Inspection systems and associated methods for gas turbine engine components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025383199-A1
Application number	US-202418743367-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 14, 2024
Priority date	Jun 14, 2024
Publication date	Dec 18, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system for inspecting a gas turbine engine component may include an inspection environment. The inspection environment may be operable to access feature information associated with a component design. The feature information may include a unique identifier assigned to a respective geometric feature of the component design. The inspection environment may be operable to query an inspection procedure repository for any subroutines assigned the unique identifier. The inspection environment may be operable to select a first subroutine from a result of the query in response to an occurrence of a match, but in response to non-occurrence of a match, select a second subroutine from the inspection procedure repository in response to the second subroutine meeting one or more criterion. The inspection environment may be operable to generate one or more instructions associated with the selected subroutine operable to control an inspection device to inspect a physical instance of the geometric feature. A method for inspecting a gas turbine engine component is also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for inspecting a gas turbine engine component comprising:
one or more processors coupled to memory, the one or more processors collectively operable to execute an inspection environment, and the inspection environment operable to: access feature information associated with a component design, the feature information including a unique identifier assigned to a respective geometric feature of the component design; query an inspection procedure repository for any subroutines assigned the unique identifier; select a first subroutine from a result of the query in response to an occurrence of a match, but in response to non-occurrence of a match, select a second subroutine from the inspection procedure repository in response to the second subroutine meeting one or more criterion, the second subroutine associated with a different unique identifier; and generate one or more instructions associated with the selected subroutine operable to control an inspection device to inspect a physical instance of the geometric feature.

2 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the inspection environment is operable to:
adjust a parameter of the second subroutine based on the feature information; and generate the one or more instructions based on the adjusted parameter.

3 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the inspection environment is operable to:
generate a new subroutine for inspecting the geometric feature in response to determining that no subroutine in the inspection procedure repository includes a subroutine identifier matches the unique identifier or meets the one or more criterion; assign the unique identifier to the new subroutine; and store the new subroutine in the inspection procedure repository.

4 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the feature information includes at least one of the following: a geometry of the geometric feature, a dimension of the geometric feature, and a tolerance associated with the geometric feature.

5 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the inspection environment is operable to:
determine whether the one or more criterion are met based on a comparison between the feature information of the geometric feature and feature information of a geometric feature associated with the second subroutine.

6 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the inspection environment is operable to:
access a plurality of manufacturing repositories including the inspection procedure repository, and entries in the manufacturing repositories are associated with unique identifiers assigned to respective geometric features of one or more component designs to establish a set of digital threads linking the respective entries across the manufacturing repositories by the respective unique identifier.

7 . The system as recited in claim 6 , wherein the inspection environment is operable to:
determine whether the one or more criterion are met in response to evaluating the entries in two or more of the manufacturing repositories associated with the same digital thread.

8 . The system as recited in claim 6 , wherein the inspection environment includes a machine learning model operable to determine whether the one or more criterion are met in response to evaluating one or more of the entries with respect to the geometric feature.

9 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the inspection environment is operable to:
determine that the first subroutine is a match in response to availability of an inspection device corresponding to the first subroutine, but determine that the first subroutine is not a match in response to non-availability of the respective inspection device.

10 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the inspection device is a coordinate measurement machine.

11 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the component design is associated with a gas turbine engine component.

12 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to collectively execute an inspection environment operable to:
access feature information associated with a component design, the feature information including a unique identifier assigned to a respective geometric feature of the component design; query an inspection procedure repository for any subroutines assigned the unique identifier; select a first subroutine from a result of the query in response to an occurrence of a match, but in response to non-occurrence of a match, select a second subroutine from the inspection procedure repository in response to the second subroutine meeting one or more criterion, the second subroutine associated with a different unique identifier; and generate one or more instructions associated with the selected subroutine operable to control an inspection device to inspect a physical instance of the geometric feature.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 12 , wherein the inspection environment is operable to:
adjust a parameter of the second subroutine based on the feature information, and generate the one or more instructions based on the adjusted parameter; and generate a new subroutine for inspecting the geometric feature in response to determining that no subroutine in the inspection procedure repository includes a subroutine identifier matching the unique identifier and no subroutine in the inspection procedure repository meets the one or more criterion, assign the unique identifier to the new subroutine, and store the new subroutine in the inspection procedure repository.

14 . A system for inspecting a gas turbine engine component comprising:
one or more processors coupled to memory, the one or more processors collectively operable to execute an inspection environment, and the inspection environment operable to: access a component design including a geometric feature; query an inspection procedure repository including one or more subroutines; select a first subroutine from the inspection procedure repository in response to an occurrence of a match between the geometric feature of the component design and a geometric feature corresponding to the first subroutine, but in response to non-occurrence of a match, select a second subroutine from the inspection procedure repository in response to the second subroutine meeting one or more criterion, the one or more criterion based on a similarity between the geometric feature of the component design and a geometric feature corresponding to the second subroutine; and generate one or more instructions associated with the selected subroutine operable to control an inspection device to inspect a physical instance of the geometric feature.

15 . The system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the inspection device is a coordinate measurement machine.

16 . The system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the component design is associated with a gas turbine engine component.

17 . A method for inspecting a gas turbine engine component comprising:
accessing feature information associated with a component design including a geometric feature associated with a respective unique identifier; selecting an inspection subroutine including:
selecting a first subroutine from an inspection procedure repository as the inspection subroutine in response to determining that the first subroutine meets a first criterion, the first criterion including a unique identifier assigned to the first subroutine matching the unique identifier

Assignees

• Rtx Corp

Inventors

• Guo Changsheng

Classifications

• G05B2219/35128

  Propeller blade · CPC title

• G05B2219/37193

  Multicoordinate measuring system, machine, cmm · CPC title

• G05B2219/37205

  Compare measured, vision data with computer model, cad data · CPC title

• G05B19/4097

  characterised by using design data to control NC machines, e.g. CAD/CAM (G05B19/4093 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01B21/047

  Accessories, e.g. for positioning, for tool-setting, for measuring probes · CPC title