Repair of gas turbine engine components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9943933-B2
Application number	US-201314135091-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2013
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

In some examples, a technique includes delivering, using a material delivery device, material adjacent to a repair surface of a component and delivering, using a gas delivery device, a gas adjacent to the repair surface. The technique also may include delivering, from an energy source, energy to the material adjacent the repair surface to fuse the material to the repair surface; and receiving, by a computing device, at least one parameter indicative of at least one of a temperature or a geometry of the component. The technique may further include, responsive to the at least one parameter indicative of the at least one of the temperature or the geometry of the component, controlling, by the computing device, at least one processing parameter to control the temperature of the component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
delivering, using a material delivery device, material adjacent to a repair surface of a component, wherein the repair surface is a surface of the component to which material is being added;
delivering, using a cooling gas delivery device, a cooling gas adjacent to the repair surface;
delivering, from an energy source, energy to the material adjacent the repair surface to fuse the material to the repair surface;
receiving, by a computing device, at least one parameter indicative of a distortion of a geometry of the component to which material is being added; and
responsive to the at least one parameter indicative of the distortion of the geometry of the component to which material is being added, controlling, by the computing device, at least one processing parameter to control the temperature of the portion of the component to which material is being added.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting, by at least one sensor, the at least one parameter indicative of the distortion of the geometry of the component to which material is being added.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises a visual camera.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the at least one processing parameter to control the temperature of the portion of the component to which material is being added comprises controlling, by the computing device, at least one of a power level of the energy source, a focal spot size of an energy beam delivered adjacent to the repair surface, material delivery rate, relative movement of a focal spot of the energy beam relative to the component, a pause time between bursts of energy, a standoff between the focal spot and the repair surface, or a tool path followed by an energy delivery head.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the at least one processing parameter to control the temperature of the portion of the component to which material is being added comprises controlling, by the computing device, at least one of a flow rate of cooling gas adjacent to the component or a position of the cooling gas delivery device relative to the component.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the component comprises at least one of a gas turbine engine blade, a gas turbine engine blisk, or a gas turbine engine blisk drum.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing a damaged portion of the component to define the repair surface.

8. A system comprising:
a material delivery device;
a cooling gas delivery device;
an energy source;
an energy delivery head;
at least one sensor; and
a computing device, wherein the computing device is configured to:
control the material delivery device to deliver material adjacent to a repair surface of a component, wherein the repair surface is a surface of the component to which material is being added;
control the gas delivery device to deliver a gas adjacent to the repair surface;
control the energy source and the energy delivery head to deliver energy to the material adjacent the repair surface to fuse the material to the repair surface;
receive, from the at least one sensor, at least one parameter indicative of a distortion of a geometry of the component to which material is being added; and
responsive to the at least one parameter indicative of the distortion of the geometry of the component to which material is being added, control at least one processing parameter of the system to control the temperature of the portion of the component to which material is being added.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises a visual camera.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processing parameter comprises at least one of a power level of the energy source, a focal spot size of an energy beam delivered adjacent to the repair surface, a material delivery rate, relative movement of a focal spot of the energy beam relative to the component, a pause time between bursts of energy, a standoff between the focal spot and the repair surface, or a tool path followed by an energy delivery head.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processing parameter comprises at least one of a flow rate of cooling gas adjacent to the component or a position of the cooling gas delivery device relative to the component.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the component comprises at least one of a gas turbine engine blade, a gas turbine engine blisk, or a gas turbine engine blisk drum.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to:
control a material delivery device to deliver material adjacent to a repair surface of a component, wherein the repair surface is a surface of the component to which material is being added;
control a cooling gas delivery device to deliver cooling gas adjacent to the repair surface of a component;
control an energy source and an energy delivery head to deliver energy to the material adjacent the repair surface to fuse the material to the repair surface;
receive, from at least one sensor, at least one parameter indicative of a distortion of a geometry of the component to which material is being added; and
responsive to the at least one parameter indicative of the distortion of the geometry of the component to which material is being added, control at least one processing parameter of the system to control the temperature of the portion of the component to which material is being added.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises a visual camera.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the at least one processing parameter comprises at least one of a power level of the energy source, a focal spot size of an energy beam delivered adjacent to the repair surface, a material delivery rate, relative movement of a focal spot of the energy beam relative to the component, a pause time between bursts of energy, a standoff between the focal spot and the repair surface, or a tool path followed by an energy delivery head.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the at least one processing parameter comprises at least one of a flow rate of cooling gas adjacent to the component or a position of the cooling gas delivery device relative to the component.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the component comprises at least one of a gas turbine engine blade, a gas turbine engine blisk, or a gas turbine engine blisk drum.

Assignees

• Rolls Royce Corp

Inventors

• Xu Raymond Ruiwen
• Bader Jacque S
• Ma Kong

Classifications

• Y10T29/49718

  Repairing · CPC title

• B23P6/007 Primary

  using only additive methods, e.g. build-up welding · CPC title

• B33Y50/02

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title

• B23K26/032

  using optical means · CPC title

• F01D5/005

  Repairing methods or devices · CPC title