INDUSTRY NEWS / 行业新闻
3D Printing Drives Diesel Development at Weichai
3D 打印技术助力潍柴动力 Founded as one of China's first diesel engine factories, Weichai Power continues to drive engine technology forward. The company emphasizes efficiency, both in its products and in its own processes as part of its quest for ever more reliable and greener engines. To accelerate the research and development of their engines, Weichai employs 3D printing at its state-of-theart digital moulding center. They’re not printing metal components, rather accurate moulds to cast the final components for diesel engines using sand binder-jetting. High-quality, complex molds and cores are bonded together in layers of sand and delivered to the foundry with the fast. The cores are produced on-demand without waiting for traditional tooling to be made. Conventional tooling requires several months of lead time, making the implementation of ExOne sand 3D printing technology game-changing. Weichai installed its first ExOne S-Max sand 3D printer in its digital moulding center in 2017. The success of adopting digital casting increased demand and two additional S-Max systems were added in 2019. The three machines offer Weichai flexible production at variable quantities, high productivity and the ability to customize with fewer design limitations. ExOne sand 3D printers create complex sand cores and molds directly from 3D CAD data, allowing the company to produce castings for a versatile range of applications– including blocks, heads and gearbox chambers. “The leading technology of ExOne’s sand printers helps us produce prototype cast components in advance to validate the process and the product. It has accelerated the improvement of our new engine technologies,” said Dr. Yucheng Sun, Deputy Dean of Technology and Artisan Research Institute at Weichai Power Co., Ltd. ■
Figure 1 Plant of Digital Moulding Center 图 １：数字化造型中心
作为中国最早的柴油发动机工厂之一，潍柴动力不 断推动着发动机技术的进步。公司在产品和工艺研发中 都强调效率至上，这是其向更可靠、更环保发动机迈进 的举措之一。 为了加快发动机的研发，潍柴在其最先进的数字成型 中心采用了 3D 打印技术。打印出来的并不是金属部件，而 是使用砂粘合剂喷射技术生产精准的砂型来铸造柴油发动 机的最终部件。高质量、复杂的砂型和砂芯在砂层中粘合在 一起，并快速交付给铸造厂。砂芯是按需生产的，无需像原 来需等待制造传统模具再进行生产。而传统模具需要几个月 的交货时间，这使得 ExOne 砂型 3D 打印技术的应用颠覆 了传统。 潍柴公司于 2017 年在其数字造型中心安装了第一台 ExOne S-Max 砂型 3D 打印机。数字铸造技术的成功获 得了更多的市场需求，公司于 2019 年增加了两台 S-Max 打印机系统。这三台机器使潍柴可以进行灵活生产，减少设 计的限制来实现定制生产，从而提高了生产力。ExOne 砂 型 3D 打印机直接根据 3D CAD 数据创建复杂的砂芯和模 具，使公司能够生产适用于各种应用的铸件，包括发动机缸 体、缸盖和齿轮箱等。 “先进的 ExOne 砂型打印技术帮助我们提前生产出原 型铸件，以验证工艺和产品，从而加快了我们新发动机技术 的改进，”潍柴动力股份有限公司技术与工艺研究院副院长 孙玉成博士说。■
Figure 2 ExOne S-Max sand 3D printers 图 ２：ExOne S-Max 砂型打印机
APRIL 2022 CHINA FOUNDRY ASSOCIATION | FOUNDRY-PLANET.COM
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