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US 9,517,506 B2Granted
Laser assisted casting of cooling hole and related system
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorZhaoli Hu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Various embodiments include methods and related systems for laser-assisted casting. Some embodiments include a method including: performing laser ablation to a preliminary wax casting model to form a modified wax model including at least one cooling hole absent from the wax casting substrate; coating the modified wax model to form a mold shape around the modified wax model; and removing the modified wax model to leave a casting mold including the at least one cooling hole.
Claims14
A system comprising:
- a laser system programmed to perform laser ablation to a preliminary wax casting model to form a modified wax model of a turbomachinery part including at least one cooling hole absent from the preliminary wax casting model, wherein the performing of the laser ablation includes applying an ultra-short-pulse laser to the preliminary wax casting model to directly vaporize a portion of the preliminary wax casting model, forming the at least one cooling hole, wherein the cooling hole has an aspect ratio of approximately 5 to approximately 10;
- an imaging system including an optical trepanning system for scanning the modified wax model of the turbomachinery part to image the at least one cooling hole after the performing of the laser ablation;
- a coating system for coating the modified wax model of the turbomachinery part to form a mold shape around the modified wax model of the turbomachinery part, and removing the modified wax model of the turbomachinery part to leave a casting mold including the at least one cooling hole;
- and
- a casting system for casting a shape from a casting material using the casting mold having the at least one cooling hole.
2 more elements
A system comprising:
- a laser system programmed to perform laser ablation to a preliminary wax casting model to form a modified wax model of a turbomachinery part including at least one cooling hole absent from the preliminary wax casting model, wherein the performing of the laser ablation includes applying an ultra-short-pulse laser to the preliminary wax casting model to directly vaporize a portion of the preliminary wax casting model, forming the at least one cooling hole, wherein the cooling hole has an aspect ratio of approximately 5 to approximately 10;
- an imaging system including an optical trepanning system for scanning the modified wax model of the turbomachinery part to image the at least one cooling hole after the performing of the laser ablation;
- a coating system for coating the modified wax model of the turbomachinery part to form a mold shape around the modified wax model of the turbomachinery part, and removing the modified wax model of the turbomachinery part to leave a casting mold including the at least one cooling hole;
- and
- a casting system for casting a shape from a casting material using the casting mold having the at least one cooling hole by pouring the casting material into the casting mold having the at least one surface texture element, and cooling the casting material to solidify the shape.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.