The major reason traditional energy equipment costs so much to maintain
Costs of getting spare parts and keeping them in stock
Energy equipment usually has a lot of unique specs and parts that are made only for it. Getting these parts often depends on certain vendors. It is hard to promise when suppliers will deliver because the production process is complicated and takes a long time. Companies need to keep a lot of spare parts on hand so they can quickly replace them if their equipment breaks down. This costs a lot of money and makes it more expensive to maintain inventory, such paying for storage and counting inventories. For instance, the turbine's main parts, like the impeller blades, are hard to make and take many months to make in big hydropower stations. Hydropower stations need to keep a lot of extra blades on hand to make sure the equipment works properly. This, of course, puts a lot of financial pressure on them.
Costs of personnel and technology for maintenance
To keep energy equipment in good shape, you need experienced specialists and complicated tools. Technicians need a lot of skill to do traditional maintenance tasks like welding and surfacing, and the process is complicated and takes a lot of time. At the same time, some complicated maintenance jobs may need professionals from different professions to work together, which will raise labor expenses even more. Also, buying and taking care of repair tools costs a lot of money. For instance, nuclear power facilities need to utilize very precise detection tools and special maintenance tools to keep their reactor pressure vessels in good shape. These tools are quite expensive to buy and keep up.
Losses from shutting down equipment
When energy equipment shuts down, it stops making energy, which will cost businesses a lot of money. Some big energy businesses could lose millions or even tens of millions of yuan if their equipment is down for a day. Also, shutting down equipment could make the energy supply less stable, which would hurt users downstream and hurt the company's reputation in the long run. For instance, when refining equipment shuts down in oil refining companies, it not only stops the processing of crude oil, but it also impacts the market supply of finished oil, which causes the company to lose a lot of money.
Specific ways to use metal to save the cost of maintaining energy equipment Printing in 3D
Making spare components with precision to lower inventory costs
Metal 3D printing uses additive manufacturing technology, which makes parts directly from digital models without the need for molds. This lets businesses make extra parts rapidly based on what they really need, so they don't have to keep a lot of them in stock. If the equipment breaks down, you can quickly make the spare parts you need by importing a 3D model of them into the 3D printing machine. This is called on-demand production. For instance, in wind farms, the gearbox sections of wind turbines are likely to break down, and traditional methods need a lot of spare gearbox parts on hand. However, with the use of metal 3D printing technology, only the parts of the gearbox that are needed need to be made fast when a failure happens. This cuts down on inventory expenses by a lot.
Make your maintenance plans as efficient as possible to save down on the expense of maintenance technology and manpower.
With reverse engineering, computer-aided design (CAD), and other technologies, metal 3D printing can be used to properly scan and model broken parts, figure out what caused the problems, and come up with the best way to fix them. For some parts that are only a little broken, 3D printing can be utilized to fix them instead of replacing the whole thing, which saves money on repairs. 3D printing can also make maintenance tools and fixtures that can be tailored to specific maintenance demands, which makes maintenance more efficient and lowers labor expenses. For instance, while maintaining gas turbines, 3D printing technology can quickly make replacement parts that fit broken sections. This cuts down on the complicated processing and assembly steps that are needed in traditional maintenance, which lowers the costs of maintenance technology and manpower.
Cut down on the time that equipment is out of service and the costs of lost time.
Metal 3D printing can swiftly make spare parts and offer personalized maintenance solutions. This has considerably cut down on the time it takes to maintain equipment, which has cut down on downtime. The equipment can start working again faster, which cuts down on the money lost due to downtime. For instance, the heating surface tube bundles in thermal power plants tend to wear out and leak, and it takes a long time to replace and repair them using typical maintenance procedures. However, metal 3D printing technology can swiftly make new tube bundles and replace the old ones, which lets the boiler start working again as soon as possible and cuts down on downtime losses.
Real-world examples of how metal 3D printing may be used to maintain energy equipment
The oil extraction business
Drill bits getting worn out is a regular problem on oil drilling platforms. It takes a long time to replace drill bits the old-fashioned way, and new drill bits are expensive to buy. One oil business uses 3D printing to scan and model damaged drill bits, and then it utilizes 3D printing to make new drill bits. This bespoke drill bit not only works like the original, but it also has a quick manufacture cycle, which means the drilling platform doesn't have to stop working as often and maintenance expenses are cheaper. Meanwhile, by making drill bits more efficient, drilling has become more efficient, which has led to even more economic gains.
Energy industry with nuclear power
Some minor joints and valve parts in nuclear power reactors are likely to rust and break. Replacing these parts the old-fashioned way takes a lot of time and effort because you have to take them apart and put them back together again. It also takes a long time to get spare parts. A nuclear power plant has started using metal 3D printing technology to quickly make new parts and replace them based on how big and how they are built. This quick-response maintenance strategy cuts down on the time nuclear power facilities are out of service and the money they lose while they are. Also, parts made by 3D printing can be improved and modified to meet the specific needs of nuclear power plants, which makes them more reliable and longer-lasting.
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