Siemens Energy puts test facility into operation for IDEA AM project
October 28, 2020
Siemens Energy reports that it has achieved a new milestone in its project management for Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) grant project Industrialization of Digital Engineering and Additive Manufacturing (IDEA), which the company took the lead on last year, and put its test facility for the AM series production pilot into operation.
The goal of the IDEA project is to make powder-based Additive Manufacturing suitable for serial production. It hopes to increase productivity in AM while simultaneously reducing development and throughput times by around 50%.
Siemens Energy explains that the completion of the pilot line in Berlin, Germany, as part of the BMBF funding initiative Line integration of Additive Manufacturing processes (LAF) marks an important step towards the further industrialisation and the sustainable integration of AM in Germany.
The development and implementation phase is now followed by a validation process in the second half of the IDEA project. This involves measuring how well the targets have been achieved based on manufacturing demonstrator components in the pilot line.
The project is expected to reach completion in 2022, with its goal of meeting the requirements of serial production by transferring the findings of its fourteen partners into the pilot line.
On October 22, 2020, Siemens Energy held a virtual opening event for the opening of the test facility, featuring a moderated panel discussion with Marie Langer (EOS), Markus Seibold (Siemens Energy), Karsten Heuser (Siemens AG) und Klaus Parey (Trumpf). Siemens Energy uses AM technology for the optimisation of its gas turbine production and services.
The partners in the IDEA project include the hardware and software suppliers ALLMATIC, BCT, Jenoptik, ModuleWorks, and Siemens Digital Industries; machine makers EOS and Trumpf; and AM users Liebherr-Aerospace, MBFZ toolcraft GmbH, MTU Aero Engines, and Siemens Gas and Power.
The project is supported by the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT), the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology (IPT), and the RWTH Aachen University’s Machine Tool Lab (WZL) and School of Digital Additive Production (DAP).
