3D printing wind turbines
Purdue University researchers are working along with RCAM technologies, a concrete 3D Printing company specializing in offshore and onshore wind turbine manufacturing, and the Floating Wind Technology Company, which focuses on floating wind solution design.
Together, they are pursuing a common goal of developing more cost-efficient wind turbines with 3D Printing. Indeed, regular manufacturing techniques involve high material costs for anchors. The research team is hence working on lighter and cheaper 3D printing concrete based anchors and turbine substructures, which will bring production and logistics costs down.
Making solar cells with Volumetric 3D Printing
Regular silicon solar cells pose a few problems. They need to be produced at high-temperatures, have bearings on the environment, and are expensive to manufacture, even though they remain fragile.
A company named T3DP came up with a solar cell 3D Printing process, which outperforms regular flat panels. Based on perovskite, an inexpensive semi-conductive material that can be used to manufacture solar cells at low-temperatures, this process brings manufacturing costs down. This development relies on Volumetric 3D printing and allows to shape the solar material into sturdy and stable hexagon scaffolds.
Nuclear technologies and Additive Manufacturing
The Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom, is investing in Additive Manufacturing and develops its own 3D Printers. The platforms, which have already been tested successfully, are intended to create complex metal products—functioning with a selective laser melting technique, the 3D printers run with iron, cobalt, titanium, nickel, and other metal materials used for nuclear product manufacturing. Resorting to Additive Manufacturing makes the production of critical, complex parts less expensive, and can build on the properties and characteristics of nuclear products.
3D Printed bionic corals
Corals are considered very inspiring photon management systems, capable of scattering light very efficiently. A research team from Cambridge University hence sought to replicate the complex design and functions of coral tissues with a 3D bioprinting process of its own. This achievement, which was successfully completed, can open up new developments in light-based bio-energy systems. 3D Printed bionic corals could, in that sense, be harnessed as part of a more efficient photobioreactor design.
IBM’s 3D Printed Redox flow battery
In collaboration with ETH Zurich, IBM 3D printed the first liquid battery capable of cooling and producing energy simultaneously. The researchers used electrolytes to make a micro-channel system to supply the device. The result is quite promising, as this technology allows to reduce overheating risks as well as power pumping needs.
Simusolar: Solar-powered products to support Tanzanian rural economies
Simusolar develops smallholder agricultural equipment for Tanzanian farmers, fishers, and rural residents. With products ranging from solar-powered fishing lights and pumps for agriculture, the company resorted to our services to make custom-parts, such as the electrically insulated components they add into circuit boards.
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