Methods of customizing, manufacturing, and repairing a rotor blade using additive manufacturing processes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10633976-B2
Application number	US-201715658928-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2017
Priority date	Jul 25, 2017
Publication date	Apr 28, 2020
Grant date	Apr 28, 2020

Abstract

In a first aspect, there is a method of making a rotor blade, including designing at least one of an upper skin, a lower skin, a support network, and components therefor; and forming at least one of the upper skin, the lower skin, a support network, and components therefor using an additive manufacturing process. In a second aspect, there is an airfoil member having a root end, a tip end, a leading edge, and a trailing edge, the airfoil member including an upper skin; a lower skin; and a support network having a plurality of interconnected support members in a lattice arrangement and/or a reticulated arrangement, the support network being configured to provide tailored characteristics of the airfoil member. Also provided are methods and systems for repairing an airfoil member.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of making a rotor blade, comprising:
providing a data library, the data library comprises dynamic performance data, characteristics of materials, support network arrangement parameters, upper skin parameters, and lower skin parameters;
designing at least one of an upper skin and a lower skin, the designing step is based upon, at least in part, the dynamic performance data, the characteristics of materials, the upper skin parameters, and/or the lower skin parameters in the data library;
designing a support network having a tailored cell density and adjacent to the upper skin and/or the lower skin, the designing step is based upon, at least in part, the dynamic performance data, the characteristics of materials, and the support network arrangement parameters in the data library;
forming the support network using an additive manufacturing process; and
forming at least one of the upper skin and the lower skin using an additive manufacturing process.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the additive manufacturing process comprises at least one of the following: electron beam melting, selective laser sintering, selective laser melting, stereolithography, direct metal laser sintering, three-dimensional printing, fused deposition modeling, laser curing and lasered engineered net shaping.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method of making further includes:
providing inputs;
and
the steps of designing are based, at least in part, on the inputs.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the step of providing inputs includes an input comprising at least one of the following: airfoil size, airfoil shape, boundary conditions, and situational requirements.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the support network arrangement parameters comprises a lattice arrangement, a reticulated arrangement, and/or combinations of lattice and reticulated arrangements.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
generating at least one of a virtual upper skin, a virtual lower skin, and a virtual support member;
wherein the forming step is based, at least in part, on at least one of the virtual upper skin, the virtual lower skin, and the virtual support member.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the support network comprises a lattice arrangement, a reticulated arrangement, and/or combinations of lattice and reticulated arrangements.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the step of designing a support network further includes selecting a portion of the support network to modify the arrangement, density, and number of support members in at least one of the following orientations: chordwise direction, lengthwise direction, and out-of-plane direction.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of designing a support network further includes selecting an arrangement of the support network comprising a lattice arrangement, reticulated arrangement, and/or combinations of lattice and reticulated arrangements.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the support network comprising a plurality of interconnected support members.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the step of designing a support network further includes selecting the density and number of the interconnected support members in the arrangement of the support network in a chordwise direction, lengthwise direction, and out-of-plane direction.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the selecting step further comprises selecting a closely compacted portion and an open cell portion.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the rotor blade includes a leading edge and a trailing edge, the selecting step further comprises selecting a plurality of closely compacted portions adjacent to the leading edge.

14. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the rotor blade includes a leading edge and a trailing edge, the selecting step further comprises selecting a uniform density of cells along the chordwise axis.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the rotor blade includes a leading edge portion and a trailing edge portion, the step of designing at least one of an upper skin and a lower skin further comprises selecting a thick profile for at least a portion of the upper and lower skins.

16. A method of repairing an airfoil member, comprising:
removing a damaged portion of the airfoil member to form a cavity;
designing at least one of a virtual upper skin, a virtual lower skin, and a virtual support network, for the cavity;
forming at least one of the upper skin, the lower skin, and the support network, using an additive manufacturing process; and
bonding the at least one of the upper skin, the lower skin, and the support network, to the cavity in the airfoil member.

Assignees

• Bell Helicopter Textron Inc

Inventors

• Nissen Jeffrey
• Paulson Jared M
• Chiang Thomas S

Classifications

• F01D5/005

  Repairing methods or devices · CPC title

• F05B2230/00

  Manufacture · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B22F7/062

  involving the connection or repairing of preformed parts · CPC title

• B29L2031/087

  Propellers · CPC title