Additive Manufacturing Plexus for Turbine Engine Components
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Solution Overview
Problem
Additively manufactured components with laterally-protruding features experience internal stresses during the manufacturing process, leading to undesirable warping due to gravitational forces, which challenges the production of complex geometries like those found in turbine engine components.
Innovation Solution
The method involves forming a plexus within an additively-manufactured turbine engine component by serially adding layers of material to create fluid passages with unaligned directions, such as columns and overhangs, which can be curved or angled to reduce internal stresses and improve structural stability during the build process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If support structures are included to provide rigidity for right-angle formations, then structural stability is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes support structures from the final component design by integrating load-bearing functionality directly into the plexus architecture. The column and overhang formations are designed to carry loads without requiring additional support structures, thereby extracting the unnecessary complexity while maintaining stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the structural support function with the fluid passage function by designing the plexus architecture where columns and overhangs simultaneously define fluid pathways and bear mechanical loads. This integration eliminates separate support structures while maintaining both fluid flow and structural stability.
2Shape
If right-angle formations are used to create complex geometries, then geometric complexity is improved, but internal stresses and warping increase due to gravitational forces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces sharp right-angle formations with curved transitions in the plexus architecture. The columns and overhangs feature rounded corners and smooth transitions that distribute stresses more evenly throughout the structure, reducing internal stress concentrations and preventing warping while maintaining geometric complexity.
3Ease of manufacture
If layers are serially added along build direction, then manufacturing capability is improved, but gravitational forces cause warping in laterally-protruding features
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from traditional two-dimensional layer-by-layer additive manufacturing to three-dimensional concurrent formation of columns and overhangs. By utilizing the build direction and lateral dimensions simultaneously to create intersecting fluid passages, the method achieves complex geometries without the warping issues associated with sequential lateral protrusion.
4Adaptability or versatility
If overhangs are formed to create unaligned fluid passages, then geometric flexibility is improved, but structural rigidity decreases due to longer unsupported spans
Solution Approach 1:
The patent nests columns within overhangs and overhangs within columns to create a hierarchical plexus structure. This nesting allows fluid passages to be formed in unaligned directions while the nested architecture provides multiple load paths and structural reinforcement, maintaining rigidity despite the geometric flexibility required for complex fluid routing.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects generally relate to a method of forming a plexus within an additively-manufactured component. The method includes forming a fluid passage in the plexus by serially forming layers of material along a build direction to form a column defining the fluid passage along a first direction within an interior of a turbine engine component.