After extensive testing and qualification with multiple partners, Australian energy company Woodside has successfully installed and placed into service a 3D printed valve on its Goodwyn A platform, demonstrating Woodside’s confidence in 3D printing for spare parts. Woodside collaborated with FutureLab at Monash University, along with external original equipment manufacturers, to apply 3D printing – also known as additive manufacturing – in the re-design of a stainless steel monoflange body, a type of double block and bleed valve used to safely isolate instruments during planned maintenance work.
The additively manufactured part was fully approved for pressure-containing critical service use and was subsequently installed on the platform in January 2022.
The use of additive manufacturing enabled an improved design of the monoflange as it increased flow- through by avoiding restrictive internal channel junctions whilst offering reduced mass and size.
The next part to be installed under Woodside’s program is an additively manufactured stainless steel inducer on the Okha Floating Production Storage and Offloading facility in the first quarter of 2022.
Woodside’s vision to enable the application of additive manufacturing has seen the company develop and introduce a digital app that allows users to submit requests for items to be additively manufactured. After being screened, requests are passed to a vendor who will print and deliver the part, the details of which will subsequently be added to Woodside’s digital library.
