General Electric Company

Allan Richard Bridges

Yuefeng Luo

Jason Crumb

Christopher Mark Andrew Philp

Christopher Alan Panczyk

Yuanfeng Luo

Nouman Usmani

Richard Leigh Adrian

Electrodes for and methods of electrical discharge machining are provided. For example, a method for forming a feature in a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) component comprises repeatedly advancing an electrode into and retracting the electrode from the CMC component until a desired depth is reached, where the electrode has a head end, a tip end, and a shaft extending from the head end to the tip end. The shaft has a first side and a second side each recessed inward such that the head end and the tip end are wider than the shaft. A method for forming a feature in a CMC component also may include feeding a dielectric fluid into the feature utilizing the recessed sides. In some embodiments, electrodes may include a shaft extending from a head end to a tip end and a central plane, where the shaft is recessed widthwise toward the central plane.

Electrodes for and methods of electrical discharge machining

An electric discharge machining (EDM) system includes an electrode set having a plurality of electrodes. Each electrode is electrically-isolated from the other electrodes. The EDM system includes a power supply configured to generate an electric discharge between a workpiece and the electrode set to remove material from the workpiece. The power supply includes a multi-loop driver system and an AC-to-DC component that outputs DC electric power. The multi-loop driver system includes a plurality of power loop circuits coupled to an output of the AC-to-DC component. Each power loop circuit is electrically-isolated from other power loop circuits and is coupled to at least one electrode. The multi-loop driver system includes a drive controller coupled to the power loop circuits. The drive controller is configured to transmit at least one control signal to at least one power loop circuit to drive the AC-to-DC component to generate the electric discharge.

System and methods of multiple electrode electric discharge machining

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Batavia, OH, United States of America

Allan Richard Bridges