The engine printed in 3D by Renault Trucks has 200 pieces less and is 120 kg lighter.

Renault Trucks is carrying out various tests for the incorporation of 3D printing processes in metal, in what the gala multinational describe as “a promising technology converted into reality, as it has already successfully tested complex parts of a Euro 6 engine”.

In this sense, those responsible for the signature of the rhombus explain that its Department of engine development has already designed “a prototype engine DTI 5 four-cylinder Euro 6 Step C, using exclusively 3D printing.”

From Renault Trucks stand out that “although the complete engine has been conceived of virtual form, the balancines and his supports have manufactured by impressesion 3D in metal and have tested successfully with a motor Euro 6 in a bank of proofs during 600 hours ”

Damien Lemasson, project manager at Renault Trucks, has ensured that the objective of this initiative is none other than to “demonstrate the positive impact of additive manufacturing on metal in the size and mass of the engine. This process has allowed us to reduce by 25%, or 120 kg, the weight of a four-cylinder engine, “said Lemasson, who stressed that” the tests carried out prove the durability of an engine manufactured with 3D printing “.

From the French brand affirm that the additive manufacturing in metal – a process of printing that works by accumulation of matter layer by layer – opens new prospects of development for the thermal motors, since “it allows to realize complex forms”.

This new technique also allows “to optimize the dimensioning of the pieces and reduce the number of assembly operations and, therefore, the number of components of an engine”, which, in the words of Lemasson, “allows to overcome difficulties and unleash to the creativity of the engineers.

This process offers us a perspective of technological advances in the engines of the future that will make them more functional, lighter and with optimal performance “, added Lemasson, who remarked that thanks to 3D printing Renault Trucks engineers have managed to reduce a 25% the number of pieces, with 200 components less.

Advantages of 3D printing
This technique presents “multiple advantages” for carriers, among which the French manufacturer’s managers cite an improvement in the total operating cost of their vehicles, “as the decrease in the mass of the engine will allow more payload and a reduction in fuel consumption. fuel”.

For the brand itself, 3D printing also has many advantages. In the short term, this manufacturing process can be used “for very specific applications or for short series,” they explain from the firm’s headquarters in Lyon, where its engineers “continue working with the aim of continuing to improve the functionality of the parts and their benefits”.

If you want to know more details about the 3D printing process used by Renault Trucks, do not miss the following video.

30/10/2017 – ALL TRANSPORTATION (Translation Soft)