Siemens’ Finspång-based (Sweden) gas turbine business, a pioneer in the development of additive manufacturing (AM), has entered a collaboration with the Swedish company Interspectral to develop a 3-D visualisation tool that will accelerate the industrialisation of metal AM — a process that is “revolutionising” the way Siemens prototypes, produces and repairs components for industrial turbines.
The company says metal AM will save both time and resources in production, and it will improve the performance of the final product, due to the implementation of new designs and materials.
However, Andreas Graichen — head of Siemens’ Additive Manufacturing Centre of Competence (
www.siemens.com) — says that metal AM is extremely complex and not yet a fully mature and robust process, so there are still many barriers to reach full industrialisation.
“To improve and ultimately industrialise the process, you need to capture, explore and understand large amounts of heterogenous data from the manufacturing process and increase domain knowledge.
There is a need for a tool that generates true insights and new know-ledge from the data” Interspectral co-founder Thomas Rydell said: “Based on our core visualisation technology, we are designing an intuitive tool that will support interactive exploration and collaboration.
By using AM Explorer, Siemens will learn more from the data that they collect, increase domain knowledge and minimise trial and error.
“CAD files, data from sensors and cameras, simulations and metrology systems — such as laser scanners and CT scanners — can be fused and visualised using the same tool.
"Engineers can filter, navigate, explore and analyse the data in an intuitive way, detecting anomalies and tracing why and where in the manufacturing process the anomaly appeared.
“The goal is for the AM Explorer to make it easier for engineers to gain insights into the additive-manufacturing process and communicate challenges and solutions with stakeholders, ultimately allowing for the technology to be industrialised faster.”