Compressor Blade Additive Repair for Batch Geometry Rebuild
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current repair methods for damaged compressor blades in gas turbine engines are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and not suitable for batch processing, leading to high costs and inefficiencies, especially in achieving the required geometry and surface finish.
Innovation Solution
An additive manufacturing system that secures components in a tooling assembly, uses a vision system to determine a repair toolpath, deposits additive powder, and selectively irradiates it to fuse the powder onto the repair surface, enabling efficient rebuilding or repairing of multiple components simultaneously.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional welding/cladding technique is used for blade repair, then repair materials can be bonded to blade tips, but the process requires tedious post-processing machining and polishing to achieve target geometry and surface finish
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical welding/cladding processes with a robotic additive manufacturing system that deposits and fuses repair materials layer-by-layer. This substitution eliminates the need for bulky repair joints and subsequent heavy machining operations, directly achieving target geometry without tedious post-processing while maintaining bond strength through controlled material fusion.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fundamental parameters of the repair process by using additive manufacturing instead of subtractive manufacturing. The robotic system controls deposition rate, layer thickness, and fusion temperature to directly build the repair geometry, transforming the process from mechanical bonding requiring post-processing to precise additive construction that achieves final geometry in-situ.
2Strength
If traditional welding/cladding technique is used for blade repair, then repair materials can be bonded to blade tips, but the process is very labor intensive and results in very large overall labor costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual welding/cladding operations with an automated robotic additive manufacturing system. This substitution eliminates labor-intensive post-processing machining and polishing operations, dramatically increasing repair throughput and reducing overall labor costs while maintaining the bond strength of repair materials through controlled fusion processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic additive manufacturing system performs the entire repair process autonomously, from material deposition to fusion and geometry formation. The system self-regulates deposition parameters, layer construction, and fusion conditions, eliminating the need for manual intervention in post-processing operations and significantly improving productivity.
3Ease of manufacture
If direct-energy-deposition methods such as cold spray are used for blade repair, then high-speed metal powders can be deposited on blade components, but the methods are not suitable for batch processing or repairing a large number of components in a time efficient manner
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic additive manufacturing system is designed with universal applicability to repair multiple blade components simultaneously or sequentially. The system can quickly reposition between components, load different material types, and adjust parameters for various repair scenarios, providing both ease of material deposition and batch processing capability that single-component methods cannot achieve.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method significantly reduces labor costs and time by allowing for precise, batch processing of damaged compressor blades, achieving the desired geometry and surface finish with improved efficiency and accuracy.
Implementation Method 1
selectively irradiating the layer of additive powder along the repair toolpath to fuse the layer of additive powder onto the repair surface
Implementation Method 2
to fuse the layer of additive powder onto the repair surface
Data Source
AI summary
A system (50) and method (200) for repairing one or more components (70) using an additive manufacturing process includes securing the components (70) in a tooling assembly (52) such that a repair surface (72) of each component (70) is positioned within a single build plane (82), determining a repair toolpath (76) corresponding to the repair surface (72) of each component using a vision system (56), depositing a layer of additive powder (72) over the repair surface (72) of each component (70) using a powder dispensing assembly (112), and selectively irradiating the layer of additive powder (72) along the repair toolpath (76) to fuse the layer of additive powder (72) onto the repair surface (72) of each component (70).