Internal surface finishing apparatus and method
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsWendell V. Twelves, Jr., John P. Rizzo, Jr., Evan Butcher, Lexia Kironn, Joseph Ott
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An embodiment of an apparatus includes a centrifugal drive unit, an arm assembly, an optional dynamic balancing ring, and a workpiece fixture. The arm assembly is operatively connected to the centrifugal drive unit and configured to revolve about a primary axis perpendicular to the arm. The workpiece fixture is mounted to the arm assembly, and is configured to rotate at least one workpiece about at least one secondary axis outboard of the primary axis.
Claims20
An apparatus comprising:
- a centrifugal drive unit;
- an arm assembly operatively connected to the centrifugal drive unit and configured to revolve about a primary axis perpendicular to the arm;
- and
- a workpiece fixture mounted to the arm assembly, the workpiece fixture includes at least one receptacle for receiving and retaining a workpiece and processing media, and is configured to rotate at least one workpiece about at least one secondary axis outboard of the primary axis.
A method for processing a workpiece having at least one internal passage, the method comprising:
- providing loose processing media within the internal passage of the workpiece;
- revolving the workpiece around an external axis so as to accelerate the processing media against one or more targeted internal surfaces defining the internal passage;
- orienting the workpiece to manipulate the loose processing media relative to the one or more targeted surfaces;
- and
- controlling the revolving step and the orienting step to uniformly process the one or more targeted surfaces.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.