Lattice-Cored Compressor Components With Tuned Stiffness and Weight
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional compressor components face challenges in achieving a balance between high strength, low weight, and controlled stiffness and deflection properties, especially under harsh temperature and pressure conditions, leading to inefficiencies and durability issues.
Innovation Solution
The development of high-strength, lightweight compressor components with lattice structures formed via additive manufacturing, allowing for customized stiffness and deflection levels through varying cell density and design, enabling localized control and optimized performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If lightweight materials are used to reduce weight, then weight is reduced, but strength and stiffness are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines lightweight materials with a lattice structure to create a composite component that achieves both weight reduction and high strength. The lattice framework provides structural reinforcement while using minimal material, creating a composite system that outperforms solid lightweight materials in strength-to-weight ratio.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a lattice structure with controlled porosity that maintains structural integrity while reducing weight. The interconnected struts and nodes of the lattice provide load-bearing capacity comparable to solid materials, but with significantly reduced mass due to the void spaces within the structure.
2Strength
If high-strength materials are used to increase strength, then strength is improved, but stiffness becomes excessively high causing wear
Solution Approach 1:
The lattice structure enables different regions of the component to have different local densities and mechanical properties. Areas requiring high strength have denser lattice configurations, while areas where flexibility is needed have sparser configurations, allowing the component to exhibit wear-reducing compliance in contact regions while maintaining overall structural strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent varies lattice parameters such as strut thickness, node density, and cell size to tune the mechanical properties of different regions. By adjusting these geometric parameters, the component achieves optimal balance between strength and compliance, preventing excessive wear while maintaining high strength-to-weight ratio.
3Ease of manufacture
If uniform structure is used throughout the component, then manufacturing is simple, but stiffness and deflection cannot be optimized for specific regions
Solution Approach 1:
The component is divided into multiple lattice unit cells that can be replicated and assembled. Each unit cell is a standardized geometric structure that can be uniformly manufactured, yet the overall component achieves varying stiffness characteristics by controlling the distribution, orientation, and density of these segmented units in different regions.
Solution Approach 2:
The lattice structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support, enables weight reduction, controls stiffness distribution, and facilitates heat transfer. This multi-functionality is achieved through the inherent geometric configuration of the lattice that can be tuned to perform different mechanical roles in different locations within the same component.
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
These components achieve enhanced compressor efficiency, durability, and reduced manufacturing complexity by providing high strength-to-weight ratios and controlled mechanical properties, optimizing stiffness and deflection levels within the compressor.
Implementation Method 1
applying energy in a predetermined pattern to a powder precursor to create a fused solid structure via an additive manufacturing process
Data Source
AI summary
A light-weight, high-strength compressor component is formed via additive manufacturing that has controlled stiffness and/or deflection levels. The component may have at least one interior region comprising a lattice structure that comprises a plurality of repeating cells. A solid surface is disposed over the lattice structure. The interior region comprises the lattice structure in the body portion of the light-weight, high-strength compressor component. The lattice structure may be used to globally or locally control stiffness and/or deflection levels of the compressor component. Additive manufacturing provides flexibility in forming compressor components with desirably improved strength-to-weight ratios while exhibiting high levels of control over stiffness and/or deflection. Methods of making such compressor components via additive manufacturing processes are also provided.