Bonding probe for bonded dual walled turbine components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11717907-B2
Application number	US-202016870762-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 8, 2020
Priority date	Mar 2, 2020
Publication date	Aug 8, 2023
Grant date	Aug 8, 2023

Abstract

A bonding probe is used for bonding a cover sheet to a core to form or repair a dual wall structure. The bonding probe includes a body, an attachment end at a distal end of the body, a head at an opposite end of the body, a tip extending from the head, and a cooling passageway. The attachment end couples the body to a resistance welder. The tip extends to form a proximate end of the body. The tip includes a contacting area having a predetermined three dimensional contoured surface. The contacting area aligns with a predetermined area of a three dimensional outer surface of a cover sheet of a dual walled structure. The cooling passageway provides a passageway for a flow of cooling fluid. The cooling passageway extends through the head, and into the tip.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A bonding probe comprising:
a body;
an attachment end at a distal end of the body to couple the body to a resistance welder;
a head at an opposite end of the body from the attachment end;
a tip extending from the head to form a proximate end of the body, the tip including a contacting area having a predetermined three-dimensional (3D) contoured surface to align with a three-dimensional (3D) contoured outer surface of a 3D cover sheet of a dual walled structure, wherein the tip comprises a deformable metal alloy having shape memory; and
a cooling passageway providing a passageway for a flow of a cooling fluid, the cooling passageway extending from the attachment end, through the head, and into the tip.

2. The bonding probe of claim 1 , wherein the contacting area is a predetermined shape to align with a surface area of a pedestal abutting an inner surface of the 3D cover sheet, the inner surface of the 3D cover sheet being an opposing surface of the 3D contoured outer surface of the 3D cover sheet.

3. The bonding probe of claim 2 , wherein the pedestal is a first pedestal, wherein the predetermined shape of the contacting area is dimensioned to extend on the 3D contoured outer surface of the 3D cover sheet to align with a surrounding peripheral edge of the surface area of the pedestal or extend beyond the surrounding peripheral edge of the surface area of the pedestal by less than a predetermined percentage of a distance between the first pedestal and a second pedestal adjacent to the first pedestal.

4. The bonding probe of claim 1 , wherein the passageway provided by the cooling passageway is a serpentine shaped passageway, the cooling passageway further including a contact area cavity disposed in the tip, the contact area cavity positioned in the tip to align with and extend along the predetermined three-dimensional (3D) contoured surface of the contacting area to conduct heat away from the contacting area and into the cooling fluid present in the contact area cavity.

5. The bonding probe of claim 4 , wherein a wall of the contact area cavity is substantially parallel with the predetermined three-dimensional (3D) contoured surface of the contacting area.

6. The bonding probe of claim 1 , wherein the tip includes planar side walls extending away from the head to peripheral edges defining the contacting area.

7. The bonding probe of claim 1 , wherein the tip comprises machined sidewalls extending to one or more peripheral edges surrounding and defining the contact area.

8. A bonding probe system comprising:
a dual walled structure, the dual walled structure including a three-dimensional (3D) cover sheet; and
a bonding probe, the bonding probe including:
a tip;
a head comprising a first end and a second end, the first end coupled to the tip, the tip extending away from the head;
an insulator coupled to the second end of the head;
an attachment end coupled to the insulator, the attachment end to electrically couple the tip to a resistance welder;
a cooling passageway extending through the bonding probe, the cooling passageway configured to provide a path for a flow of a cooling fluid; and
a contacting area disposed on the tip, the contacting area including:
a surrounding peripheral edge defining a perimeter of the contacting area, the perimeter of the contacting area corresponding to a predetermined area of a three-dimensional (3D) contoured outer surface of the 3D cover sheet of the dual walled structure, and
a predetermined three-dimensional (3D) contoured surface to align with the three-dimensional (3D) contoured outer surface within the predetermined area.

9. The bonding probe system of claim 8 , wherein the tip comprises planar side walls extending from the first end of the head and terminated by the contacting area.

10. The bonding probe system of claim 8 , wherein the contacting area is a predetermined shape that is in alignment with a surface area of a pedestal abutting an inner surface of the 3D cover sheet, the inner surface of the 3D cover sheet being an opposing surface of the 3D contoured outer surface of the 3D cover sheet.

11. The bonding probe system of claim 10 , wherein the pedestal is a first pedestal, wherein the surrounding peripheral edge of the tip aligns with a surrounding peripheral edge of the surface area of the pedestal or extends beyond the surrounding peripheral edge of the surface area of the pedestal by less than a predetermined percentage of a distance between the first pedestal and a second pedestal directly neighboring, and included in a predetermined repeating pattern of pedestals, that includes the first pedestal.

12. The bonding probe system of claim 8 , wherein the cooling passageway extends into the tip.

13. The bonding probe system of claim 12 , wherein the cooling passageway extends into the tip from the head in closer proximity to a first planar side wall of the tip than a second planar side wall, extends parallel to the contacting area, and extends into the head from the tip in closer proximity to the second planar side wall of the tip than the first planar side wall.

14. The bonding probe system of claim 8 , wherein the head comprises multiple tips and the attachment end is a single attachment end, the head coupled to the single attachment end and each of the respective tips.

15. The bonding probe system of claim 14 , wherein the contacting area of the tips corresponds to a pull plane of a 3D contoured dual wall structure.

16. A bonding probe comprising:
a body;
an attachment end included in the body and configured to couple the body to a resistance welder;
a head coupled with the body;
a tip extending from the head to form an end of the body opposite the attachment end, the tip including a contacting area having a predetermined three-dimensional (3D) contoured surface; and
a cooling passageway providing a path for a flow of a cooling fluid, wherein the cooling passageway includes a tip inlet passage and a tip outlet passage, wherein a contacting area cavity fluidly connects the tip inlet passage and tip outlet passage, the contacting area cavity substantially parallel to the contacting area,
wherein the cooling passageway extends into the tip from the head in closer proximity to a first planar side wall of the tip than a second planar side wall of the tip, the cooling passageway extending parallel to the contacting area and extending into the head from the tip in closer proximity to the second planar side wall than the first planar side wall,
wherein, during operation of the resistance welder, the cooling fluid in the tip inlet passage is cooler than cooling fluid in the contacting area cavity and the cooling fluid in the tip outlet passage is warmer than the cooling fluid in the contacting area cavity.

17. The bonding probe of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the tip inlet passage and the tip outlet passage extends through the tip such that at least one of a section of the tip inlet passage and a section of the tip outlet passage extends substantially parallel to the contacting area cavity within the tip.

18. The bonding probe of claim 17 , wherein the tip comprises a rigid alloy member including the planar side walls, the rigid allow member extending from the head and terminating at the contacting area, wherein the tip inlet passage is in closer proximity to the first planar side wall and the tip outlet passage is in in closer proximity to the second planar side wall.

Assignees

• Rolls Royce Corp

Inventors

• Henderkott Joseph P
• Fuesting Timothy
• Xu Raymond

Classifications

• B23K11/002 Primary

  specially adapted for particular articles or work · CPC title

• B23K11/3054

  Cooled electrodes (B23K11/3018, B23K11/3045 take precedence) · CPC title

• B23K11/3081

  Electrodes with a seam contacting part shaped so as to correspond to the shape of the bond area, e.g. for making an annular bond without relative movement in the longitudinal direction of the seam between the electrode holder and the work · CPC title

• B23K2101/001

  Turbines · CPC title

• B23K2101/04

  Tubular or hollow articles · CPC title