Siemens has begun producing 3D printed spare parts and components for the rail industry, ushering in a new era in flexibility and cost-effectiveness.
The rail components are being manufactured at the Siemens Competence Center for Additive Manufacturing in Erlangen, Germany.
3D printing is booming, and the U.S. market research institute IDC expects the sector’s global sales to increase by 30 percent annually between 2016 and 2019, to more than $26 billion. Innovations in 3D printing are also helping industries to develop a new level of flexibility, allowing, for example, design studies and prototypes to be created faster.
In the rail industry, for example, where vehicles are often used for more than 30 years, 3D printing can make it possible to quickly and economically produce plastic or metal spare parts that are seldom required. The resulting operating experience can also lead to technical improvements.
The municipal utility company in Ulm, a city in southern Germany, is one of the first to benefit from Siemens’ 3D project. After the company launched a small fleet of Siemens Combino streetcars in 2003, several streetcar drivers said they would like to have additional switches on the driver’s seat armrest for the turn signals and for setting switch rails. But because the number of units required was very small, conventional manufacturing methods would have been impractical.
However, thanks to a digital model of the armrest, it was possible to redesign it with cavities into which switches could be installed. The production process used laser sintering to build up each armrest layer by layer from a bed of plastic powder in a 3D printer.
For an additive manufacturing job, the Siemens Competence Center team first creates a CAD (computer-aided design) model. To create the model’s physical counterpart, the associated data is transmitted to one of the center’s three printers, which produce the parts from plastic, aluminum or stainless steel. This step is followed by tests for handling, stiffness, and, most importantly, fire protection.
Unlike the original part, the printed component is hollow inside and filled with powder. This results in a number of advantages, including the fact that it reduces vibrations and thus helps to prevent wear.
Printed spare parts also have other advantages. Because of their improved design, they usually require less material than original components and therefore weigh less. Moreover, they are generally more robust and have a longer service life. And in some cases, additional functions can be integrated as well.
Image and excerpts from Siemens
