Cummins working with Oak Ridge Lab on 3D printing for heavy-duty engine repair
06 September 2017
Cummins is working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to develop 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 and used additive manufacturing to deposit a high-performance alloy better than the original casting.
| A 3D printing process developed at ORNL repairs and strengthens a Cummins engine without the need to recast parts, which reduces costs and saves energy. Credit: Brittany Cramer/Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Click to enlarge. |
The goal of the process, developed at DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL, is to save energy while extending the life of the engine and making it stronger.
We’re decreasing the engine’s thermal conductivity, which holds heat in longer, and turning it into increased efficiency. While these are not brand-new engines, we’re striving to make them better than new.
—Nikhil Doiphode, Cummins’ parts R&D engineer
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