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US 10,760,446 B2Granted
Additively manufactured airflow mask tool
AssigneeRaytheon Technologies Corporation
InventorsMary Lynn Tall, John D. Laggis, III, Natalie Jean DiStefano
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An airflow mask tool incudes a pressure side mask portion to seal at least a portion of a pressure side of a component having an array of internal passageways and a suction side mask portion to seal at least a portion of a suction side of the component, at least one of the suction side mask portion and the pressure side mask portion comprising at least one opening to expose at least one exit from the array of internal passageways.
Claims22
An airflow mask tool, comprising:
- a pressure side mask portion to seal at least a portion of a pressure side of a component comprising an airfoil having an array of internal passageways, a seal surface of the pressure side mask portion that comprises an at least partially arcuate convex portion that is formed to correspond with a sidewall of an airfoil, the seal surface manufactured of a softer material than a support structure of the pressure side mask portion;
- and
- a suction side mask portion that fits to the pressure side mask portion to enclose at least a portion of the airfoil, the suction side mask portion seals to at least a portion of a suction side of the airfoil, a seal surface of the suction side mask portion that comprises an at least partially arcuate concave portion that is formed to correspond with a sidewall of the airfoil, the seal surface manufactured of a softer material than a support structure of the suction side mask portion, at least one of the suction side mask portion and the pressure side mask portion comprising at least one opening to expose at least one exit from the array of internal passageways such that airflow communicated into the array of internal passageways exits through the at least one exit from the array of internal passageways while the suction side mask portion is assembled to the pressure side mask portion.
A method of testing a portion of an array of internal passageways in a component, comprising:
- enclosing an airfoil of a component having an array of internal passageways within a pressure side mask portion and a suction side mask portion to expose at least one exit from the array of internal passageways;
- sealing the pressure side mask portion and the suction side mask portion to the airfoil of the component via a seal surface softer than a support surface to seal all exits other than the at least one exit from the array of internal passageways;
- communicating airflow into the array of internal passageways such that the airflow exits through at least one exit from the array of internal passageways through one of the pressure side mask portion and the suction side mask portion while the pressure side mask portion is assembled to the suction side mask portion;
- and
- nondestructively removing the pressure side mask portion and the suction side mask portion subsequent to communicating the airflow.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.