Industrial applications of 3D-printed filters
Thread Content
Hello everyone, I am a postgraduate student at Lancaster University in the UK. I am currently working with a British filter manufacturer to explore the practical applications of 3D-printed filters in industry. Due to the volume limitations of 3D printing, only small filters can be designed at present, as shown in the image below. The filter market is relatively niche, and there is limited information available on it; therefore, I would like to ask everyone a few questions here: 1. Among the filters you have come across (products similar to those in the image above), what do you think needs further improvement? 2. In your opinion, in which areas could 3D-printed filters find good applications? Thank you all!
It clearly looks like mechanical processing; does printing still need to imitate mechanical processing?
It is indeed printed; you can see the comparison in the first image – the holes created by traditional methods are perpendicular to the slope, while those printed are perpendicular to the ground. This allows for a reduced pressure requirement at the same flow rate during filtration
It’s also possible that this was truly printed using 3D printing. However, this hole of yours, vertical to the ground, has a kind of machined appearance to it. What, is it fashionable to use future tools to mimic the marks left by current machining? As for filtering, if it were truly 3D printing, the structure of the pores wouldn’t be like this.
http://www.filters.co.uk/additive/additive-manufacture.php This is the company’s website; you may want to take a look if you’re interested. At the moment, the company has the capability to produce, but it is also exploring better designs and more possibilities. If you have any good suggestions regarding the design, feel free to share them so we can discuss them together
Although the filtration process is quite old, it is also very complex to implement. Communicate more with users, and based on their needs and using filtering principles, develop suitable filtering processes...
Yeah, one of the challenges in current promotion is finding the right market; the company’s main clients are in Europe and the United States, so it takes time to interact more with users in China
Actually, it’s the same as communicating with clients abroad and at home. Master one aspect, and you’ll excel in the front line. There are many theoretical models for filtering.
Our company specializes in filters, industrial filters that are primarily used for filtering the high-pressure internal cooling emulsions in machine tools. Our filter elements are sourced from external suppliers. I’m not sure what level of filtration accuracy can be achieved with filters printed using 3D printing. If their accuracy and strength can match or even exceed those of current filter elements, then it will depend on the price. Currently, in the world, only a limited number of companies are capable of producing this type of filter element. The details can be seen in the attached figure.
On your company’s website, I didn’t see a filter cross-section for such a V-shaped area. It’s possible that your company has more advanced technology in this area, resulting in a better structure that facilitates cleaning. If that’s the case, we would appreciate it if you could guide us; we are also open to cooperating