3D printed valve body shell is tested at Olkiluoto nuclear power plant

The Finnish nuclear power companies Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) and Fortum have the first3D printingThe valve body of the housing has been tested jointly. The supplier of the valve housing is Neles.

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Verify the feasibility of additive manufacturing of unique parts

this project3D printingThe valve body shell is 20 x 40 cm in size,3D printingThe actual valve in the housing is a standard T5 series stainless steel ball valve.

Neles started testing years ago3D printingThe applicability of the technology to metal parts, and in 2018 provided the first batch of non-pressurized3D printingValve body with metal parts. According to Jukka Borgman, Director of Technology Development at Neles, the valve body is a pressure-retaining component, and extensive testing of the valve body material, such as tensile strength and impact resistance, is required to ensure that it is safe and reliable in the process.Field testing will provide a lot of valuable information to illustrate the use of3D printingThe feasibility of producing pressure-retaining parts by significantly speeding up the delivery time.3D printingIt can also make more effective use of materials and optimize fluid paths in the noise reduction valve core, which has superior performance compared with traditionally produced valve cores.

3D printingIt can help Neles optimize the valve body according to the application and customer specific needs. This joint test with the nuclear power company TVO will provide valuable information for Neles to improve valve body reliability, performance and material efficiency. According to Dino Nerweyi, TVO’s lifecycle management engineer,3D printingValve body shell and any3D printingApplication, when the number of nuclear power plant suppliers decreases, it provides an alternative solution for TVO. It is possible for TVO to produce unique nuclear power components through in-house additive manufacturing technology.

Fortum’s design engineer Tomi Räihä said that Fortum hopes to use3D printingThe possibility of contributing.If the manufacturer no longer provides components directly, then3D printingCan save a lot of spare parts manufacturing costs.

(Editor in charge: admin)