Flow-conducting component

Abstract

A flow-conducting component such as a pump impeller is provided. Passages between vanes of the flow-conducting component include notches in the form of transitions between the vane and a common surface, such as a cover disk. The notches include a transition surface having a geometric configuration determined in accordance with a calculated load spectrum along at least a portion of the length of the notch and in accordance with a particular geometric pattern.

Claims

1. A flow-conducting component, comprising: a cover disk; and a plurality of vanes arranged on the cover disk circumferentially about a component rotation axis, wherein a plurality of notches are delimited in regions adjacent to intersections of the plurality of vanes with the cover disk, each of the plurality of notches adjacent to a respective vane of the plurality of vanes contains material configured to couple the respective vane to the cover disk, at least a portion of each of the plurality of notches is geometrically configured in accordance with a mechanical load spectrum calculation of material stresses at the intersection of the respective vane and the cover disk, the geometrical configuration including a minimum thickness of each of the plurality of notches from a point of intersection of the respective vane and the cover disk, the minimum thickness being based on the calculated material stresses at each of the plurality of notches and on a predetermined maximum allowable stress in the material at each of the plurality of notches, each of the plurality of notches is configured such that at any distance along at least a portion of a length of each of the plurality of notches from the cover disk and vane intersection, a transition from a first section of each vane to a second section of the cover disk encloses a first angle, a first line perpendicular to the first section extends from the first section to a point on a bisecting line of the first angle, a second line at a 45 angle to the first line extends from the point on the bisecting line to the first section, the 45 angle being located on a side of the first line away from an intersection of the first and section sections, a third line at a 22.5 angle to the second line extends from a midpoint of the second line to the first section, the 22.5 angle being located on a side of the second line away from the intersection of the first and section sections, a surface of the transition follows the second and third lines, and the point on the bisecting line located at a distance from the intersection of the first and second sections is the minimum thickness, such that the geometric configuration of the transition has sufficient structural strength to withstand the calculated mechanical load spectrum.

2. The flow-conducting component according to claim 1, wherein a material of the flow-conducting component is at least one metal powder joined by beam melting.

3. The flow-conducting component according to claim 1, wherein at least one notch is arranged in at least one of a cavity and an undercut in an interior of the component.

4. The flow-conducting component according to claim 1, wherein the component is a centrifugal pump component.

5. The flow-conducting component according to claim 4, wherein the component is a centrifugal pump impeller.

6. The flow-conducting component according to claim 1, wherein the component is an inducer.

7. The flow-conducting component according to claim 1, wherein a material of the component is an iron-based material.

8. The flow-conducting component according to claim 7, wherein the iron-based material is one of an austenitic, a martensitic, a ferritic or a duplex material.

9. The flow-conducting component according to claim 7, wherein the iron-based material is one of a gray or spheroidal graphite iron material.

10. The flow-conducting component according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the transition is further defined by one or more additional lines extending to the first section from a midpoint of the proceeding line at an angle that is one-half of the angle defining preceding line.

11. A method for producing a flow-conducting component having an impeller cover disk and a plurality of impeller vanes arranged on the cover disk circumferentially about an impeller rotation axis, the flow-conducting component having notches delimited in regions adjacent to intersections of the plurality of vanes with the cover disk, each of the notches adjacent to a respective vane of the plurality of vanes containing material configured to couple the respective vane to the cover disk, comprising the steps of: calculating a mechanical load spectrum of material stresses at the intersection of the respective vane and the cover disk; determining a geometric configuration of each notch, the geometric configuration of the notch at any location along a portion of a length of the notch being defined by a minimum thickness of each of the notches from a point of intersection of the respective vane and the cover disk, the minimum thickness being based on the calculated material stresses at each notch and on a predetermined maximum allowable stress in the material at each notch, and at any distance along at least a portion of the length of each notch from the cover disk and vane intersection, a transition from a first section of each vane to a second section of the cover disk which encloses a first angle, a first line perpendicular to the first section extending from the first section to a point on a bisecting line of the first angle, a second line at a 45 angle to the first line extending from the point on the bisecting line to the first section, the 45 angle being located on a side of the first line away from an intersection of the first and section sections, a third line at a 22.5 angle to the second line extending from a midpoint of the second line to the first section, the 22.5 angle being located on a side of the second line away from the intersection of the first and section sections, a surface of the transition which follows the second and third lines, and the point on the bisecting line is located at a distance from the intersection of the first and second sections is the minimum thickness, such that the geometric configuration of the transition has sufficient structural strength to withstand the calculated mechanical load spectrum; and forming the component by a generative process in which particles of at least one metal powder are fused together by beam melting.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the beam melting is performed with at least one of laser and electron beam melting.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 illustrates geometric relationships of a flow-conducting component in accordance with the present invention.

(2) FIGS. 2A, 2B illustrate oblique views of a flow-conducting component in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(3) FIG. 1 shows an arbitrary location at which the contour of a component transitions from a first zone 1 discontinuously into a second zone 2, wherein the two sections enclose an angle 3. At this point of discontinuity considerable stresses develop which can be influenced significantly by a suitably designed geometric configuration. In the case of a predefined breaking point the stresses can be used in order to allow the component to break in a targeted manner at the point of discontinuity under a threshold load. Usually, however, the opposite is desirable, and the point of discontinuity should be sufficiently resilient against the applied forces. A so-called engineer's notch is traditionally provided here which shapes the sharp angle by a curve with a chosen radius.

(4) With reference to various observations in nature, a method for designing the notch has been developed which is simple to construct and nevertheless absorbs the forces at the point of discontinuity so that the loads of the component can be very considerably reduced with minimal expenditure on design and manufacture. In this connection an angle bisector 4 is defined through the angle 3. A point 5 is selected on this angle bisector 4. Through this point 5 the straight lines 6 and 7 are placed perpendicular to the sections 1 and 2. With respect to these straight lines 6 and 7, at the point 5 straight lines which intersect the sections 1 and 2 are applied at the angle 8 of 45, wherein the intersection point 11 is fixed in the section 2. The distance between the point 5 and the point 11 is halved, so that the point 9 is obtained, at which a straight line is applied at the angle 10 of 22.5 and intersects the section 2 at point 13. The distance between the point 9 and the point 5 is again halved, so that the point 12 is obtained, at which a straight line is applied at the angle 14 of 12.2 and intersects the section 2 at point 15. The envelope of this structure produces a contour which has different points of discontinuity. This would be rather disadvantageous for machining. In a generative production method, where the workpiece is produced by linking together individual volume elements or material layers, operating in discrete units, such a structure can be ideally implemented in a workpiece.

(5) The presented structure is based upon a non-symmetrical loading of a component. If the component were symmetrically loaded, for example by alternating left/right running, then the structure can be supplemented symmetrically in the direction of the first section 1 in an analogous manner.

(6) FIGS. 2A, 2B show an example of an application for the method of construction and production according to the invention. In FIG. 2a an impeller 16 is illustrated, such as is used for example in a centrifugal pump. The impeller 16 has a hub region 17 and a cover disc 20. Further details can be seen from FIG. 2b. The impeller vanes 18 and a further cover disc can be seen here. Such an impeller with the two cover discs 20 and 19 is designated as a closed impeller. Both in the region of the impeller hub 17 and also in the region of the cover discs 19 and 20, in each case the impeller vanes 18 have transitions 21 and 22 which correspond to the ones described in FIG. 1. In the region of the cover disc 19 the transition 21 can be described so that the surface of the cover disc 19 constitutes the first section 1 and the impeller 16 constitutes the second section 2. The forces occurring at the point of discontinuity between the two sections 1 and 2 can be the determined from the parameters of the impeller, the liquid of the pump and the application. With reference to these forces the point 5 is fixed in the notch to be constructed. The notch is constructed with this point. If the impeller 16 is produced for example in a 3D printing process, the contours of the transitions 21 and 22 can be produced at each location on the impeller with the precision of the resolution of the printing process, without any post-processing being necessary. This particularly advantageous contour, which could not be produced with corresponding accuracy of shape by conventional cutting processes, can be constructed even at locations which could not even be reached with tools for post-processing, which initially is not directly apparent from FIG. 2.

(7) The presented construction and production principle links the effect of a generic 3D printing production method, which operates in principle with separate elements in which individual voxels or layers on a workpiece are joined, with a method for optimizing a discontinuous surface geometry. As a result it is possible to omit a further post-processing of the workpiece, in which the individual layers of the production must be smoothed to give a continuous body.

(8) The application in the illustrated closed impeller already shows the advantages in the production and the potential for saving material with careful design. Particularly advantageously, the method according to the invention can be applied in an interior which is no longer accessible at all from the exterior after production.

(9) The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

(10) 1 first section 2 second section 3 angle 4 angle bisector 5 point 6 right angle 7 right angle 8 angle of 45 9 point 10 angle of 22.5 11 intersection point 12 point 13 point 14 angle of 12.25 15 point 16 impeller 17 impeller hub 18 impeller vanes 19 cover disc 20 cover disc 21 transition 22 transition