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Norwegian Robotics Firm to Develop Underwater 3D Printer https://ift.tt/3cnpbbF A Norwegian robotics firm called Kongsberg Ferrotech, which creates subsea robots for the oil and gas industry, is developing a form of underwater 3D printing for repairing pipelines below the sea. To develop the process, known as “Subsea Additive Manufacturing for Lifetime Extension”, the company is working with Equinor, SINTEF, and Gassco. Kongsberg Ferrotech offers several robots that perform inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) of subsea equipment. This includes a system called Nautilus, used to remotely repair pipelines with composites. Nautilus has passed deepwater testing in Trondheim Fjord in Norway and the company plans to begin commercial operations in the Southeast Asian market in Q3 20201. Footage of how this process works can be seen in the video below: Under the Research Council of Norway’s PETROMAKS 2 program, the firm would build upon that technology to repair metal structures in a layer-by-layer fashion. Kongsberg Ferrotech’s robots are able to perform repairs and modifications in a dry environment while completely submerged, doing so in a single operation and without divers or conventional equipment. One would expect that the type of metal 3D printing involved to be some form of directed energy deposition, with an arc-welding style printhead used to fuse metal wire onto the surface of a pipe.
In addition to Equinor, the country’s natural gas firm, Gassco, and the independent SINTEF research organization will participate in the project. Because the Norwegian shelf has more than 10,000 km of subsea pipelines, there is obviously a need to repair these as they age or experience damage. As glaciers in the Arctic melt as a result of global warming, there is an anticipated fight for oil and gas projects in the region, as well. Of course, climate change should be more of a reason to retire existing oil and gas infrastructure, but the Norwegian government obviously has financial reasons for maintaining it. Both maritime and oil and gas are neglected by the 3D printing industry, outside of the military. In the former, Wilhelmsen is basically leading commercial activities along with its cohort. For the latter, most of the oil majors have implemented 3D printing in one way or another to a limited extent, with GE Oil & Gas probably using it for end parts the most. There is plenty of overlap for these two sectors and Kongsberg Ferrotech has found itself straddling both. The company believes that it will see the first use of the technology possibly in 2022. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com June 8, 2021 at 07:33AM
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