Patent Application
20160102862
The present disclosure relates to a machine component and a method for manufacturing the same.
Components formed from manufacturing processes such as casting or forging may typically exhibit some degree of porosity which may adversely affect a performance of such components. For example, swirlers used for mixing a supply of air and fuel in gas turbine engines are often formed from casting and such cast swirlers are typically known to exhibit porosity.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,066,235 (hereinafter referred to as the '235 patent) relates to a method for manufacturing a clad component. However, manufacturing methods such as that disclosed in the '235 patent have not been known to address the concerns of porosity in casted or forged components.
Hence, there is a need for a method of manufacturing machine components with little or no porosity.
In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for manufacturing a machine component includes obtaining at least one of a casted component, a forged component, or a component manufacturing using additive fabrication, the component having a wall possibly exhibiting at least some porosity therethrough. The method further includes adding a filler material to on the wall to a pre-determined thickness, the filler material configured to cover the porosity present in the wall. The method further includes finishing the component by performing a finishing operation on the filler material.
In another aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure disclose forming a recess in the wall and filling the recess with the filler material using a laser cladding operation.
Further, embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a machine component manufactured using the methods disclosed herein.
Furthermore, embodiments of the present disclosure are also directed to a gas turbine engine and an aviation vehicle employing machine components that are manufactured using the methods disclosed herein.
Other features and aspects of this disclosure will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.
Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to same or like parts. Moreover, references to various elements described herein are made collectively or individually when there may be more than one element of the same type. However, such references are merely exemplary in nature. It may be noted that any reference to elements in the singular is also to be construed to relate to the plural and vice-versa without limiting the scope of the disclosure to the exact number or type of such elements unless set forth explicitly in the appended claims.
Besides engines, the present disclosure may also be implemented in other structures typically used in various industrial applications. For example, the structures may be casted or forged components or components that are made using other manufacturing technologies, such as, but not limited to, additive fabrication. Such structures may be static or dynamic structures depending upon the associated application and intended area of use. Therefore, although the present disclosure is explained in conjunction with the gas turbine engine 100, one of ordinary skill in the art will acknowledge that embodiments of the present disclosure can be similarly applied to or implemented with other suitable structures known in the art.
Referring to
The combustor system 106 may include multiple injectors, and combustors (not shown) operatively connected to the injectors. The injectors may supply a mixture of fuel and air to the combustors. The combustors combust the mixture of fuel and air to generate energy. This energy may be utilized to drive the turbine system 108 which may in turn use some part of the energy in driving the compressor system 104 while concurrently using the remaining part of the energy to do work.
The exhaust system 110 is coupled to the turbine system 108. Moreover, the exhaust system 110 is configured to draw exhaust gases from the turbine system 108 into the atmosphere. The present disclosure relates to a method for manufacturing a machine component that can be employed by the gas turbine engine of
For purposes of clarity in understanding the and ease of understanding the present disclosure, the machine component 200 may hereinafter be sometimes referred to as ‘the swirler’ and designated with the same reference numeral ‘200’. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that embodiments of the present disclosure can be similarly applied to any type of machine component without deviating from the spirit of the present disclosure.
Although explanation to the present disclosure is hereinafter made in conjunction with the swirler that is designated with the same reference numeral ‘200’, the machine component 200 disclosed herein may embody other types of machine components or parts that are typically used in or associated with other industrial applications. In an aspect of the present disclosure, it is envisioned that antenna guides that are typically used in aviation vehicles may also benefit from being manufactured using the methods disclosed herein as they experience some or more degree of porosity therein when being manufactured using conventional methods. Hence, it may be noted that the swirler disclosed herein should only be taken in the explanatory and illustrative sense, and should not be construed as being limiting of the present disclosure.
Referring to
Referring to
Although in the preceding embodiment, it has been disclosed that the filler material 502 is laser cladded upon forming the recess 402 in the wall 208 at locations exhibiting porosity (as defined by the presence of pores 204 in
Moreover, although such recess 402 is disclosed herein as being formed by performing a turning process after obtaining the casted or forged machine component 200, may alternatively be formed during the casting, forging, or additive fabrication stage of the machine component 200 itself. Therefore, it will be appreciated that although various structural elements and/or features of the machine component 200, for e.g., the recess 402, are disclosed herein as being obtained by performing a turning, milling, or grinding operation on the wall of the machine component 200, it can also be contemplated to form such structural elements and/or features by other processes commonly known to one skilled in the art.
With continued reference to
Although turning and other machining operations have been disclosed herein, one of ordinary skill will acknowledge that the turning operation is merely exemplary in nature and hence, non-limiting of this disclosure. Numerous other finishing processes such as, but not limited to, grinding, are readily known to one skilled in the art and such finishing processes be suitably employed in lieu of the turning operation to obtain the finished machine component 600 of
At step 704, the method 700 further includes adding the filler material 502 on the wall 208 to the pre-determined thickness T2. In various embodiments of the present disclosure, it has been disclosed that the recess 402 is formed prior to filling the recess 402 with the filler material 502. However, not withstanding anything in this document or otherwise, the filler material 502 may be added directly onto the wall 208 of the machine component 200, i.e., at its outer surface 206 without creating or forming a recess 402.
The pre-determined thickness T2 of the filler material 502 in the recess 402 of the machine component 200 may vary from one type of machine component to another and may also vary depending on specific requirements of an application.
Moreover, as disclosed earlier herein, the filler material 502 may preferably be of a material that is similar to that of the machine component 200. For example, if the machine component 200 is formed from cast or forged Stainless Steel (SS), then the filler material 502 may be made up of Stainless Steel (SS). In another example, if the machine component 200 is formed from cast Hastelloy-X, then the filler material 502 may be made up of Hastelloy-X. This way, the filler material 502 may be configured with properties similar to that of the machine component 200 and hence, form a unitary component together with the machine component 200. However, as disclosed earlier herein, dissimilar materials may optionally be used to form the laser cladded filler material 502 depending on specific requirements of an application, for e.g., to improve thermal conductivity, thermal expansion, or strength of the machine component 200.
At step 708, the method 700 further includes finishing the component 200 by performing a finishing operation. Various types of finishing operations such as, but not limited to, machining may be performed on the filler material 502 and/or the outer surface of the machine component 200. Although machining operation is disclosed herein, one of ordinary skill will acknowledge that the machining operation is merely exemplary in nature and hence, non-limiting of this disclosure. Numerous other finishing processes such as, but not limited to, grinding, are readily known to one skilled in the art and such finishing processes be suitably employed in lieu of the machining operation to obtain the finished machine component 600 of
At step 806, the method 800 further includes filling the recess 402 with the filler material 502 to the pre-determined thickness T2. At step 808, the method 800 further includes finishing the component 200 by performing at least one machining operation on the filler material 502.
Various embodiments disclosed herein are to be taken in the illustrative and explanatory sense, and should in no way be construed as limiting of the present disclosure. All directional references (e.g., axial, radial, above, below, upper, lower, top, bottom, vertical, horizontal, inward, outward, upward, downward, left, right, leftward, rightward, L.H.S, R.H.S, clockwise, and counter-clockwise) are only used for identification purposes to aid the reader's understanding of the present disclosure, and may not create limitations, particularly as to the position, orientation, or use of the devices and/or methods disclosed herein. Joinder references (e.g., attached, affixed, coupled, engaged, connected, and the like) are to be construed broadly. Moreover, such joinder references do not necessarily infer that two elements are directly connected to each other.
It is to be understood that individual features shown or described for one embodiment may be combined with individual features shown or described for another embodiment. The above described implementation does not in any way limit the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, it is to be understood although some features are shown or described to illustrate the use of the present disclosure in the context of functional segments, such features may be omitted from the scope of the present disclosure without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure as defined in the appended claims.
Embodiments of the present disclosure have applicability for implementation and use in manufacturing and/or salvaging manufactured machine components by minimizing the porosity in the machine components.
With use of conventionally known methods for manufacturing various machine components, for e.g., casting, forging, additive manufacturing and the like; machine components produced therefrom may exhibit porosity. In applications where the components may have to interact with fluids, porosity may adversely affect a performance of such components.
Embodiments of the present disclosure allow manufacturers of machine components to produce the machine components with little or no porosity thereby mitigating operational inefficiencies arising out of porosity. Moreover, the machine components may be rendered leak-proof or with minimal possibility of fluid leakage. The methods 700, 800 disclosed herein allow manufacturers to thus produce various industrially applicable parts or components with minimal effort, costs, and time.
While aspects of the present disclosure have been particularly shown and described with reference to the embodiments above, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various additional embodiments may be contemplated by the modification of the disclosed machines, systems and methods without departing from the spirit and scope of what is disclosed. Such embodiments should be understood to fall within the scope of the present disclosure as determined based upon the claims and any equivalents thereof.
