As oil and gas service companies continue to expand, refineries increase production and E&P companies extend their search for viable deposits of crude, more intricate designs and products will be required. Companies like General Electric, Halliburton and some of BIC Alliance’s marketing partners are already using 3-D printing technology to help them effectively replicate their designs and reduce production time significantly.
According to reports, the inception of 3-D printing can be traced back to 1976 when the inkjet printer was invented. 3-D printers work like inkjet printers but instead of ink, 3-D printers deposit the desired material in successive layers to create a physical object from a digital file. In 1984, adaptations and advances on the inkjet concept morphed the technology from printing with ink to printing with materials. In the decades since, a variety of applications of 3-D printing technology has been developed across several industries.
“Where I see the oil and gas industry currently using 3-D printing is primarily on parts,” said Bill Decker, director of the Association of 3-D Printing. “This industry has to move items to very remote areas and inventory a lot of parts. These parts could be something simple like an O-ring or it could be a part not necessarily industry-related such as for housing or a boat. Companies can print their own parts using a 3-D printer right then and there instead of waiting for the products to be shipped. Downtime is critical with this industry, and 3-D printing can help reduce downtime.”
According to Decker, in terms of 3-D, the industry could be using it more for scanning.
“Imagine having a 3-D scanner on your iPhone where you can scan a part, then a CAD image is created and relayed on, and that part is made on a 3-D printer,” Decker explained. “If you’re having trouble describing a part, a 3-D scanner will read all the dimensions for you so it can be recreated.”
Geologists are even using 3-D printing to study the pores within limestone reservoir rocks. A better understanding of the pore networks within the rocks could help industry get at the oil in the smallest pores.
“With better scans, data management and 3-D prints, we can make models of pore networks and see how fluids flow through them,” said Franek Hasiuk, an Iowa State University assistant professor of geological and atmospheric sciences, and an expert in 3-D scanning and printing. “Eventually, we’ll get to the point of making predictions and increasing the accuracy of predictions. What geology does for the economy is reduce uncertainty when you need to get something from underground — like oil and gas.”
Industrial-size printers are capable of building metal products with high accuracy that are of equal quality to factory-built parts. Some 3-D printed parts have shown to be stronger or more lightweight. Because of the affordability and versatility of these products, 3-D printing could flip the norms of manufacturing in every sector it’s implemented, including the oil and gas industry.
BIC Alliance members utilizing 3-D printing
Dixon Valve, headquartered in Chestertown, Maryland, strives daily to be the easiest company to do business with. The entire organization embraces this philosophy from product concept to model to delivery. Dixon recognized the importance of further developing new product synergies with customers and purchased a production quality printer in 2012.
This investment has enhanced Dixon’s product innovation by eliminating up to 16 weeks of lead-time in the overall process. The fast prototyping allows for “fit and design customer acceptance,” and utilizes the 3-D printer to create tooling patterns for both the sand cast and investment cast processes. Always looking to improve speed to market, Dixon is exploring the use of higher temperature printable plastics for use in injection mold and compression mold tooling, as well as 3-D printing in metal.
In the scaffolding world, steel is the most commonly used material. But when testing prototypes of complicated parts for fit and function — before testing strength and durability — steel isn’t always the best option from a cost perspective. With one of the largest in-house research, development and engineering departments in the access industry, Safway® Group has been utilizing 3-D printing for prototyping since 2003. 3-D printing has proven advantageous as it allows testing of prototypes at a third of the price of steel. Taking advantage of this cutting-edge technology also ensures a product will prove viable before expensive dyes are created. As 3-D printing improves, Safway looks forward to continuing to use it as a tool to test new and innovative prototypes.
Whatever can be visualized now can be produced with additive manufacturing (3-D) printing, and Western Technology has integrated that service into its product development and manufacturing. Western Technology’s reputation for construction of high-performance, portable explosion-proof lighting and accessories is based on continuous innovation. Equipping its engineers with 3-D printing encourages innovation while reducing time from concept to market by months.
Customers requiring specialized lighting or mounting solutions can provide their design input to Western Technology’s team, and working prototypes can then be produced and submitted for review and testing at a fraction of the time and cost previously required. Engineering a propriety line of lights to strict Explosion Proof Certification standards is demanding, and 3-D printing opens another level of product design and manufacturing allowing for complex geometries. Undercuts and curved surfaces, which are difficult to machine and often require specialized tools, are easily 3-D printed with almost zero waste. This allows Western Technology’s engineering to streamline design and eliminate unnecessary weight while maintaining its products’ reputation for unmatched performance and durability.
For more information about 3-D printing, visit www.associationof3dprinting.com or BICMagazine.com.
