US2014121819A1PendingUtilityA1
Methods, Systems, And Devices For Designing and Manufacturing Flank Millable Components
Est. expiryOct 30, 2032(~6.3 yrs left)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
G05B 19/40931G05B 2219/35028G05B 2219/35032Y02P90/02G05B 19/4097
50
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Claims
Abstract
Methods, systems, and devices for designing and manufacturing flank millable components. In one embodiment, devices, systems, and methods for designing a flank millable component are provided, in which a user is notified when a component geometry option is selected that will result in the component not being flank millable. In another embodiment, the user is prevented from selecting a geometry option that would result in the component not being flank millable. In yet another embodiment, devices, systems, and methods are provided for manufacturing a component with a flank milling process, in which optimized machine instructions are determined that minimize milling machine motion.
Claims
exact text as granted — not AI-modifiedWhat is claimed is:
1 . A method of designing a flank millable component comprising:
providing a user with a plurality of options for defining a geometry of a component; and notifying the user when the user selects an option from said plurality of options that will result in the component not being flank millable.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said notifying step further comprises providing the user with one or more suggestions for modifying the geometry of the component to make the component flank millable.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said providing step comprises providing the user with at least one geometry option that requires the selection of a sub-option for the component to be flank millable.
4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising, checking, when the user selects said at least one geometry option that requires the selection of a sub-option, if the user has selected said sub-option;
said notifying step further comprising notifying the user if the user has not selected said sub-option.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein said providing step comprises providing the user with a geometry option that, when selected, results in a surface of the component no longer being fully defined as a two-section ruled surface; and
said checking step comprising checking, when the user selects said geometry option, that results in the component surface no longer being fully defined as a two-section ruled surface checking if the user selected a sub-option that allows the component to be represented by more than two sections.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein said providing step comprises providing the user with a geometry option that removes at least a portion of a leading edge or trailing edge of a turbomachinery blade.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein said providing step further comprises providing the user with an option to specify a rounded edge; and
said checking step comprises, if the user selects said geometry option that removes at least a portion of a leading edge or trailing edge, and has also selected said rounded edge geometry option, checking if the user selected a sub-option that allows the edge of the component to be point milled.
8 . The method of claim 4 , wherein said component comprises a turbomachinery blade, and wherein said providing step comprises providing the user with a geometry option that allows the definition of a separate blade generation sheet of the turbomachinery blade; and
said checking step comprises checking if the user selected a sub-option that requires a thickness of the turbomachinery blade to be based on blade generating lines.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein said checking step further comprises checking if the user selected a second sub-option that interpolates the thickness in non-Cartesian coordinates;
said notifying step further comprising prompting the user to de-select said second sub-option when said second sub-option is selected.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said providing step comprises providing the user with at least one geometry option that has a small deviation from a flank millable geometry, and said method further comprises, if the user selects said at least one geometry option that has a small deviation from a flank millable geometry, automatically modifying the geometry of the component to make the component flank millable.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein, when said at least one geometry option that has a small deviation from a flank millable geometry is selected, the geometry of the component when thickness is applied along flow quasi-orthogonal (“QO”) lines has minimal variation from the geometry of the component when thickness is applied along geometry QO lines.
12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein said at least one geometry option that has a small deviation from a flank millable geometry is selected from the group consisting of (1) fully radial, (2) 2-D with Bezier beta distribution, (3) 2-D with straight arc blades, and (4) 2-D with circular arc blades.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of options include a first category that comprises a geometry that is flank millable, a second category that comprises a geometry that is flank millable when additional conditions are imposed, and a third category that comprises a geometry that is assumed to be not flank millable; and
said notifying step comprises providing a first notification when the user selects a geometry in said second category but has not selected a sub-option for imposing said additional conditions, and providing a second notification when the user selects a geometry in said third category.
14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said component comprises a turbomachinery blade, and wherein said providing step comprises providing the user with a geometry option selected from the group consisting of (1) a geometry that defines a non-linear thickness of the turbomachinery blade along a mean camber sheet, (2) a geometry option for bowing said turbomachinery blade, (3) a geometry option for a component ruled in cylindrical or spherical coordinates rather than Cartesian coordinates, (4) a geometry option for the addition of a fillet, and (5) a geometry option for smoothing a surface of the component; and
said notifying step comprising, if the user selects one of said geometry options in said group of geometry options, notifying the user that the turbomachinery blade will not be flank millable.
15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said component comprises a turbomachinery blade, and wherein said providing step comprises providing the user with a geometry option selected from the group consisting of (1) a geometry option for the addition of a fillet, and (5) a geometry option for smoothing a surface of the component.
said notifying step comprising, if the user selects one of said geometry options in said group of geometry options, checking if a sub-option has been selected that allows the program to consider at least a portion of the component as flank millable, and, if said sub-option is not selected, prompting the user to select said sub-option.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein said sub-option is selected from the group consisting of (1) a sub-option allowing the blade to be represented by more than two sections, and (2) a sub-option allowing a section of the blade to be point milled.
17 . A method of determining machine instructions for flank milling a surface with a milling machine having a cutter, the machine instructions being determined from an array of data points representing a series of cutter positions along the surface, an orientation of the cutter being a function of an azimuthal angle (θ) and a polar angle (Φ), the method comprising:
determining an initial set of cutter orientations; and
calculating a machine motion minimized set of cutter orientations, wherein said calculating step comprises using an optimizer to simultaneously minimize machine motion in both the θ and Φ directions.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein said optimizer minimizes an objective function, said objective function having a solution that varies based on a change in a rate of change of phi and theta.
19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the objective function is a function of a deviation (Δu) of the cutter from an isoparametric-tangency orientation.
20 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the objective function is a function of a sum of squares of finite differences of θ and Φ.
21 . The method of claim 17 , wherein said optimizer minimizes an objective function, wherein said objective function is the following:
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d i =distance along machining path at point i
22 . The method of claim 17 , wherein said determining step comprises:
selecting a subset of the data points as fixed points; calculating an undercut-minimized cutter orientation at each of the fixed points; and calculating a cutter orientation at un-fixed points by linearly interpolating from the undercut-minimized orientations.
23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein said selecting step comprises selecting a larger number of fixed points in areas of the surface that are more contoured.
24 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising, after said step of calculating an undercut-minimized cutter orientation;
calculating a machine motion ratio at each fixed point; comparing said machine motion ratio to a first predetermined value; if said machine motion ratio is greater than said predetermined value, unfixing said fixed point.
25 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising, after said calculating step;
calculating an undercut at each point; comparing said undercut to a second predetermined value; for any point where said undercut is greater than said second predetermined value, calculating an undercut-minimized cutter orientation for said point(s), and re-performing said step of calculating a machine motion minimized set of cutter orientations on points other than said point(s) with said calculated undercut-minimized cutter orientation.
26 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising, after said step of calculating a machine motion minimized set of cutter orientations;
calculating an undercut at each un-fixed point; comparing said undercut to a second predetermined value; for any point where said undercut is greater than said second predetermined value, calculating an undercut-minimized cutter orientation for said point(s) and adding said point(s) to said subset of fixed points, and re-performing said step of calculating a machine motion minimized set of cutter orientations on said un-fixed points.
27 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising adding additional machine motion control in areas of the surface having high machine motion.
28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein said optimizer minimizes an objective function, and wherein said step of adding additional machine motion control comprises adding a first finite difference of said θ and Φ to said objective function in said areas of the surface having high machine motion.
29 . The method of claim 27 , wherein said step of adding additional machine motion control comprises allowing a user to manually specify the cutter orientation at one or more points in said areas of the surface having high machine motion.
30 . The method of claim 27 , wherein said areas of the surface having high machine motion comprise data points at the ends of a machining path of the cutter.
31 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
receiving cutter-type input parameters representing a shape and size of the cutter; and determining an initial set of cutter position data points by offsetting a data set representing the surface by a radius of the cutter.
32 . The method of claim 17 , wherein said array of data points are calculated from a data set S(u,v) representing the surface and at least a portion of said surface is a ruled surface having straight lines along constant u curves.
33 . A method of flank milling a component comprising:
providing a component-geometry subroutine capable of determining a surface geometry of a flank millable component; said component-geometry subroutine configured to notify a user of said sub-routine when the user selects a geometry option that will result in the component not being flank millable; and providing a machine-instruction subroutine capable of converting a surface geometry calculated by said component-geometry subroutine into machine instructions for machining a flank millable component with the cutter of a milling machine; said machine-instruction subroutine configured to calculate machine instructions that result in minimal milling machine motion by simultaneously minimizing the motion of the milling machine in both azimuthal and polar directions.Cited by (0)
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