Hybrid manufacturing process and product made using laminated sheets and compressive casing
AssigneesSiemens Energy, Inc., Mikro Systems, Inc.
InventorsAllister W. James, Gary B. Merrill, Iain A. Fraser
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Fabricating a core of a component (34A, 34B, 34C) from a stack (25, 36) of sheets (20) of material with cutouts (22A) in the sheets aligned to form passages (38) in the core. A casing preform (28) is then fitted over the core. The preform is processed to form a casing (29) that brackets at least parts of opposed ends of the stack. Shrinkage of the casing during processing compresses (46) the sheets together. The preform may slide (52) over the core, and may be segmented (28A, 28B, 28C) to fit over the core. A hoop (66) may be fitted and compressed around the segmented casing (29A, 29B, 29C).
Claims16
A method of making a component, comprising:
- forming a plurality of sheets of material wherein at least some of the sheets have a respective pattern of cutouts there through;
- stacking the sheets in a predetermined registration that aligns or overlaps at least some of the cutouts in adjacent ones of the sheets to form a stack of the sheets with internal passages;
- forming a casing preform comprising a material that permanently shrinks during processing, as measured at the same temperature before and after processing, the preform having a geometry effective to compress the sheets together in a processed state of the casing preform;
- spanning the stack with the preform;
- processing the preform effective to shrink it to form a casing that compresses the stack of sheets together;
- and
- shaping and dimensioning the preform to slide over the stack before processing, and providing respective cooperating elements on the preform and the stack that mate and register the casing with respect to the stack.
A method of making a component, comprising:
- forming a plurality of sheets of material wherein at least some of the sheets have cutouts there through;
- stacking the sheets in a predetermined registration that aligns or overlaps at least some of the cutouts in adjacent ones of the sheets to form a stack of the sheets with internal passages;
- spanning the stack of sheets with a green-body casing preform comprising a sinterable material;
- shaping and dimensioning the preform to create compression upon the stack that compresses the sheets against each other when the sinterable material of the casing preform is in a sintered state;
- and
- heating the preform to a temperature and for a duration effective to sinter and shrink the preform to form a casing that compresses the stack of sheets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.