INDUSTRY NEWS
Porsche uses additive manufacturing for high-performance drives
Porsche has produced its first complete housing for an electric drive using 3D printing . The engine-gearbox unit produced using the additive laser fusion process reportedly passed all quality and stress tests .
“ This proves that additive manufacturing , with all its advantages , is also suitable for larger and highly-stressed components in electric sports cars ,” said Falk Heilfort , Project Manager , Powertrain Advance Development department , Porsche Development Centre ( Weissach ). “ It is conceivable that the optimised electric drive could be used in a limited-edition super sports car , for example ,” he added .
Engineers in the Advanced Development department were able to carry out several development steps at once with the prototype . The additively manufactured alloy housing is more lightweight than a conventionally cast part and reduces the overall weight of the drive by approximately ten per cent . Using special structures that have only become possible due to 3D printing , the stiffness in highly stressed areas has been doubled . Another advantage is that numerous functions and parts can be integrated which considerably reduces assembly work and directly benefits part quality .
3D printing opens new opportunities in the development and manufacture of lowvolume parts . Porsche is intensively driving forward the use of additive manufacturing for optimisation of highly-stressed parts . A few months ago , new printed pistons successfully proved themselves in the 911 GT2 RS high-performance sports car . The housing for a complete electric drive now developed also fulfils high-quality requirements . In the same housing as the electric motor , the downstream two-speed gearbox is integrated . This highly integrated approach is designed for use on the front axle of a sports car .
“ Our goal was to develop an electric drive with the potential for additive manufacturing , at the same time integrating as many functions and parts as possible in the drive housing , saving weight and optimising the structure ,” said Falk Heilfort .
Printing of the first housing prototype took several days and took place over two build processes due to the component size . With the latest machine generations , said Porsche , it will be possible to reduce this time by 90 per cent , and the entire housing can be manufactured in one build process .
“ The weight of the housing parts was reduced by approximately 40 per cent due to the integration of functions and optimisation
Electric drive housing from a 3D printer .
of the topology . This represents a weight saving of around ten per cent for the entire drive due to the lightweight construction . The stiffness was increased significantly at the same time . Despite a continuous wall thickness of only 1.5mm , the stiffness between the electric motor and the gearbox was increased by 100 per cent due to the lattice structures . The honeycomb structure reduces the oscillations of the thin housing walls and considerably improves the acoustics of the drive as a whole ,” continued Porsche .
“ The integration of parts made the drive unit more compact , significantly improved the drive package and reduced the assembly work by around 40 work steps . This is equivalent to reduction in the production time of approximately 20 minutes . Integration of the gearbox heat exchanger with optimised heat transmission improves the cooling of the drive , as a whole . This is a basic requirement for further increases in performance ,” it concluded . n
MicroStep celebrates thirty years
MicroStep , a leading manufacturer of CNCcontrolled cutting systems , is celebrating its thirty-year anniversary . The company develops and produces plasma , oxyfuel , laser and waterjet cutting systems . It also offers tested automation solutions , from material handling around the cutting system to picking and sorting of cut parts .
“ When we founded MicroStep , spol . s r . o . with our colleagues in 1991 , we were all still employed at the Technical University in Bratislava , Slovakia . We were researchers , heart and soul . And this has not changed ,” confirmed Ing . Alexander Varga , Ph . D ., co-founder and head of development of the MicroStep group . MicroStep Europa GmbH , based in Bad Wörishofen , Bavaria , is ( as part of the group ) responsible for sales and service in Germany , Austria and Switzerland .
Key developments in recent years include an automatic , patented calibration unit ; combined sheet metal , pipe , dome and beam processing as well as rotators for plasma , laser , oxyfuel and waterjet technology . Digitalisation and automation have always been key aims for the company . It has placed a special focus on solutions for the fully- or semiautomated material handling of sheets , pipes or profiles as well as systems for storing sheet and sorting already cut parts .
“ For this reason , we founded the Industry Business Network 4.0 e . V . in 2015 with numerous well-known machinery and equipment manufacturers , software developers and component manufacturers – an association that jointly develops the foundations for
Ing . Alexander Varga , Ph . D . cross-vendor networked manufacturing ,” said Igor Mikulina , managing partner of MicroStepEuropa GmbH , who is also chairman of the association . One result of the association ’ s work is IndustryFusion , a crossvendor open-source networking solution for smart factories and smart products .
In its anniversary year , the company will continue to invest heavily in the Germanspeaking market . “ It is thanks to the dedicated work of all our employees that we are able to invest a total of more than fivemillion euros at our two locations in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia . We are building new training and demonstration centres , including office space . In addition , a logistics centre is being built in Bad Wörishofen ,” concluded Johannes Ried , co-managing partner of MicroStep Europa GmbH . n
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