Reducing critical spare replacement lead-time with additive manufacturing

Customer	Major LNG plant
Location	Southeast Asia
Industry	Midstream O&G
Key Services	OEM-X line service Reverse engineering Selective Laser Melting

PART TURNAROUND LEAD-TIME REDUCED BY

40 %

IMPELLER DELIVERED WITHIN

8 weeks

NUMBER OF IMPELLERS PRODUCED

CO-GEN POWER PLANT CAPACITY

13 MW

THE IMPACT

Capitalising on advanced manufacturing leading to avoidance of a nerve-wrecking operational outage that could impact plant availability.

The operator of a major LNG plant in Southeast Asia was looking to replenish its impeller spare for contingency.
The pump in question was a condensate pump of Dutch OEM origins.
The pump is part of the closed loop system pumping condensate.
The original material selection was not a high grade resulting in an impeller suffering of rapid wear by corrosion and erosion, putting at risk the availability of the pump.
As the performance of the pump reducing, the risk of not having a spare impeller for the planned outage was putting the operation at risk.
How could it be achieved with supply chain constraints and furthermore, dealing with a legacy pump with inadequate OEM support?

Gallery

The customer turned to Sulzer once again to overcome this tricky situation, having experienced an excellent boiler-feed pumps upgrade through Sulzer’s retrofit expertise.
With speed of essence, Sulzer’s retrofit specialists proposed a relatively radical proposition, by promising to deliver the impeller in less than 50% of typical timeline using Selective Laser Melting.
Selective laser melting (SLM) is a specific 3D printing technique, which utilizes high power-density laser to fully melt and fuse metallic powders to produce near net-shape parts with near full density (up to 99.9% relative density).
With no engineering drawings to fall back on, Sulzer’s reverse engineering expertise and precision was put to the test.
SLM technology was applied as part of the impeller production to speed up the turnaround time.
The ability to print directly from a 3D CAD model enabled manufacturing of impeller in desired stainless-steel material without need for tooling needed for patterns and molds in conventional casting process.
Once heat treated and finish machined the impeller was ready

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Pump reverse engineering solutions
Re-engineering provides customers with an alternative for sourcing parts for their equipment.

The impeller was dispatched within 8 weeks’ time.
The production lead time as compared to conventional casting method was reduced by 12 weeks.
With the impeller spare back in stock, it de-risked the possibility of an operational outage due to turbine.
The success prompted the customer to review its existing spares replenishment strategy for its non-Sulzer pumps, with the view of harnessing such advanced production ethodologies to achieve operational efficiencies and de-risk.
Material was upgraded from cast iron to stainless steel to solve the corrosion/erosion problem and further extend the live of the part.