturing Approaches for the Production of a Wind Energy Component. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.2172/1809969.
Post, Brian, Atkins, Celeste, Jackson, Amiee, Chesser, Phillip, Roschli, Alex, Barnes, Abby, Nycz, Andrzej, Meyer, Luke, Jensen, Peter, Vcelka, Martin, & Carron, Scott. A Comparative Study of Direct and Indirect Additive Manufacturing Approaches for the Production of a Wind Energy Component. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1809969
Post, Brian, Atkins, Celeste, Jackson, Amiee, Chesser, Phillip, Roschli, Alex, Barnes, Abby, Nycz, Andrzej, Meyer, Luke, Jensen, Peter, Vcelka, Martin, and Carron, Scott. 2021. "A Comparative Study of Direct and Indirect Additive Manufacturing Approaches for the Production of a Wind Energy Component". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1809969. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1809969.
@article{osti_1809969,
title = {A Comparative Study of Direct and Indirect Additive Manufacturing Approaches for the Production of a Wind Energy Component},
author = {Post, Brian and Atkins, Celeste and Jackson, Amiee and Chesser, Phillip and Roschli, Alex and Barnes, Abby and Nycz, Andrzej and Meyer, Luke and Jensen, Peter and Vcelka, Martin and Carron, Scott},
abstractNote = {Additive manufacturing (AM) was developed in the 1980s to create three-dimensional prototypes through layer-wise approaches to fabrication. Since then, these approaches have seen improvements in both materials and processing technologies. To date, there are now 7 types of additive manufacturing processes and hundreds of materials, which can be directly printed – going directly from digital design to fabricated components. In this project, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Vestas Wind Systems, and The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) collaborated to evaluate the effectiveness of state-of-the-art large-scale AM processes in the production of a structural component for use in a wind turbine nacelle, through both direct and indirect manufacturing approaches. Here, experienced AM design engineers detail techniques for AM design, including topology optimization (TO), support minimization, reverse engineering, and techniques for mitigating poor interlaminar performance. Fabrication of the components is presented, including printing parameters and postprocessing, and followed with full-scale component testing by a 3rd party testing laboratory. To evaluate the potential of the developed approaches, a complete techno-economic analysis is provided which evaluates the cost of these techniques given current and near to long-term projections of AM system capabilities.},
doi = {10.2172/1809969},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1809969}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}