3D printing Helps Foster Clean Energy

3D printing is providing incredible and lowcost solutions to the most innovative industries. It’s the case for the medical, food, construction, aerospace and many more industries. But what happens when it’s used in an industry usually runned by giant companies like the energy sector. Many projects and companies have emerged with new ways to approach the question of how we are producing energy and making our behaviors energy efficient. From gaining efficiency to reducing our thirst for fossil fuels, 3D printing helps paving the way toward cleaner energy.

As individuals and companies are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint, we see more and more projects aiming at using renewable energies to power our lives. Here are the most innovative projects we’ve seen lately. While they won’t drasticaly reduce our use of fossil fuels overnight, they’re showing us the way for a more sustainable future in which 3D printing is helping. Whether it’s to harvest sunlight, wind or water, 3D printing is the common denominator to those two ambitious projects.

Trinity, truly portable 3D printed wind turbine

Sand 3D printing using the sun

1. Trinity

Last September, Janulus, a company founded by Einar Agustsson in Minnesota, presented the Trinity Portable Wind Turbine Power Station on Kickstarter. Its product hollows individuals to harvest the power of wind almost anywhere. In this project, the team used 3D printing to create the prototypes of the wind turbine. With more the $150.000 in pledges, the campaign reached three time the needed amont and has been one of the highlight of the 3D printing industry last year.

In the early stages of product development, both the base and the blades were made through additive manufacturing. Thanks to this successful prototyping phase, the team has planned to developed the product in four different sizes with different amounts of power. The entry model, the Trinity 50 (priced around $369 for the first batch) is targeting individuals with limited needs on a camping trip while the biggest model will be able to power a car or a home.

2. Sand 3D printing using the sun

This year, we’ve also seen a great project lead by Markus Kayser, who built a 3D printer that uses the sun to 3D print sand. Not too different from the SLS 3D printing technology, the printer invented by Markus Kayser uses reflectors to concentrate a beam of sunlight on a thin layer of sand. The beam of light sinters the material. By repeating the process layer after layer, the machine is able to build object made of sand.

The whole project provides both an innovative option to 3D print a great material but also offers to use a clean energy that’s accessible in a lot of developing countries.

If you’re interested in learning more about how Sculpteo can help you with your project in the energy sector, feel free to take a look at our dedicated page.

3D printing powers the future of energy

1. Trinity

2. Sand 3D printing using the sun

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