Containment enclosure for test bench
The containment enclosure with oblique walls and low-hardness materials addresses the safety risks of current test benches by minimizing fragment penetration and facilitating extraction, ensuring safe and efficient turbomachine component testing.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- FR2023009651
- Authority / Receiving Office
- FR · FR
- Patent Type
- Patents
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2023-09-13
- Publication Date
- 2025-09-19
- Estimated Expiration
- 2043-09-13
AI Technical Summary
Current test benches for turbomachine components face safety risks due to removable containment enclosures with structural weaknesses at joints, which can be perforated by high-speed fragments, posing a threat to personnel and facilities, and require materials with low hardness for fragment collection, compromising safety and ease of disassembly.
A containment enclosure composed of multiple portions with oblique side or inclined walls made of low-hardness materials like aluminum, designed to minimize fragment penetration and facilitate extraction, combined with a retention enclosure for additional safety, and an oven for simulating operational conditions.
Enhances safety by reducing the risk of containment enclosure perforation and simplifies fragment extraction, while maintaining the integrity of fracture surfaces for analysis, thus improving the overall safety and efficiency of turbomachine component testing.
Smart Images
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Abstract
Description
Title of the invention: Containment enclosure for test bench Technical field
[0001] The present application relates to the control of the conformity of rotating mechanical parts, in particular constituting a turbomachine. It specifically relates to a test bench for such control. STATE OF THE ART
[0002] Checking the conformity of mechanical parts to specifications requires the use of test benches allowing the parts to be subjected to mechanical and physical stresses generally much higher than those of normal operating conditions.
[0003] For example, in the aeronautical field, the design of turbomachines requires increasingly precise prediction of the service life of the parts that compose them. The overspeed resistance of rotating parts of turbines, such as disks, is an important step in the design of new engines. Furthermore, the regulations require the demonstration during tests on a test bench that the parts in question do not burst under the effect of centrifugal loading, and this for speeds generally at least 20% higher than normal operating conditions. These tests aim to evaluate a burst speed of the rotating disks, by subjecting them to an increasing rotation speed but also to high temperatures, similar to those of real operating conditions, until the disk bursts.The analysis being completed by a study of the disc fragments, it is therefore necessary to design a test bench resistant to the projection of heavy metal fragments at high speeds, while preserving the fracture surfaces of these fragments.
[0004] Current test benches for this type of application are thus equipped with a removable containment enclosure, composed of several portions or sectors which are installed around the device applying the mechanical stress to the tested component, for example a shaft rotating a turbomachine disk. The portions are parts of a size adapted to that of the component and are generally made of a material capable of receiving the fragments projected at high speed without excessively damaging them. Metals with low hardness are therefore preferred to allow the study of the fragments.
[0005] However, these structural and material constraints induce a risk for the safety of personnel and installations around the test bench. Indeed, the necessarily removable nature of such a containment enclosure imposes Structural weaknesses constituted by the joints between the portions making up the containment, joints which cannot be welded since the containment must be able to be disassembled in order to inspect the portions and extract the projected fragments. A fragment impacting the containment at a point close to a joint or on a joint presents an increased risk of perforating the containment and causing damage to the facilities and potentially to personnel. The fragments have a greater probability of impacting a weak point of the containment the greater the number of portions making up the containment. However, the greater the number of portions, the easier and faster the assembly and disassembly of the containment is thanks to the reduced mass and volume of the portions.In addition, the low hardness of the selected metals, which implies an increased deformation capacity, favors the rupture of the containment enclosure, in particular at points close to the joints between the portions. Statement of the invention
[0006] An aim of the present application is to remedy the aforementioned drawbacks.
[0007] For this purpose, according to a first aspect of the invention, a test bench is proposed. bursting of a turbomachine component, comprising a containment enclosure in which a shaft extending along an axis is rotatably mounted, the shaft being configured to drive the component in rotation, the component being secured in rotation to the shaft and the containment enclosure extending around the shaft, the containment enclosure comprising several portions centered on the axis, each portion being delimited, with respect to the axis, by a radially inner wall and a radially outer wall, the walls being arranged relative to each other to form the containment enclosure which is annular and which surrounds the shaft, the containment enclosure being intended to contain fragments of the component projected during its bursting in the containment enclosure.
[0008] The test bench according to the invention is advantageously supplemented by the following characteristics, taken alone or in any of their technically possible combinations: - the portions are ring sectors, each portion being delimited by a radially inner wall, a radially outer wall and two side walls connecting the radially inner wall and the radially outer wall, preferably the side walls each extending in a plane forming a non-zero angle with a corresponding radial wall, the corresponding radial wall intersecting the axis and an edge of the radially inner wall, so that the juxtaposition two by two of the side walls of all the portions forms the confinement enclosure which is annular and which surrounds the shaft, in order to contain the fragments of the component projected during a burst of the component; - the portions are rings surrounding the shaft, each portion being delimited by an upper wall and a lower wall, the upper walls and the lower walls preferably having a surface inclined at a non-zero angle with a horizontal plane perpendicular to the axis, so that the stacked portions form a containment enclosure which is annular and which surrounds the shaft, in order to contain the fragments of the component projected during a burst of the component; - a containment enclosure surrounding the containment enclosure, the containment enclosure making it possible to stop any fragment of the component having burst in the containment enclosure and which would not be contained by the containment enclosure; - the portions of the containment enclosure are made of aluminum; - the non-zero angle is between 10° and 60°; - the containment enclosure comprises between two and twenty portions, preferably eight portions; - an oven arranged inside the containment enclosure, the oven being configured to heat the component.
[0009] The invention also relates to a burst test method for a turbomachine component of a test bench according to the invention, comprising the following steps:
[0010] - anchoring the component to the shaft;
[0011] - installation of the portions so as to form the containment enclosure around the tree;
[0012] - rotating the component by the shaft;
[0013] - stopping the rotation of the shaft;
[0014] - dismantling of the portions of the containment enclosure;
[0015] - extraction of the fragments of the component resulting from the bursting of the component.
[0016] The method is advantageously completed by the following steps, taken alone or in any of their technically possible combinations:
[0017] - installation of the oven around the component;
[0018] - heating the oven.
[0019] Finally, the turbomachine component may be a turbomachine disk. DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
[0020] Other characteristics, aims and advantages of the invention will emerge from the following description, which is purely illustrative and non-limiting, and which must be read in conjunction with the appended drawings in which:
[0021] [Fig.l] is a vertical sectional view of a test bench according to the invention;
[0022] [Fig.2] is a schematic horizontal sectional view of a test bench according to a first embodiment of the invention;
[0023] [Fig. 3] is another schematic view in horizontal section of a test bench according to the second embodiment of the invention;
[0024] [Fig.4] is a vertical sectional view of a test bench according to a third embodiment of the invention;
[0025] [Fig. 5] is a diagram showing the steps of a method of implementing the invention.
[0026] Throughout the figures, similar elements bear identical references. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0027] A test bench aims to obtain the bursting of a component by subjecting it to one or more physical stresses of known amplitude, which are generally increased during the test. Given the significant amplitude of the stresses exerted in many cases, it is necessary to isolate the test bench by a containment enclosure capable of containing the fragments while allowing their analysis. The containment enclosure must therefore be capable of retaining the fragments without damaging the fracture surfaces.
[0028] In the following, as illustrated in [Fig.l], we are more particularly in the context of a burst test bench 0 in which the component 1 is a turbomachine disk, but any other component is conceivable. A shaft 2 configured to rotate the component 1 is placed in the center of the test bench 0 and the component is attached thereto by means adapted so that its center is aligned with the axis of rotation A of the shaft 2. The shaft 2 and the component 1 are surrounded by a confinement enclosure 3 comprising several portions 30.
[0029] The axial direction corresponds to the direction of the axis A and a radial direction is a direction perpendicular to this axis and passing through it. Furthermore, the circumferential (or lateral) direction corresponds to a direction perpendicular to the axis A and not passing through it. Unless otherwise specified, internal (respectively, inside) and external (respectively, outside), respectively, are used with reference to a radial direction such that the internal part or face of an element is closer to the axis A than the external part or face of the same element.
[0030] In relation to figures 2, 3 and 4, the confinement enclosure 3 is advantageously formed of several portions 30 centered on the axis A, each portion 30 being delimited, with respect to the axis A, by a radially inner wall 302 and a radially outer wall 303, the walls being arranged relative to each other to form the continuous annular confinement enclosure 3 surrounding the shaft 2, the confinement enclosure 3 being intended to contain fragments of the component 1 projected during its bursting in the confinement enclosure 3.
[0031] The portions 30 are either rings or sectors of rings. Having several portions 30 facilitates the installation of the containment enclosure around the shaft 2.
[0032] First embodiment: ring portions - figures 2 and 3
[0033] According to a first embodiment, the confinement enclosure 3 as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 in a horizontal section plane P perpendicular to the axis A of the rotation shaft 2, is preferably in the form of a ring.
[0034] According to this first embodiment, the portions 30 are sectors of an open ring or cylinder. Each portion 30 is delimited by a radially inner wall 302, a radially outer wall 303 and two side walls 301 connecting the radially inner wall 302 and the radially outer wall 303. The portions 30 therefore comprise inner walls 302 and outer walls 303 forming arcs of circles so that once all the portions 30 are juxtaposed by their respective side walls 301, the inner walls 302 form in the plane P a continuous ring constituting the inner wall 32 of the confinement enclosure 3 while the outer walls 303 form a continuous ring in the plane P, constituting the outer wall 33 of the confinement enclosure 3.In volume, the confinement enclosure 3 therefore preferably has the shape of a hollow cylinder whose interior surface 32 is formed by the surfaces of the interior walls 302 of the portions 30 and the exterior surface 33 is formed by the surfaces of the exterior walls 303 of the portions 30. However, the confinement enclosure 3 can have any other shape, for example a polygonal shape, by modifying the geometry of the interior 302 and exterior 303 walls.
[0035] There are preferably at least four portions 30, but a greater number such as eight portions makes them easier to handle, in particular for the operations of assembly and disassembly of the confinement enclosure 3 within the test bench 0. A greater number, such as twenty portions 30, can be envisaged.
[0036] Furthermore, the side walls 301 each extend in the plane Pen forming a non-zero angle with a corresponding radial wall 304. The corresponding radial wall 304, fictitious, is in the plane P a segment which intersects the axis A and an edge 33 of the radially inner wall 302.
[0037] In other words, in the plane P, a ray intersecting the inner wall 32 of the confinement enclosure 3 defines a point of origin delimiting a segment defining a side wall 301. The second point delimiting the side wall segment 301 belongs to the outer wall 33 of the containment enclosure 3 and is positioned with an angle of between ten and sixty degrees relative to the extension of the ray intersecting the inner wall of the containment enclosure 3. Preferably, this angle between the segment defining a side wall 301 and the ray intersecting both this segment and the inner wall 32 is forty-five degrees.
[0038] The side walls 301 of the portions 30 are as regular and smooth as possible, in order to facilitate the assembly of the containment enclosure 3 by juxtaposition of the portions 30, that is to say by joining the side walls 301 two by two to form a continuous annular containment enclosure 3 surrounding the shaft 2 and the component 1, in order to contain the fragments of the component 1 projected during a burst of the component 1.
[0039] Such an arrangement of the portions 30 offers a significant structural advantage to the proposed containment enclosure 3. Indeed, a disk fragment impacting the inner wall 32 at a point close to the joint between two side walls 301 sees its penetration capacity considerably reduced by the distribution of the forces induced by the oblique arrangement of the side walls 301. The risk of total penetration of the containment enclosure 3, even in the event of a fragment impact on a joint between two side walls 301, is made potentially zero by such a containment enclosure 3, provided that the radial thickness of the portions 30 is sufficient. For example, a radial thickness of at least 10 cm may be sufficient for testing a turbomachine disk.
[0040] Such an arrangement also makes it possible to design a containment enclosure 3 made of a low-hardness material, for example aluminum, in order to collect the fragments resulting from the bursting without damaging the fracture surfaces or compromising the safety of the test bench 0. Compared to a containment enclosure 3 whose side walls 301 of the portions 30 are radial, the safety of the installation is therefore greatly improved, but the invention also provides a considerable advantage because the arrangement of the portions 30 facilitates the extraction of the fragments for post-rupture analysis. Indeed, the oblique position of the side walls 301 induces a reduced relative radial thickness for each portion 30 compared to a radial arrangement of the side walls 301 with equal thickness of the containment enclosure 3.This reduced radial thickness provides a reduced distance between a wall of a portion 30 and a fragment from a disc, once the portions 30 have been separated following a test, which facilitates their extraction.
[0041] Second embodiment: superimposed rings - [Fig.4]
[0042] In a second illustrated embodiment [Fig.4], the confinement enclosure 3 is composed of several portions 30 in the form of a ring or hollow cylinder. Each portion 30, the center of which lies on the axis A, has a radially inner wall 302, a radially outer wall 303, an upper wall 312 and a lower wall 313. The upper walls 312 and the lower walls 313 have a surface that is not parallel to the plane P. In other words, in a vertical section plane R comprising the axis A, corresponding to the section plane of FIGS. 1 and 4, the upper walls 312 and the lower walls 313 are arranged so as to be inclined by 10° to 70° relative to the plane P perpendicular to the plane R and to the axis A.
[0043] In other words, the profile of the upper 312 and lower 313 walls in the plane R, which corresponds to the intersection of a wall with this plane and is therefore a segment, is inclined by 10° to 70° relative to a radius of the confinement enclosure 3.
[0044] In this second embodiment also, the confinement enclosure 3 therefore preferably has the shape of a hollow cylinder whose inner surface 32 is formed by the surfaces of the inner walls 302 of the portions 30 and the outer surface 33 is formed by the surfaces of the outer walls 303 of the portions 30. However, the confinement enclosure 3 can have any other shape, for example a polygonal shape.
[0045] The upper walls 312 and the lower walls 313 of the portions 30 are as regular and smooth as possible, in order to facilitate the assembly of the containment enclosure 3 by stacking the portions 30, that is to say by placing the lower wall 312 of a first portion 30 on the upper wall 313 of a second portion 30 already placed to form a continuous annular containment enclosure 3 surrounding the shaft 2 and the component 1 over the entire height of the bench, in order to contain the fragments of the component 1 projected during a burst of the component 1.
[0046] For both the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the portions 30 of the containment enclosure 3 offer a significant structural advantage to the resulting containment enclosure 3. Indeed, a disc fragment impacting the inner wall 32 at a point close to the joint between a lower wall 312 of a first portion 30 and the upper wall 313 of a second portion 30 sees its penetration capacity considerably reduced by the distribution of the forces induced by the oblique arrangement of the lower 312 and upper 313 walls. The risk of total penetration of the containment enclosure 3, even in the event of a fragment impact on a joint between two lower 312 and upper 313 walls, is made potentially zero by such a containment enclosure 3, provided that the radial thickness of the portions 30 is sufficient.For example, a radial thickness of at least 10 cm may be sufficient for testing a turbomachine disk.
[0047] Such an arrangement also makes it possible to design a containment enclosure 3 made of a low-hardness material, for example aluminum, in order to collect the fragments resulting from the bursting without damaging the fracture surfaces or compromise the safety of the test bench 0. Compared to a containment enclosure 3 whose lower 312 and upper 313 walls of the portions 30 are radial, the safety of the installation is therefore greatly improved, but the invention also provides a considerable advantage because the arrangement of the portions 30 facilitates the extraction of fragments for post-rupture analysis. Indeed, the oblique position of the lower 312 and upper 313 walls induces a reduced relative radial thickness for each portion 30 compared to a radial arrangement of the lower 312 and upper 313 walls with equal thickness of the containment enclosure 3. This reduced radial thickness provides a reduced distance between a wall of a portion 30 and a fragment coming from a disc, once the portions 30 are separated at the end of a test, which facilitates their extraction.
[0048] In order to further increase the safety of the test bench 0, it is possible to add a retention enclosure 4, as illustrated [Fig. 3]. The retention enclosure 4 is configured to stop any fragment of the component 1 which would not have been retained by the containment enclosure 3. This retention enclosure 4 is preferably of a similar shape and of greater strength than the containment enclosure 3. For example, the retention enclosure 4 may have the shape of one or more hollow cylinders coaxial with the axis A and concentric with the containment enclosure 3, and made of materials of greater hardness than those used in the containment enclosure 3.
[0049] Furthermore, in order to improve the realism of the tests conducted in the test bench 0, it is possible to integrate means for controlling the temperature of the test environment, for example an oven 5. Such an oven 5, arranged around the component 1, makes it possible, for example, to raise the temperature of the component 1 to simulate the real physical constraints to which the part is subjected in operation in a turbomachine. The oven 5 is for single use since it will be destroyed by the fragments of the component 1.
[0050] In certain existing test benches 0, the shaft 2, the furnace 4 and the component 1 are supported by a cover 6, movable in translation along the axis A to be positioned in height in order to facilitate the assembly of the component 1 and / or the furnace 4. The cover 6 is positioned lower during the tests, in order to place the component I in the zone confined by the confinement enclosure 3.
[0051] A method for testing a component 1 using the test tank 0 described above is described below in relation to [Fig. 4].
[0052] The implementation of the test bench 0 requires firstly carrying out a step E0 consisting of placing, if present, the cover 6 of the bench in the high position, then a step E1 of installing the portions 30 by stacking or alternatively of installing the portions 30 by juxtaposition, in fixing supports adapted so that the portions 30 form continuous inner 32 and outer 33 surfaces. The next step is step E2 of anchoring the component 1 to the rotation drive shaft 2, followed by a step E4 of placing the cover 6 in the lower position. The actual test can then begin with a step E5 consisting of rotating the component 1 by the rotation drive shaft 2, the rotation speed following a pre-established protocol, which generally includes a progressive acceleration of the speed of the shaft 2 until the component 1 bursts. A step E7 of stopping the rotation after the component 1 bursts and raising the cover 6 is followed by a step E8 of dismantling the portions 30 of the containment enclosure 3, necessary for the final step E9 where the fragments of component 1 contained in the portions 30 of the containment enclosure 3 are extracted for examination.
[0053] If the test bench 0 comprises a furnace 5, it is necessary to install the furnace 5 around the component 1 during a step E3, then to heat it during a step E6 located before, simultaneously with or after the step E5 of rotating the component 1 by the shaft 2. In this configuration, the temperature of the furnace 5 can be modified during the step E6, for example by gradually increasing it until the component 1 bursts, in order to test the thermal properties of the component 1.
Claims
Claims
1. Test bench (0) for bursting a turbomachine component (1), comprising a containment enclosure (3) in which a shaft (2) extending along an axis A is rotatably mounted, the shaft (2) being configured to rotate the component (1), the component (1) being secured in rotation to the shaft (2) and the containment enclosure (3) extending around the shaft (2), the containment enclosure (3) comprising several portions (30) centered on the axis A, each portion (30) being a ring sector delimited, with respect to the axis A, by a radially inner wall (302), a radially outer wall (303) and two side walls (301) connecting the radially inner wall (302) and the radially outer wall (303), the side walls (301) each extending in a plane (P) forming a non-zero angle with a corresponding radial wall (304),the corresponding radial wall (304) intersecting the axis A and an edge (33) of the radially inner wall (302), so that the juxtaposition two by two of the side walls (301) of all the portions (30) forms the containment enclosure (3) which is annular and which surrounds the shaft (2), the containment enclosure (3) being intended to contain fragments of the component (1) projected during its bursting in the containment enclosure (3).,
2. Test bench (0) for bursting a turbomachine component (1) according to claim 1, comprising a retention enclosure (4) surrounding the confinement enclosure (3), the retention enclosure (4) making it possible to stop any fragment of the component (1) having burst in the confinement enclosure (3) and which would not be contained by the confinement enclosure (3).
3. Test bench (0) for bursting a turbomachine component (1) according to any one of claims 1 and 2, in which the portions (30) of the containment enclosure (3) are made of aluminum.
4. Test bench (0) for bursting a turbomachine component (1) according to any one of claims 2 to 3, in which the non-zero angle is between 10° and 60°.
5. Test bench (0) for bursting a turbomachine component (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, in which the containment enclosure (3) comprises between two and twenty portions (30), preferably eight portions (30).
6. Burst test bench for a turbomachine component (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, comprising a furnace (5) arranged inside the containment enclosure (3), the furnace (5) being configured to heat the component (1).
7. A burst test method for a turbomachine component (1) of a test bench (0) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, comprising the following steps: - E1 anchoring the component (1) to the shaft (2); - E2 installing the portions (30) so as to form the containment enclosure (3) around the shaft (2); - E5 rotating the component (1) by the shaft (2); - E7 stopping the rotation of the shaft (2); - E8 dismantling the portions (30) from the containment enclosure (3); - E9 extracting the fragments of the component (1) resulting from the bursting of the component (1).
8. Burst testing method according to claim 7, comprising between steps E2 and E7, the following steps: - E3 installation of the furnace (5) around the component (1); - E6 heating of the furnace (5).
9. A burst test bench for a turbomachine component (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, or a burst test method according to any one of claims 7 and 8, wherein the turbomachine component (1) is a turbomachine disc.