Pelagus 3D/Kawasaki Heavy Industries
Kawasaki Heavy Industries 3D printed propeller blade
Kawasaki Heavy Industries has successfully installed a replacement propeller blade part made with 3D printing.
The part has been fitted on board the BW Epic Kosan vessel Epic Salina and was made using Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) technology in Nickel Aluminium Bronze. The part was delivered by Pelagus 3D, a joint venture between thyssenkrupp and Wilhelmsen, which aims to use additive manufacturing to ease supply chain challenges for the maritime industry.
According to a post on LinkedIn from Pelagus 3D, the new fully dense component is said to benefit from a 40% increase in strength, and was delivered via its on-demand manufacturing platform in just six weeks.
Per the post, Aroli Manoj, Head of Technical, BW Epic Kosan said, “We are excited to partner with Pelagus 3D on this project, the WAAM propeller blade and sleeve of the bow thruster were very similar to the original existing blades and no operational challenges were noted. We look forward to working with Pelagus 3D on other projects.”
Pelagus 3D aims to serve more than 4,000 vessels and oil and gas platforms via its spare parts on-demand digital manufacturing platform and global network of of suppliers. In a conversation with TCT Magazine earlier this year, Kenlip Ong, Chief Executive Officer at Pelagus 3D described the unique supply chain challenges faced by the maritime and energy sectors, and the opportunities for 3D printing.
Ong said, “The simple equation here is that if the spare part is not available it leads to downtime for the system and that means for either a maritime vessel or offshore platform, money is wasted.
“You are committing to upfront investment costs where you're taking money that you may not have and taking loans out as a business to put in the stocking of a warehouse. You might not even use it but you need it because you never know when your pump system for your offshore platform is going to go down. It's capital locked away, so this represents a very big opportunity for businesses to benefit from 3D printing.”
