Integrated Ceramic Core-Shell Mold for Turbine Blade Cooling Holes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for manufacturing complex turbine blades with intricate internal geometries, such as investment casting, face limitations in achieving fine detail and precision due to the resolution capabilities of existing ceramic core-shell mold production techniques, which restrict the formation of small filaments for effusion cooling holes.
Innovation Solution
The use of direct light processing (DLP) to create integrated ceramic core-shell molds with fine filaments between the core and shell portions, enabling the production of thin filaments that form effusion cooling holes in the cast components, and allowing for the elimination of ball chutes and traditional tip pins by providing leaching pathways and supporting a floating tip plenum.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional investment casting methods are used with traditional ceramic core-shell molds, then the manufacturing process can produce turbine blades with basic cooling passages, but the resolution and precision are insufficient to create fine detail effusion cooling holes and intricate internal geometries
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical mold-making methods with direct light processing (DLP) technology. The DLP system uses projected light patterns to selectively cure liquid ceramic material layer by layer, building the core-shell mold with fine filament structures directly. This optical-based approach achieves the required resolution for effusion cooling holes (typically 0.5-2mm diameter) that cannot be obtained with conventional mechanical ceramic molding processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical and chemical parameters of the mold-making process by using photopolymerization of ceramic slurry instead of traditional ceramic forming methods. The liquid ceramic slurry contains photoreactive components that undergo chemical transformation when exposed to specific wavelengths of light, enabling precise control of filament formation and curing at resolutions unattainable by mechanical processes.
2Ease of manufacture
If traditional tip pins and ball chutes are used in the mold, then the mold structure can support the casting process, but additional post-casting modifications such as brazing are required to close the tip holes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the tip pins and ball chutes from the traditional mold structure. Instead of using separate support elements that require post-casting closure, the DLP process directly forms the tip plenum and cooling passage geometries within the ceramic core itself. The fine filament structures are precisely deposited only where needed to define cooling holes, leaving no extraneous features requiring secondary operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention performs preliminary action by pre-forming the exact cooling hole patterns and tip plenum geometries directly into the ceramic core using DLP before casting. The fine filaments are strategically placed during mold fabrication to define all cooling passage features in advance, eliminating the need for subsequent brazing or other post-casting modifications to close tip holes or create cooling passages.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the ceramic core-shell mold is made in one piece, then the mold structure is simple, but it cannot provide integrated leaching pathways and floating tip plenum support simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies multi-functionality by designing the ceramic core to simultaneously serve multiple functions: supporting the tip plenum during casting, providing leaching pathways for shell removal, and defining the final cooling hole patterns. The DLP process enables a single integrated core structure to perform all these functions through precise digital modeling and selective filament deposition, eliminating the need for separate components for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges the tip plenum support structure, leaching pathways, and cooling hole definition features into a single integrated ceramic core. The DLP technology allows these previously separate functions to be combined in one monolithic core structure with internal channeling, where the same filament network that supports the tip plenum also creates the leaching paths and cooling passage patterns.
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 approach enhances the resolution and precision of casting processes, enabling the creation of turbine blades with intricate cooling hole patterns that were previously unattainable, improving the manufacturing of turbine blades and stator vanes for jet engines by providing efficient cooling pathways without the need for additional post-casting modifications.
Implementation Method 1
direct light processing (DLP) to create integrated ceramic core-shell molds
Implementation Method 2
provide leaching pathways for the core serpentine
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure generally relates to partial integrated core-shell investment casting molds that can be assembled into complete molds. Each section of the partial mold may contain both a portion of a core and portion of a shell. Each section can then be assembled into a mold for casting of a metal part. The partial integrated core-shell investment casting molds and the complete molds may be provided with filament structures corresponding to cooling hole patterns on the surface of the turbine blade or the stator vane, which provides a leaching pathway for the core portion after metal casting. The invention also relates to core filaments that can be used to supplement the leaching pathway, for example in a core tip portion of the mold.