Investment Casting Core Alignment Guide for Cooling Feature Precision
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Solution Overview
Problem
The heat transfer efficiency of engineered impingement cooling features in gas turbine engine components is compromised due to manufacturing and assembly tolerances, leading to misalignment of the impingement structure relative to the cooling feature.
Innovation Solution
An investment casting core with a pre-positioned alignment guide is used to ensure precise alignment of the coolant outlet opening in the impingement structure with the target impingement area of the cooling feature, allowing the impingement structure to be cast together with the cooling feature.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the impingement structure is manufactured separately and attached after casting, then the component can be assembled with modular parts, but manufacturing and assembly tolerances cause misalignment between the impingement structure and cooling feature
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the impingement structure and cooling feature into a single integrated casting operation, eliminating the separate manufacturing and assembly steps. The alignment guide is embedded within the casting mold, ensuring precise alignment of the impingement structure with the cooling feature during the casting process itself, thereby resolving the alignment precision issue while maintaining manufacturing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment guide is pre-positioned and embedded in the casting mold before the casting process begins. This preliminary positioning ensures that the impingement structure and cooling feature are pre-aligned during mold preparation, eliminating alignment issues that would otherwise occur during post-casting assembly.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the impingement structure is manufactured separately and attached after casting, then different manufacturing processes can be used for each component, but the assembly process becomes complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the manufacturing of the impingement structure and cooling feature into a single casting operation, eliminating the complex multi-step assembly process. This integration maintains manufacturing flexibility through the casting process while dramatically improving productivity by removing separate assembly operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment guide is designed as a separate embedable component that can be independently manufactured and then positioned within the mold, allowing flexibility in manufacturing the guide itself while still achieving integrated casting of the final component.
3Ease of manufacture
If manufacturing tolerances are relaxed to reduce costs, then production becomes more economical, but alignment between the impingement structure and cooling feature deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The alignment guide serves as an intermediary element that mediates between the mold and the impingement structure. It provides a reference framework that ensures precise alignment is achieved even when manufacturing tolerances are relaxed in other aspects of the process, thereby decoupling cost reduction from precision degradation.
Solution Approach 2:
By pre-positioning the alignment guide in the mold before casting, the system establishes precise alignment references in advance, allowing subsequent manufacturing steps to proceed with relaxed tolerances while maintaining final alignment precision through the guide's reference framework.
Data Source
Figure 1~4'
Figure 5~7
AI summary
An investment casting core (10) incorporates an alignment guide (24) extending through a body (12) of the core. The alignment guide (24) defines a coolant flow path (92) in a later-cast metal component (76) extending from a coolant outlet opening (90) in an impingement structure (88) to an impingement target area (86) of a cooling feature (84) formed on an impingement cooled surface (82) of the component (76). Methods of making the core (10) and using the core (10) in lost wax investment casting processes are also described.