General Electric Company

Michael Scott Lamphere

Bin Wei

Andrew Lee Trimmer

Roger Etherington

Nicholas Joseph Kray

Robert John Filkins

Thomas James Batzinger

Renwei Yuan

Yuanfeng Luo

Joshua L Miller

Wei Li

Jeffrey Francis Wessels

Jonathan Sebastian Janssen

Yimin Zhan

Kelvin Wang

Martin Kinfei Lee

John Scott Graham

Andy Ji

Richard Spicer Robertson

Li Wei

Dan Stewart Dale

Thomas Walter Rogenski

Joshua Leigh Miller

Kelvin Junwen Wang

Renwei c/o Room 201 Building 43 Yuan

Andy Jl

A method for surface roughening a metal work piece includes disposing a region of the workpiece to be roughened proximate to a counter electrode. The region of the workpiece to be roughened and the counter electrode are subsequently disposed together in an electrolyte. An electric potential with current flow is applied between the work piece and the counter electrode to roughen the metal surface to a desired roughness.

Method for roughening metal surfaces and article manufactured thereby

A method for monitoring machining in an electroerosion assembly having a power supply and an electrode arranged across a gap from a workpiece, includes measuring a voltage at a point in a voltage waveform after a time delay tof one half of a pulse width of the voltage waveform. The measurements are repeated for multiple pulses of the voltage waveform to obtain multiple voltages, each of the voltages corresponding to a point in respective pulses. The voltages are averaged to obtain an average voltage, which is compared with at least one threshold voltage, to determine whether the machining is in control. A control signal is generated if the comparison indicates that the process is not in control, the control signal being configured to regulate an operating parameter of the power supply, and the control signal is supplied to the power supply, if generated.

Methods and systems for monitoring and controlling electroerosion

An electroerosion machining system comprises an electrode, a power supply, an electrolyte supply, an electroerosion controller connected to and monitoring the power supply, and a working apparatus configured to move the electrode relative to the workpiece. The electroerosion machining system further comprises a CNC controller configured to cooperate with the electroerosion controller to control the working apparatus, and to calculate a wear value of the electrode. Further, the CNC controller is configured to segment the toolpath of every layer into a plurality of segments, and to divide the compensation value for every layer to be machined into a plurality of value segments, and further to use the value segments to compensate for electrode wear along the respective toolpath segments during machining of the workpiece. An electroerosion machining method is also presented.

Electroerosion machining system and method for electrode wear compensation

A preform includes an airfoil stub and a dovetail hub. The hub first undergoes electrochemical discharge machining to form a rough dovetail. The airfoil stub undergoes electrochemical machining to form an airfoil. The rough dovetail then undergoes electrochemical discharge machining to form a rough tang. The rough tang is finish machined to form a dovetail extending from the airfoil in a unitary rotor blade.

Compound electromachining

An apparatus and method for hybrid machining a workpiece is disclosed. The workpiece is powered as an anode, a cutter is powered as a cathode and a cutting fluid or coolant is circulated therebetween. The cutter is made of a conductive material and a non-conductive abrasive material. The hybrid machine performs a roughing pass machining operation in which material is removed from the workpiece at a relatively high rate using a high-speed electro-erosion (HSEE) process. Then, the hybrid machine performs a finish pass machining operation in which material is removed from the workpiece using precision electro-grinding (PEG) process at a different differential electrical potential and/or flushing rate than the roughing pass machining operation to provide a smooth finish without thermal effects on the workpiece.

Apparatus and method for hybrid machining a contoured, thin-walled workpiece

An apparatus and method for hybrid machining a workpiece is disclosed. The apparatus includes a mandrel for supporting the workpiece adjacent a cutter mounted on an arbor. A workpiece is powered as an anode and the cutter is powered as a cathode, and a cutting fluid or coolant is circulated therebetween. The cutter is made of a conductive material and a non-conductive abrasive material to maximize the amount of material removed from the workpiece. The coolant includes one or more additives to enhance the electrical discharge between the cutter and the workpiece. The cutter is moved relative to the workpiece to remove material from the workpiece at a predetermined depth of cut using an enhanced high-speed electro-erosion (HSEE) process in which both HSEE and abrasive machining processes are used. The workpiece may then be finish machined to a final shape of the titanium article, such as a dovetail of a turbine blade.

Apparatus and method for hybrid machining a workpiece

An electromachining process and apparatus includes providing both high-speed electroerosion functions for rapidly rough finishing a workpiece and electrodischarge machining functions for fine finishing by first using a rotary electrode to implement the high-speed electroerosion function, and then removing and replacing the rotary electrode with an EDM electrode to implement the electrodischarge machining functions.

Electromachining process and apparatus

A tandem blisk is mounted in a multiaxis electrochemical machine. A first row of blades is electrochemically machined in sequence. A second row of blades is then electrochemically machined in sequence while the blisk is still mounted in the machine. The machine is initially set up for machining both stages without removal of the blisk between the machining sequences.

Tandem blisk electrochemical machining

An electrochemical machining tool assembly includes first and second tools that are spaced apart from one another so that a workpiece can be located therebetween. The assembly also includes a first ultrasonic transducer mounted in the first tool and a second ultrasonic transducer mounted in the second tool. The electrochemical machining process is monitored by generating ultrasonic waves with the first and second ultrasonic transducers, and then detecting the arrival times, at the first and second ultrasonic transducers, of certain reflections of the ultrasonic waves. The detected arrival times are then used to calculate parameters such as the gap sizes between the first and second tools and a workpiece situated therebetween and the thickness of the workpiece.

Electrochemical machining tool assembly and method of monitoring electrochemical machining

A guide bushing for use in association with electrical discharge machining (EDM) apparatus including a rotatable electrode defining a longitudinal axis, is provided. The guide bushing includes a body portion defining a bore therethrough for receiving at least a portion of the electrode therein. The bore includes a proximal portion sized to be in contact with an outer surface of the electrode, an intermediate portion sized to be spaced from the electrode, and a distal portion sized to be at least partially in contact with the outer surface of the electrode.

Out flushing guide bushing

A multi-axis machine, with numerical control on each axis, is used to drive the tool and workpiece movements necessary to machining complex airfoil geometry. Tooling is typically made of a metal such as brass or other low cost material and rotates during machining. The tooling may be any shape(cylindrical, conical) and size depending on application. A DC power (continuous or pulsed) is used to provide voltage across the tool and workpiece. A medium such as water, de-ionized water, or electrolyte (such as sodium nitrite) is provided between the tool and workpiece. Workpiece metal is removed in a controlled manner by high intensity thermal erosion.

Multi-axis numerical control electromachining of bladed disks

A ring or inverted-cup shaped cutting element is used as a tool electrode for electromachining to rough machine the airfoils on blisks to near net shape. The cutting element is rotated and positioned with respect to the blisk by a CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) drive arrangement.

Method and apparatus for near net shape rapid rough electromachining for blisks

An electromachining apparatus includes a mandrel for supporting a workpiece next to a cutter mounted on an arbor. The workpiece is powered as an anode and the cutter is powered as a cathode, and a coolant is circulated therebetween. The cutter is rotated and plunge twisted into the workpiece to form a twisted slot therein, with adjacent ones of such slots forming twisted blanks therebetween. The individual blanks may then be subsequently machined to final shape such as an airfoil configuration.

Plunge electromachining

An electrochemical machining process is monitored by embedding an ultrasonic sensor in an electrochemical machining tool to provide a tool assembly, placing the tool assembly in a spatial relationship with a workpiece, disposing an electrolytic fluid at least in a gap between the tool and the workpiece, connecting the tool and the workpiece to an electrical power source, generating an acoustic wave from the ultrasonic sensor to propagate through the electrolytic fluid to the workpiece and reflect back from the workpiece, and, based on the propagation and reception of the acoustic wave, calculating measurement of at least the size of the gap or the thickness of the workpiece.

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Hooksett, NH, United States of America

Michael Scott Lamphere