DEEP Manufacturing has unveiled the HexBot, a Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) system that’s aiming to ‘push the boundaries’ of steel half manufacturing for the power, offshore, and maritime sectors.
The Bristol, UK-based firm says the WAAM system options six robotic arms which might function independently to construct steel elements as much as 3.2 meters in peak and three metres diameter, or as much as 6.2 metres with the total the total six-arm configuration.
CEO Peter Richards stated in a press launch: “HexBot pushes the boundaries of what is potential in extremely large-scale additive manufacturing, providing velocity, scale, and customisation on a degree by no means achieved earlier than.
“It is a uniquely succesful system backed by our world-class technical experience – one which’s not solely delivering on DEEP’s imaginative and prescient but additionally contributing to the development of producing as a complete.”
DEEP Manufacturing is a division of DEEP, an organization creating next-generation underwater stress vessels for subsea human habitats. The corporate says it initially invested in WAAM to assist its inner manufacturing wants, recognising its potential for complicated large-scale structural elements for offshore wind platforms, subsea power infrastructure, and shipbuilding functions. Its UK Superior Manufacturing Centre is now thought to include one of many largest concentrations of WAAM techniques on the earth. Whereas the division solely formally launched in January, it has since expanded its WAAM providing to exterior purchasers throughout offshore, maritime, power, and aviation sectors, and it’s also in discussions with UK and US-based companions concerning Joint Business Initiatives (JIPs) to speed up WAAM adoption and the creation of trade requirements. DEEP Manufacturing has already secured DNV approval in precept (AiP) for its use of WAAM within the manufacturing of metal for stress vessels for human occupancy.
Richards continued: “It’s a difficult and unsure time for a lot of industries, however advances in expertise – significantly additive manufacturing, and extra particularly WAAM – have the potential to empower firms not simply to outlive, however to thrive in troublesome situations.”
