New Standard For Turbine Disk Inspection & Measurement
The process of manufacturing turbine and compressor disk fir-tree slots and root forms with broaching, milling, or wire cutting results in parts with complex geometries and tight tolerances that are usually difficult and time-consuming to verify. For example, the pressure surfaces at the critical point of contact of the blade root and disk may have tolerances of 10 to 20 microns. To confirm disk slots match-up exactly with corresponding turbine blade shapes and meet performance specifications, it is crucial to accurately control the position, shape, alignment, and orientation of the disk slots. VisionGauge Disk Inspection & Measurement Systems are specifically designed to accomplish this task.
With unique and innovative patented technology, such as CAD Auto-Pass/Fail and CAD Auto-Align tools, the system produces very high accuracy results 100% automatically without operator subjectivity or dependence. The system is fast and carries out a complete inspection of every slot on every disk. Runtime depends on the specific part (for example: number of slots) and requirements but is generally in the order of just a few minutes for the fully-automated inspection of an entire disk.
The latest generation VisionGauge Disk Inspection & Measurement System now offers new and enhanced capabilities to meet all of the manufacturing requirements for turbine disk inspection and measurement. Some of the capabilities of the latest-generation VisionGauge Disk Inspection & Measurement System include:
➤ Completely automated fir tree and dovetail slot profile inspection
➤ Fully automated knife edge setup
➤ Slot spacing inspection
➤ Centerline inspection
➤ Radial length/Z plane distance inspection
➤ Cone & helix angles are supported
➤ Pressure face flatness/slot perpendicularity inspection and verification
The VisionGauge Disk Inspection & Measurement System includes 5 axes of motion (X, Y, Z, Rotary, Tilt) to view slots properly at all angles and position the disk from slot to slot. The systems are fast, accurate, easy-to-use, and simple to program. The software is intuitive and the operator interface is straightforward, allowing users to directly use CAD data to build the inspection program and setup tolerances. The robust systems are designed for use on the shopfloor.
VisionGauge® Disk Inspection & Measurement Systems also provide complete data capture, reporting, and analysis, including:
➤ VisionGauge’s CAD Auto Pass/Fail Analysis mode permits operators to easily review non-conforming profiles by snapping directly onto failed edges, providing full details when encountering any out-of-spec regions.
➤ Data review for each slot is as easy as double-clicking on its report entry in the Data Group to revisit a slot’s specific location and inspection conditions.
The VisionGauge Disk Inspection & Measurement System is the new standard for inspecting turbine disks and verifying that all their features are within tolerance. It allows turbine disks manufacturers to automatically inspect 100% of the slots on every disk and ensure that the dimensional accuracy of their products meets today’s ever-tighter tolerances while also reducing inspection time and overall inspection cost.
VisionGauge eliminates operator-to-operator variation altogether and enables manufacturers to collect accurate numerical values of all dimensions automatically, to compute process statistics and create complete inspection & measurement reports, making it a highly valuable tool for process control and improvement.
The VisionGauge Disk Inspection & Measurement System allows turbine disk manufacturers to gain a real advantage in today’s competitive market.
For more information: www.visionxinc.com
