Context
The company Birr Machines AGbased in Kleindöttingen, Switzerland, is a service provider for electrical equipment from 50 kW to 30 MW. In addition to equipment development, the company offers after-sales service for machines worldwide that were manufactured 55 years ago by ABB (formerly BBC).
Last year, the company was asked to replicate an 8.5 MW integrated stator in the nuclear field. The challenge was to accurately reproduce the steel structure of the part, despite the lack of documentation.
In order to carry out this task efficiently and achieve the desired quality, the metrology service provider SCAN IT 3D GmbH was entrusted with the task of surveying the situation and creating a 3D model to the defined dimensions.
Execution
For 3D scanning, it's the MetraSCAN 3D from Creaform was chosen. This scanner is particularly well suited to the 3D measurement of large mechanical objects, such as electric motors. The MetraSCAN 3D scans quickly, accurately and with high resolution. In this particular case, an electric motor measuring around 2x2x2.5 meters was scanned. Around 35 square meters were captured with the MetraSCAN 3D. Individual measurements in areas not accessible to the scanner were carried out by the HandyPROBE probing systemthen combined with scanner data.
The fiberglass covers screwed to the ends of the coils could also be measured separately without dismantling them.
Data processing
The customer used the SolidWorks CAD program for further data processing. This allows the 3D scan data to be superimposed on the CAD model to be reproduced, leaving little room for interpretation errors. Reverse engineering data can be transmitted using the Feature Tree and all measures from Geomagic Design X to SolidWorks, further simplifying the entire workflow.
Reverse engineering
Geomagic Design X software was used to reverse engineer the steel structure. The data was transferred to Birr Machines AG as native SolidWorks models. Caches were also created in Design X and could be taken directly into production.
Construction
For this project, the SCAN IT 3D GmbH used reverse engineering to create a design very close to the scan data, at the customer's specific request. This provided a solid basis for further processing in the customer's CAD system.
Results: 1 day of scanning and 2 days of reverse engineering
3D scanning using the MetraSCAN 3D took one day. Reverse engineering of the turbine casing and covers took 2 days. Added to this was coordination with the customer and a few minor corrections. A duration of 3 to 5 days can therefore be considered very realistic for such a project.
Customer benefits
- No measurements had to be taken by hand
- No additional measuring tools had to be purchased
- All dimensions were quickly available to scale, in the CAD software.
- Thanks to colorimetry comparisons, the scanned model can always be compared with CAD data.
The company SCAN IT 3D GmbH has already carried out numerous successful projects using Creaform's 3D scanners and reverse engineering know-how. This has enabled us to repair old installations and systems quickly and in line with customer expectations.
This report was provided to Creaform by SCAN IT 3D GmbH
for publication purposes. See the original report
About SCAN IT 3D GmbH
SCANIT 3D GmbH is a company based in Schliengen, Germany, offering metrology, reverse engineering and process optimization services.