Aidro Hydraulics & EOS Highlighting AM Processes for the Oil & Gas Industry

In a recent collaboration involving the realm of oil and gas, Italy’s Aidro Hydraulics & 3D Printing and EOS are working to raise awareness regarding the benefits of additive manufacturing.

Aidro has just recently expanded their services to oil and gas due to the need for production of valves, heat exchangers, and spare parts. Currently, their goal is to create guidelines and standards for qualifying AM metallic parts to use in petroleum and natural gas.

The two companies have signed a letter of intent regarding their ‘common approach to the oil and gas industry in Italy and on a global scale,’ states their recent press release. Together, the two companies will be continuing to work together in learning new skills and sharing knowledge as they also plan to:

• Support industry key players in the feasibility analysis of additive manufacturing
• Develop new technical solutions for O&G products
• Guarantee the production of high volumes

 “My company is an Italian SME, and as many Italians, we are flexible and creative to find solutions also thinking outside the box,” said Valeria Tirelli, CEO of Aidro. “Additive manufacturing is an amazing technology that allow us to solve various problems and give life to an impressive amount of ideas.

“When it comes to Petroleum and Natural Gas applications, we have the expertise and the technical know-how to develop AM parts, such as spare parts and new products. We have strengthened our relationship with EOS and with their support on the production processes, we will be stronger and faster to serve the giant O&G companies, more and more interested in the additive technologies.”

Founded 40 years ago in the field of both valves and hydraulics, Aidro is a family-based company. They began using AM along with more traditional techniques about six years ago, manufacturing specialized parts. Today, the Aidro team of engineers, designers, and operators 3D prints functional parts in metal all on EOS printers—beginning with powder handling and ending with post-processing, via their internal department which is run in strict accordance to AS / EN9100 standards.

EOS will contribute to their partnership as an AM technical expert, assisting in the optimization of parts, along with adding additional support when there are projects involving large batch production.

“EOS and AIDRO hydraulics have signed a partnership agreement to bring additional value to the Oil & Gas industry with AM solutions,” said Thomas Weitlaner, EOS Director of Additive Mind, Business Development, in his recent post on Linkedin. “AIDRO hydraulics brings deep application expertise on e.g. valves, and hydraulic manifolds to this partnership and we are proud to work with Valeria Tirelli and her team even closer in the future.”

The energy sector is one that is continually in need of new technology and processes, and the use of 3D printing continues to increase as researchers are studying new techniques for energy absorption, directed energy deposition, and generating clean energy.

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[Source / Images: Aidro press release]