Thinkstock
Diesel

3D Printing Repairs Diesel Engines

Sept. 13, 2017
3D Printing has the potential to give heavy-duty engines a new lease on life.

Diesel engine maker Cummins Inc. is working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to developing a material to repair heavy-duty vehicle engines damaged by a million miles of extreme conditions under the hood. Rather than replacing an engine’s cylinder head, the research team “scooped out” the worn section of the cylinder head and used 3D printing to deposit a high-performance alloy patch better than the original casting.

The goal of the process, developed at DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL, is to save energy while extending the life of engines and making them stronger. “We’re decreasing the engine’s thermal conductivity, which holds heat in longer, and turning it into increased efficiency,” says Nikhil Doiphode, Cummins’ parts R&D engineer. “While these are not brand-new engines, we’re striving to make them better than new.”

Sponsored Recommendations

Drive systems for urban air mobility

March 18, 2025
The shift of some of our transport traffic from the road to the air through urban air mobility is one of the most exciting future fields in the aerospace industry.

Blazing the trail for flying robots

March 18, 2025
Eight Bachelor students built a flying manipulator that can hover in any orientation and grasp objects. The drone is even more maneuverable than a quadrocopter and was designed...

Reachy 2: The Open-Source Humanoid Robot Redefining Human-Machine Interaction

March 18, 2025
Reachy 2 was designed to adapt to a wide variety of uses thanks to its modular architecture.

maxon IDX: The plug-and-play solution

March 18, 2025
IDX drives combine power with small space requirements - a brushless BLDC motor combined with an EPOS4 positioning controller and a gearhead inside a high-quality industrial housing...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Machine Design, create an account today!