By Melissa Donovan
Part 4 of 4
The number of manufacturing facilities incorporating three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques continues to increase. For any business looking to gain full control of certain parts of its development process, bringing this technology in house is advantageous.
Ventilation Parts
Appliance manufacturers are just one of many verticals realizing the potential of additive manufacturing. These companies leverage the technology for prototypes, spare parts, and tooling. Aereco, a French developer of ventilation solutions for residential and office buildings, became invested in 3D printing to enhance its production processes and quickly develop prototypes.
Originally, the company intended to outsource 3D printing and was provided an annual budget for this, however designers and engineers from Aereco’s special machines department were weary about spending their allotted budget on outsourced 3D printed parts that used technologies like fused deposition modeling, stereolithography (SLA), and selective laser sintering (SLS).
“It was hard to find an SLS-quality printer for prototyping that was easy to use,” says Pierre Kraus, lab manager, Aereco. According to Kraus, other available technologies, such as SLS or SLA, were expensive, complicated, resulted in suboptimal parts, and required multiple steps including post-processing.
After researching alternatives, Aereco purchased HP Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) printers, bringing the technology in house. HP MJF technology prints each layer of new material and agents on top of a previous layer that is still molten—so that both layers fuse completely—delivering strong, quality, detailed, and functional 3D printed parts.
For the Common Good
While the purchase of the HP MJF printers were for the production of its ventilation solutions, the devices have been used in other ways.
In 2020, Aereco was tasked with helping its local hospital and healthcare systems. Part of Face Shields of Hope, a collaboration among some 30 French companies, hospitals, and HP, it printed personal protective equipment (PPE) when the country of France needed it the most.
Kraus was contacted by an industry peer about Face Shields of Hope and quickly donated Aereco’s capabilities to the cause. “I immediately started to print parts even without waiting for the elastic headbands supplied by other companies because 3D printing seemed to be the bottleneck in production,” he explains.
Improved versions of the face shields were iterated quickly thanks to the HP MJF printers. The revisions made them safer, more comfortable, and easier to print. “I continued without stopping a single day for four weeks. It seemed obvious to me, since I had the capabilities, to help the medical staff on the front line as much as possible. We were even able to offer a set of face shields directly to the wife of a colleague who’s a nurse in a hospital,” adds Kraus.
Beyond Intention
Whether used on site for its intended prototyping and parts replication, or to help the effort in PPE production, Aereco’s HP MJF printers are workhorses for the company. Its implementation is one of many examples of how 3D printing is useful on multiple levels for appliance manufacturers.
The April issue of Industrial Print magazine includes a feature article on 3D printing of appliance parts. We also held a webinar in March on the topic. If you’d like to view the archived broadcast, 3D Printing for Prototypes and Spare Parts, click here to register.
Read part three, Cordless Vacuum Prototype Benefits from 3D
Jun2021, Industrial Print Magazine