Method for depositing material on the tip of a gas turbine engine airfoil using linear translational welding
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorStephen Aleshin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for depositing material on a tip of a gas turbine engine airfoil includes the steps of: selecting a linear principal weld path across the airfoil tip relative to an airfoil contour at the tip; selecting a weld bead stitch pattern to substantially completely cover the airfoil tip with the stitch pattern crisscrossing the linear principal weld path between opposite edges of the airfoil and advancing across the airfoil in the direction of the linear principal weld path; and depositing at least a first layer of tip material corresponding to the weld bead stitch pattern and the linear principal weld path by welding.
Claims13
A method for depositing material on a tip of a gas turbine engine airfoil, comprising the steps of:
- (a) selecting a linear principal weld path across the airfoil tip relative to an airfoil contour at the tip, wherein the linear principal weld path is selected to correspond substantially to a longest linear dimension of the airfoil tip to cause substantially uniform propagation of a heat front, caused by the welding, across the longest linear dimension of the airfoil tip to utilize substantially a maximum amount of airfoil material as a heat sink;
- (b) selecting a weld bead stitch pattern to substantially completely cover the airfoil tip, the stitch pattern crisscrossing the linear principal weld path between opposite edges of the airfoil and advancing across the airfoil in the direction of the linear principal weld path;
- and
- (c) depositing at least a first layer of tip material corresponding to the weld bead stitch pattern and the linear principal weld path by welding.
A method for depositing material on a tip of a gas turbine engine airfoil, comprising the steps of;
- (a) selecting a linear principal weld path across the airfoil tip relative to an airfoil contour at the tip, the weld path being selected to correspond substantially to a longest linear dimension of the airfoil tip;
- (b) selecting a weld bead stitch pattern to substantially completely cover the airfoil tip, the stitch pattern crisscrossing the linear principal weld path at substantially right angles thereto and between opposite edges of the airfoil and advancing across the airfoil in the direction of the linear principal weld path;
- (c) selecting a welding dwell time at each of the airfoil edges to cause deposition of sufficient tip material at each airfoil edge to provide an airfoil tip which has a uniform thickness and is substantially continuous and integral with a side surface of the airfoil;
- and
- (d) depositing at least a first layer of tip material corresponding to the weld bead stitch pattern and the linear principal weld path by welding.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.