Apparatus and related methods for repairing machine parts using a hybrid pre-heating system

Abstract

A repair system repairs a part by pre-heating a surface of the part before beginning the repair process. An inspection system coupled to the repair system identifies a region of interest having damage on the part. A pre-heating system is used to heat the surface of the part in the region of interest using a uniform heating induction coil and a localized heating induction coil to generate heat. The surface of the part is heated to a temperature. A metallic powder is deposited on the pre-heated surface and worked using a deep rolling process to repair the part.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for repairing a part using a hybrid pre-heated directed energy deposition (DED) and deep rolling process, the method comprising:
 identifying a region of interest of the part;   pre-heating the region of interest using a pre-heating system having at least one induction coil to generate heat at a temperature by
 applying power to the at least one induction coil, and 
 positioning the pre-heating system at the region of interest; 
   depositing a metallic powder at the pre-heated region of interest;   solidifying and fusing the metallic powder into a layer with a directed energy deposition to define the part; and   deep rolling the solidified layer of the metallic powder to obtain a desired microstructure.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one induction coil includes a uniform heating induction coil and a localized heating induction coil, wherein the localized heating induction coil receives variable power to vary the temperature of the heat. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one induction coil includes a uniform heating induction coil or a localized heating induction coil. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the uniform heating induction coil is coupled to a fixed power source. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the localized heating induction coil is coupled to a variable power source. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein a frequency, the power, or a position of the uniform heating induction coil is varied. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein a frequency, the power, or a position of the localized heating induction coil is varied. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising pre-heating the solidified layer of the metallic powder prior to depositing a subsequent amount of the metallic powder. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising
 scanning the part with a scanner of the inspection system; and   determining the region of interest based on damage detected using a model of the scanned part.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the metallic powder includes an MAR-M-247 alloy material. 
     
     
         11 . A method for repairing a part having damage, the method comprising:
 scanning the part using a scanning process to generate a scanned model, wherein the scanned model indicates the damage to the part;   comparing the scanned model to an original model of the part to indicate a region of interest on the part having the damage;   identifying the region of interest on the part within the inspection system;   placing the part in a repair system having a deep rolling tool;   pre-heating the region of interest using a pre-heating system of the repair system having at least one induction coil to generate heat at a temperature by
 applying power to the at least one induction coil, and 
 positioning the pre-heating system at the region of interest; 
   depositing a metallic powder at the pre-heated region of interest;   solidifying and fusing the metallic powder into a layer with a directed energy deposition to define the part; and   deep rolling using the deep rolling tool to work the solidified layer of the metallic powder to obtain a desired microstructure.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one induction coil includes a uniform heating induction coil and a localized heating induction coil, wherein the localized heating induction coil receives variable power to vary the temperature of the heat. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one induction coil includes a uniform heating induction coil or a localized heating induction coil. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the uniform heating induction coil is coupled to a fixed power source. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the localized heating induction coil is coupled to a variable power source. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the metallic deposition material is a nickel alloy. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the nickel alloy includes a MAR-M-247 alloy. 
     
     
         18 . A system to repair a part, the system comprising:
 a repair system to repair the part on a surface at the region of interest;   a pre-heating system of the repair system having at least one induction coil to generate heat at a temperature on the surface at the region of interest;   a material depositor to deposit an amount of metallic powder on the pre-heated surface of the part at the region of interest;   an energy directing device of the repair system to solidify and fuse the amount of the metallic powder into a layer with a directed energy deposition to define the part and   a machine tool to deep roll the solidified layer of the amount of the metallic powder to obtain a desired microstructure.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the at least one induction coil includes
 a uniform heating induction coil to generate a fixed amount of heat for the temperature provided by the pre-heating system, and   a localized heating induction coil to generate a variable amount of heat for the temperature provided by the pre-heating system.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the metallic powder includes a MAR-M-247 alloy powder.