Method and system for controlling coating in non-line-of-sight locations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10179948-B2
Application number	US-201514689461-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 17, 2015
Priority date	Apr 24, 2014
Publication date	Jan 15, 2019
Grant date	Jan 15, 2019

Abstract

A method for coating a turbine engine component, said method includes the steps of: placing the component into a chamber; injecting a non-reactive carrier gas containing a coating material into the chamber; and forming a coating on a desired portion of the component by locally heating the desired portion of the component by redirecting a directed energy beam onto the desired portion of the component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for coating a turbine engine component, the component comprising a turbine vane pack having a plurality of airfoils, said method comprising the steps of:
placing said turbine vane pack into a chamber, said chamber having a transparent layer;
utilizing laser chemical vapor deposition by injecting a non-reactive carrier gas containing a vaporized coating material into said chamber, wherein said vaporized coating material consists of at least one of a vaporized zirconium dipivaloylmethanate and yttrium dipivaloylmethanate, wherein said turbine vane pack is immersed in said non-reactive carrier gas and said vaporized coating material;
forming a coating from said vaporized coating material on hidden portions of said plurality of airfoils by locally heating said hidden portions of said plurality of airfoils by applying a laser through said transparent layer, wherein the hidden portions comprise faces of the airfoils masked by a geometry of the turbine vane pack so as to affect coating distribution;
redirecting said laser onto said hidden portions of said plurality of airfoils by moving a surface of a mirror within said chamber, in the absence of a motion system employed on said plurality of airfoils, so that the laser is directed onto said hidden portions of said plurality of airfoils causing local heating of a surface of the hidden portions of said plurality of airfoils; and
causing the vaporized coating material in said chamber to deposit on said hidden portions of said plurality of airfoils responsive to said laser being redirected onto said hidden portions of said plurality of airfoils, and making conformal deposits on a concave or a convex surface of said plurality of airfoils resulting in conformal layers.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising causing said laser to raster across the hidden portions of said plurality of airfoils.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said injecting step comprises injecting the non-reactive carrier gas containing said vaporized coating material for forming one of a bond coat, a thermal barrier coating, an environmental coating, and a ceramic metallic environmental coating.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining said non-reactive carrier gas containing said vaporized coating material at a temperature lower than a deposition temperature of said coating material.

Assignees

• United Technologies Corp

Inventors

• Snyder Brooks E
• Martin Thomas J
• Slavens Thomas N

Classifications

• C23C16/045

  Coating cavities or hollow spaces, e.g. interior of tubes; Infiltration of porous substrates · CPC title

• C23C16/45582

  Expansion of gas before it reaches the substrate · CPC title

• F01D5/284 Primary

  Selection of ceramic materials · CPC title

• F05D2230/13

  using lasers · CPC title

• C23C16/047

  using irradiation by energy or particles · CPC title