Rapid prototyping: energy and environment in the spotlight

Abstract

Integration of the Rapid Prototyping environmental aspects: first focus on the electrical energy consumption. Design/methodology/approach Various manufacturing parameters have been tested on three rapid prototyping systems: Thermojet (3DS), FDM 3000 (Stratasys) and EOSINT M250 Xtended (EOS). The objective is to select sets of parameters for reduction of electrical energy consumption. For this, we have manufactured a part in several orientations and positions in the chamber of these RP systems. For each test, we noted the electrical power. Finally, we propose certain rules to minimize this electrical energy consumption during a job. Findings It is important to minimize the manufacturing time but there is no general rule for optimization of electrical energy consumption. Each RP system must be tested with energy consumption considerations under the spotlight. Research limitations/implications Our work is only based on Rapid Prototyping processes. Our objective is to take into consideration the complete life-cycle of an rapid prototyped part: manufacturing of raw material as far as reprocessing of waste. Practical implications To decrease electrical energy consumption for a job What is original/value of paper The environmental aspects are not studied as well as in rapid prototyping.

Sustainable manufacturing: evaluation and modeling of environmental impacts in additive manufacturing

“…Recently, some studies show that it is important to consider the part shape [16] and manufacturing parameters in order to reduce electric consumption during the manufacturing steps. Mognol et al [14] show that the part's orientation into the build volume could increase the electric consumption of the machine.…”

“…Furthermore, this methodology includes a part-process approach in order to be more accurate, in response to the studies previously mentioned ( [14], [16]). …”

A comparison of energy consumption in bulk forming, subtractive, and additive processes: Review and case study

“…Mognol et al analyzed the energy and environmental aspects of thermojets, FDM, and SLS. 85 In this case, the energy consumption of the AM processes above was determined with respect to part orientation. Similar to the results from other studies, most of the energy consumption came from heating and laser operation in FDM and SLS, respectively.…”

Study of compression properties of topologically optimized FDM made structured parts

“…In the last years research efforts in this direction have been concentrated mainly on three aspects, namely (i) the optimization of the building direction, (ii) the optimal configuration of parameters and (iii) the implementation of CAD algorithms to improve the efficiency of LM. In the first category several studies have been made, testing some LM systems with the aim of selecting sets of parameters for the reduction of electrical energy consumption and fabrication time, manufacturing the same part in several orientations and positions, proposing rules to minimize fabrication time and electrical energy consumption during a job [5]. In literature, several methods have been proposed to compute the cost and orientation of parts and demonstrate how these two problems are associated.…”