Method of making a fuel injector nozzle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10539106-B2
Application number	US-201615099122-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 14, 2016
Priority date	Jul 30, 2009
Publication date	Jan 21, 2020
Grant date	Jan 21, 2020

Abstract

A method of fabricating a fuel injector nozzle comprising the steps of: (a) forming a first microstructured pattern in a first material; (b) replicating the first microstructured pattern in a second material to make a first mold comprising a second microstructured pattern in the second material; (c) replicating the second microstructured pattern in a third material to make a second mold comprising a third microstructured pattern comprising a plurality of microstructures in the third material; (d) replicating the third microstructured pattern in a metal material to make a replicated structure; and (e) removing the third material resulting in a nozzle having a plurality of through-holes through the metal material and corresponding to the plurality of microstructures in the third microstructured pattern. Each of the plurality of through-holes has a hole wall connecting a hole entry to a hole exit, and the hole wall of at least one through-hole has a side that curves from its hole entry to its hole exit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of fabricating a fuel injector nozzle comprising a plurality of through-holes, said method comprising the steps of:
forming a first microstructured pattern in a polymerizable material capable of undergoing a photon reaction by selectively reacting the polymerizable material using a photon process, where the photon process enables polymerization to be confined or limited to the focal region of a focused beam of light used to expose the polymerizable material, with the first microstructured pattern comprising a plurality of microstructures, and each microstructure being a negative replica of a fuel injector nozzle through-hole and comprising a top;
replicating at least the microstructures of the first microstructured pattern in a metal material to make a replicated structure, with the replicated structure comprising a second microstructured pattern, the second microstructure pattern comprising a negative replica of the microstructures, and the top of each microstructure being either covered with the metal material or exposed;
for each microstructure having its top covered with the metal material, removing metal material from the replicated structure to expose the top of each microstructure covered with the metal material; and
removing at least the microstructures from the replicated structure, resulting in a nozzle having a plurality of through-holes.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the top of at least one of the microstructures is covered with the metal material.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said removing comprises planarizing metal material of the replicated structure to expose tops of the microstructures.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein said removing metal material from the replicated structure results in a fuel injector nozzle having a plurality of through-holes.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein replicating the first microstructured pattern in the metal material comprises electroplating the first microstructured pattern.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second microstructured pattern is a pattern of holes, with each hole only having a hole entry.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein replicating the first microstructured pattern in the metal material comprises coating the first microstructured pattern with the metal material.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein each through-hole has a hole wall connecting a hole entry to a hole exit, and the hole wall of at least one through-hole has a side that is continuously curved from its hole entry to its hole exit.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein each through-hole has a hole wall connecting a hole entry to a hole exit, the hole entry and the hole exit each define an opening area, and the opening area of the hole entry of at least one through-hole is larger than the opening area of its hole exit.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein each through-hole has a hole wall connecting a hole entry to a hole exit, and the hole wall of at least one through-hole has a lateral cross-sectional area that becomes smaller from the hole entry to the hole exit of the through-hole.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein each through-hole has a hole wall connecting a hole entry to a hole exit, and for at least one through-hole, the hole entry has a first shape and the hole exit has a second shape different than the first shape.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein each through-hole has a hole wall connecting a hole entry to a hole exit, each of the through-holes has a central axis passing through the center of the through-hole from the hole entry to the hole exit, and the hole wall of at least one through-hole has a side that curves with a convex or concave shape from its hole entry to its hole exit.

Assignees

• 3M Innovative Properties Co

Inventors

• Carpenter Barry S
• Willoughby Jaime B
• Sahlin Jennifer J

Classifications

• F02M61/184

  Discharge orifices having non circular sections · CPC title

• F02M2200/8069

  involving removal of material from the fuel apparatus, e.g. by punching, hydro-erosion or mechanical operation · CPC title

• B23P15/16

  plates with holes of very small diameter, e.g. for spinning or burner nozzles · CPC title

• F02M61/1833 Primary

  Discharge orifices having changing cross sections, e.g. being divergent · CPC title

• C23C14/14

  Metallic material, boron or silicon · CPC title