Performing a process on a workpiece
AssigneeROLLS-ROYCE plc
InventorNeil K. Hastilow
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Features such as holes in a component which may be an aerofoil component of a gas turbine engine are re-drilled after initial formation, for example to remove blockages created in a coating process. In order to ensure that re-drilling occurs at the precise location of the initial holes, a selected number of the holes are selected, and their exact positions identified, for example by camera imaging and image processing. The actual positions of the selected features are compared with the nominal positions, and an algorithm is generated and then used to calculate the actual positions of the non-selected holes of the array.
Claims15
A method of performing a process on an existing array of holes defined by a component, the method comprising:
- i) selecting at least three, but not all, of the holes of a first array;
- ii) identifying a nominal position in a coordinate space of each of the selected holes, and generating a nominal position data set for the selected holes;
- iii) identifying the actual position in the coordinate space of each of the selected holes, and generating an actual position data set for the selected holes;
- iv) generating an algorithm to transform the nominal position data set to the actual position data set of the first array;
- v) applying the algorithm to the nominal positions of the non-selected holes of the first array to generate actual positions of the non-selected holes;
- and
- vi) performing the process on the selected and non-selected holes at the respective identified and generated actual positions.
A method of performing re-drilling on an existing array of holes defined by a component, the method comprising:
- i) selecting at least three, but not all, of the holes of a first array;
- ii) identifying a nominal position in a three-dimensional coordinate space of each of the selected holes, and generating a nominal position data set for the selected holes;
- iii) identifying the actual position in the three-dimensional coordinate space of each of the selected holes, and generating an actual position data set for the selected holes;
- iv) generating an algorithm to transform the nominal position data set to the actual position data set of the first array;
- v) applying the algorithm to the nominal positions of the non-selected holes of the first array to generate actual positions of the non-selected holes;
- and
- vi) re-drilling the selected and non-selected holes at the respective identified and generated actual positions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.