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Additive Manufacturing for Obsolete Components

Company: WSSC Water

Major(s):
Primary: ME
Secondary: IE

Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO

Intellectual Property: NO

WSSC Water is a bi-county, public water/wastewater utility in Maryland that was established in 1918. For over 100 years, WSSC Water has served the communities of Prince George’s and Montgomery counties providing life-sustaining water and water resource recovery services to individuals, families and businesses. WSSC Water maintains and repairs approximately 12,000 miles of buried pipes and several dozen facilities to provide water services to its community. WSSC Water provides potable water to its customer through a massive network of underground pipes and valves. To provide this essential resource to community members, WSSC Water must keep their plants running around the clock. Part/component obsolescent can significantly hinder a water utility's ability to keep plant operations running reliably. The team of student will have to reverse engineer obsolete parts and perfect the process to create new parts using additive manufacturing methods. Material selection and manufacturing methods will need to be determined, tested, documented, thus proving to be repeatable for future small batch production of needed components. The team can expect to tap into skills such as 3D CAD design and process documentation; apply knowledge of traditional and non-traditional manufacturing methods; and lastly rapidly test decisions to come to a final process that works for the future. It is this effort that will ensure that millions of people can turn on their tap and have clean reliable water flow.