Adaptive control of coating thickness

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10969215-B2
Application number	US-201816054674-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2018
Priority date	Aug 4, 2017
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

An example method that includes receiving a first geometry of a component in an uncoated state and a second geometry of the component in a coated state; determining a first difference between the second geometry and a first simulated geometry based on the first geometry and a first spray law comprising a plurality of first spray law parameters; iteratively adjusting at least one first spray law parameter to determine a respective subsequent spray law; iteratively determining a respective subsequent difference between the second geometry and a subsequent simulated geometry based on the first geometry and the subsequent respective spray law; selecting a subsequent spray law from the respective subsequent spray laws based on the respective subsequent differences; and controlling a coating process based on the selected subsequent spray law.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a computing device, a first geometry of a component in an uncoated state and a second geometry of the component in a coated state;
determining, by the computing device, a first difference between the second geometry and a first simulated geometry, wherein the first simulated geometry is based on the first geometry and a first spray law, and the first spray law comprises a plurality of first spray law parameters;
iteratively:
adjusting, by the computing device, at least one first spray law parameter of the plurality of first spray law parameters to determine a respective subsequent spray law comprising a plurality of respective subsequent spray law parameters;
determining, by the computing device, a respective subsequent difference between the second geometry and a subsequent simulated geometry, wherein the subsequent simulated geometry is based on the first geometry and the subsequent respective spray law;

selecting, by the computing device, a subsequent spray law from the respective subsequent spray laws based on the respective subsequent differences; and
controlling, by the computing device, a coating process based on the selected subsequent spray law.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the subsequent spray law comprises selecting a subsequent spray law from the respective subsequent spray laws in response to the second geometry and the respective subsequent target geometry associated with the selected subsequent spray law being substantially the same.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the computing device, a subsequent difference for each respective component of a plurality of components;
determining, by the computing device, an average of the plurality of subsequent differences; and
selecting, by the computing device, a subsequent spray law based on the average of the plurality of differences.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising repeating the receiving, determining, and selecting at regular or irregular intervals within a plurality of coating processes.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the at least one first spray law parameter of the plurality of first spray law parameters to determine the respective subsequent spray law comprising a plurality of respective subsequent spray law parameters utilizes nonlinear optimization.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the component comprises a superalloy component, a ceramic component, or a CMC component.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the at least one first spray law parameter of the plurality of first spray law parameters to determine the respective subsequent spray law comprising a plurality of respective subsequent spray law parameters comprises maintaining a number of passes and a coating device velocity between the first spray law and each respective subsequent spray law.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the subsequent spray law from the respective subsequent spray laws based on the respective subsequent differences comprises reducing a value of an objective function based on a total error of respective subsequent differences between a target coated component geometry and a geometry determined using the first geometry of the component and the respective subsequent spray law.

Assignees

• Rolls Royce Nam Tech Inc

Inventors

• Bourne Keith
• Gold Matthew R
• Sweet Marshall Louis
• Periverzov Frol
• Zimmerman Benjamin

Classifications

• G01B21/08 Primary

  for measuring thickness · CPC title

• G01B11/24

  for measuring contours or curvatures · CPC title

• B05B13/0431

  with spray heads moved by robots or articulated arms, e.g. for applying liquid or other fluent material to three-dimensional [3D] surfaces · CPC title

• F05D2230/31

  Layer deposition · CPC title

• B05B1/3033

  the control being effected by relative coaxial longitudinal movement of the controlling element and the spray head (B05B1/3026 takes precedence) · CPC title