Closed chamber abrasive flow machine systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11577355-B2
Application number	US-201715859173-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 29, 2017
Priority date	Dec 29, 2017
Publication date	Feb 14, 2023
Grant date	Feb 14, 2023

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for viscous and/or chemically erosive flow machining of work pieces. In certain examples, a tool for flow machining may be disclosed. The tool may include a cavity configured to receive a work piece and one or more inlets and outlets for viscous media flow. Viscous media and/or chemically erosive media can be flowed into the cavity and, via a media flow path, can be used to machine the work piece.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a tool body comprising:
a cavity; and
a work piece holder disposed within the cavity and configured to receive a work piece;
a seal door configured to move between a first position allowing access to the cavity and a second position preventing access to the cavity;
a first media entry configured to couple to a media source and allow media to flow into the cavity; and
a first media exit configured to allow the media to flow out of the cavity, wherein the first media entry is a first point in a media flow path of the media and the media exit is a second point in the media flow path downstream of the first point, and wherein the work piece holder is configured to hold the work piece within the media flow path to be machined by the media;

wherein the cavity comprises a cavity surface comprising a curved portion that curves in downstream direction of the media flow path, the curved portion being positioned to be across the media flow path from a curved portion of a work piece surface of the work piece, the curved portions of the cavity surface and of the work piece surface guiding the media, when machining the work piece, to flow along the media flow path which curves, in the downstream direction, between the curved portions of the cavity surface and of the work piece surface along the curved portions of the cavity surface and of the work piece surface;
wherein the tool body further comprises:
a shaping portion comprising the cavity; and
a stiffening portion configured to receive the shaping portion and stiffen the shaping portion, the stiffening portion completely enclosing the shaping portion in a cross-sectional view of the apparatus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the shaping portion comprises a surface completely enclosing a void within the cavity in a cross-sectional view of the apparatus.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the shaping portion is configured to be removable from the stiffening portion, the stiffening portion being configured to accommodate different shaping portions with respective differently shaped cavities depending on a final geometry of the work piece.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the shaping portion is configured to affect the media flow path within the cavity.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the work piece holder is coupled to the shaping portion.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tool body is made from a first material and at least the cavity further comprises a hardening coating disposed on the first material.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second media entry configured to allow media to flow into the cavity; and
a second media exit configured to allow media to flow out of the cavity.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the media comprises at least one of an abrasive viscous media and a chemically erosive media; wherein the cavity is configured to vary a flow speed of the media at different portions of the work piece to provide respective different rates of work piece machining at the different portions of the work piece.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cavity comprises one or more features configured to affect the media flow path, each feature comprising at least one of one or more protrusions and recesses directing the flow of the media, wherein the one or more features change the distance from the workpiece surface to the cavity surface in at least a part of the media flow path.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising the media source;
wherein the work piece comprises an interior channel whose surface is to be smoothed by the media machining the work piece.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising a controller communicatively coupled to the media source, wherein the controllers is configured to cause the media source to flow the media into the cavity for a pre-determined amount of time.

12. A method of using the apparatus of claim 1 , the method comprising: positioning a work piece to be held by the work piece holder; moving the seal door to the second position; flowing the media into the cavity; and machining the work piece with the media flowing through the media flow path, wherein the media flows at different flow speeds at respective different portions of the work piece, and the media machines the different portions of the work piece at respective different machining rates.

13. A method of using the apparatus of claim 1 , the method comprising:
positioning a work piece to be held by the work piece holder;
moving the seal door to the second position;
flowing the media into the cavity; and
machining the work piece with the media flowing through the media flow path;
wherein the tool body further comprises a shaping portion comprising the cavity and a stiffening portion configured to receive the shaping portion and stiffen the shaping portion, the method further comprising:
determining that wear of the shaping portion is past a wear threshold;
removing the shaping portion from the stiffening portion; and
coupling a second shaping portion with wear less than the wear threshold to the stiffening portion.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining a machined work piece shape;
selecting the shaping portion from a plurality of shaping portions of different geometries in response to the determining the machined work piece shape; and
coupling the shaping portion to the stiffening portion.

15. A method comprising manufacturing the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the manufacturing comprises:
determining a geometry of a tool body comprising a cavity and a work piece holder disposed within the cavity and configured to receive a work piece;
determining a starting geometry of the work piece;
determining characteristics of a media;
determining a media flow path of the media within the cavity when the work piece holder within the cavity receives the work piece; and
determining machining characteristics of the media flow path of the media on the work piece.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the determining the geometry of the tool body comprises determining a configuration of a shaping portion of the tool body, wherein the shaping portion is configured to be disposed within the media flow path and configured to affect the media flow path.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the determining the geometry of the tool body further comprises determining a geometry of a wearable portion of the shaping portion and wherein the method further comprises:
determining machining characteristics of the media flow path of the media on the wearable portion.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the determining the machining characteristics comprise determining that an amount of erosion from a first portion of the work piece is above a first erosion threshold and/or determining that a swelling of a first portion of the work piece is below a first swelling threshold and wherein the determining the media flow path comprises determining a placement of a media entry relative to the work piece holder.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
determining a cavity geometry of the cavity from a final geometry of the work piece and the characteristics of the media.

20. An apparatus comprising: a tool body comprising: a cavity; and a work piece holder disposed within the cavity and configured to receive a work piece; a seal door configured to move between a first position allowing access to the cavity and a second position p

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• De Silva Kandaudage Channa Ruwan
• Slattery Kevin Thomas

Classifications

• B24B31/003 Primary

  whereby the workpieces are mounted on a holder and are immersed in the abrasive material · CPC title

• B24C1/08

  for polishing surfaces, e.g. {smoothing a surface} by making use of liquid-borne abrasives · CPC title

• B24C1/04

  for treating only selected parts of a surface, e.g. for carving stone or glass · CPC title

• B24B31/10

  involving other means for tumbling of work · CPC title

• C23F1/04

  Chemical milling · CPC title