Duct assembly and method of forming

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10697076-B2
Application number	US-201815940325-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2018
Priority date	Mar 29, 2018
Publication date	Jun 30, 2020
Grant date	Jun 30, 2020

Abstract

Duct assembly and method of forming a duct assembly, the method including providing a preform having a unitary body with multiple sleeve sections defining multiple apertures, disposing multiple sacrificial mandrel pieces adjacent the preform body such that at least one of the multiple sacrificial mandrel pieces abuts at least one of the multiple sleeve sections, and forming the duct assembly to define a unitary metallic tubular element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a duct assembly comprising:
disposing at least one sacrificial mandrel relative to a preform, the preform having an interior passage and multiple sleeves defining multiple apertures coupled to the interior passage, such that the at least one sacrificial mandrel extends beyond at least one of the multiple apertures of the multiple sleeves;
depositing metal on the at least one sacrificial mandrel and the preform, at a temperature that does not damage the sacrificial mandrel, to define a unitary metallic tubular element with the preform and the unitary metallic tubular element having sleeves that are greater in length than the multiple sleeves of the preform wherein each sleeve corresponds to one of the multiple sleeves, with the sleeves of the unitary metallic tubular element defining openings coupled to the interior passage of the preform; and
removing the sacrificial mandrel after the depositing of the metal to form a fluid passageway through the duct assembly at least partially defined by the deposited metal and preform.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming, via additive manufacturing or injection molding, the at least one sacrificial mandrel having a predetermined geometry.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the forming via injection molding comprises injecting sacrificial material into a mold around the preform.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the depositing metal includes electroforming.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the preform is a metal body including nickel, nickel alloy, or steel.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the preform further comprises forming a preform body via direct metal laser melting.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising identifying a high stress area of the metallic tubular element prior to forming the preform body and increasing a thickness of the preform body at the high stress area as compared to another portion of the preform body.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the multiple sleeves of the preform body define an inlet sleeve section having an inlet aperture, a first outlet sleeve branch having a first outlet aperture, and a second outlet sleeve branch having a second outlet aperture.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the preform body further includes a web between the inlet sleeve section, the first outlet sleeve branch, and the second outlet sleeve branch.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein disposing multiple sacrificial mandrel pieces adjacent the preform body comprises disposing a first sacrificial mandrel into the inlet sleeve section and the first outlet sleeve branch to fill the inlet aperture and the first outlet aperture and disposing a second sacrificial mandrel into the second outlet sleeve branch to fill the second outlet aperture.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the preform body of the preform further includes at least one of a tee take-off feature, a clevis, a V-band flange, or a locator key.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the preform body includes at least one transitional surface.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the multiple sleeves in the preform unitary body are spaced from each other and connected via a seam section and multiple gaps are formed between the multiple sleeves.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein disposing multiple sacrificial mandrel pieces adjacent the preform includes covering the multiple gaps with the multiple sacrificial mandrel pieces respectively and the depositing metal on the sacrificial mandrel and the preform comprises depositing metal on an interior surface of the preform and inner surfaces of the multiple sacrificial mandrel pieces.

15. A duct assembly, comprising:
a preform having a unitary body with multiple sleeve sections and wherein the preform defines an interior surface and an exterior surface, with a gap formed between at least two of the multiple sleeve sections; and
a duct section comprising a metal layer unitarily formed with the preform and defining a fluid passageway, with the metal layer closing the gap to at least partially define the fluid passageway.

16. The duct assembly of claim 15 wherein the multiple sleeve sections define an inlet sleeve section, a first outlet sleeve branch, and a second outlet sleeve branch.

17. The duct assembly of claim 16 wherein the unitary body of the preform further includes a web having multiple openings and extending between the inlet sleeve section, the first outlet sleeve branch, and the second outlet sleeve branch.

18. The duct assembly of claim 16 wherein the unitary body of the preform further includes at least one of a tee take-off feature, a clevis, a v-band flange, or a locator key.

19. The duct assembly of claim 16 wherein the metal layer forms the interior surface to define the fluid passageway or forms the exterior surface to define the fluid passageway in conjunction with the preform.

20. The duct assembly of claim 15 wherein the preform has a greater thickness in anticipated areas of load path than in a remainder of the preform.

Assignees

• Unison Ind Llc

Inventors

• Millward David William
• Templeton Donald Lee
• Dyer Daniel
• Phelps Emily Marie

Classifications

• C25D7/04 Primary

  Tubes; Rings; Hollow bodies · CPC title

• C25D1/02 Primary

  Tubes; Rings; Hollow bodies · CPC title

• B22F10/28

  Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM] · CPC title

• Y02P10/25

  Process efficiency · CPC title

• F02C7/18

  the medium being gaseous, e.g. air {(F02C7/125 takes precedence)} · CPC title