Tatneft to Manufacture Pump Consumables on a 3D Printer
The method will reduce costs and speed up repairs.
Employees of Tatneft, together with specialists from the Almetyevsk State Technological University Higher School of Oil, have mastered a method for independently manufacturing electric motor tail shafts using 3D printing. The new technologies will significantly reduce equipment downtime and costs.
Tatneft currently operates around 2,200 electric motors. During operation, their tail shafts can fail several times a year. To replace them, parts had to be made from used pipes or purchased. But all of this took considerable time and money.
The Higher School of Oil proposed its own solution to the problem. Based on a sample of the broken part, a 3D model was developed using a laser scanner, and design documentation was prepared. The first copy of the tail shaft was printed on a Russian-made selective laser melting system. Manufacturing took around 30 hours.
