DB ESG
3D scanning at DB ESG
DB ESG has revealed how 3D scanning has become an integral part of its digital manufacturing business.
In a conversation with TCT Magazine, the rolling stock provider and engineering consultancy shared how its use of 3D technologies, including 3D scanning and 3D printing, have enabled it to rapidly address rail supply chain and engineering challenges, while adhering to stringent rail industry regulations.
“One very common challenge is the design has been changed, but nobody's recorded that change,” Daniel Hartley, Digital Manufacturing Business Lead for DB ESG told TCT in an interview for its latest issue. “We have a unique problem there that is quite specific to rail. When you scale this up across the many different variations of the ‘same’ vehicle, with their different owners and operators, all uniquely changed over decades, then factor in the more common supply issues like minimum quantities and long lead times, that’s where 3D printing, for us, became quite cost-effective.”
While 3D scanning has proven effective in digitising rail parts to combat obsolescence, the technology is also being leveraged to measure accuracy, improve reliability and investigate failures. For example, DB ESG was recently tasked by a customer with scanning the fuel tanks of several different vehicle classes to compare against a model created from the original drawings in an effort to alleviate concerns around structural integrity. The detail captured in the scans meant they were able to produce a full structural report containing indicators of distortion, weld-failure and even failed internal baffles.
Speaking on the company's successful deployment of these technologies in a highly regulated, traditional sector that’s naturally cautious about adopting new technologies, Hartley said: “Every single customer we've had has come back to us for another project. It is a trust thing. It's a new and novel technology.”
Since establishing its digital manufacturing services team in 2022, DB ESG says it has supported over 100 individual projects for 20 different customers. Its UK facility, which TCT recently visited, features a pair of 3D scanners alongside three polymer 3D printers. In an update earlier this year, the company said its digital manufacturing strategy has enabled vehicles to remain in service and improved the overall efficiency of the UK rail sector.