TY - JOUR
T1 - Innovative manufacture of impulse turbine blades for wave energy power conversion
AU - Thakker, A.
AU - Sheahan, C.
AU - Frawley, P.
AU - Khaleeq, H. B.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - An innovative approach to the manufacture of impulse turbine blades using rapid prototyping, fused decomposition modelling (FDM), is presented in this paper. These blades were designed and manufactured by the Wave Energy Research Team (WERT) at the University of Limerick for the experimental analysis of a 0.6 m impulse turbine with fixed guide vanes for wave energy power conversion. The computer aided design/manufacture (CAD/CAM) package Pro-Engineer 2000i was used for three-dimensional solid modelling of the individual blades. A detailed finite element analysis (FEA) of the blades under centrifugal loads was performed using Pro-Mechanica. Based on this analysis and FDM machine capabilities, blades were redesigned. Finally, Pro-E data were transferred to an FDM machine for the manufacture of turbine blades. The objective of this paper is to present the innovative method used to design, modify and manufacture blades in a time and cost effective manner using a concurrent engineering approach.
AB - An innovative approach to the manufacture of impulse turbine blades using rapid prototyping, fused decomposition modelling (FDM), is presented in this paper. These blades were designed and manufactured by the Wave Energy Research Team (WERT) at the University of Limerick for the experimental analysis of a 0.6 m impulse turbine with fixed guide vanes for wave energy power conversion. The computer aided design/manufacture (CAD/CAM) package Pro-Engineer 2000i was used for three-dimensional solid modelling of the individual blades. A detailed finite element analysis (FEA) of the blades under centrifugal loads was performed using Pro-Mechanica. Based on this analysis and FDM machine capabilities, blades were redesigned. Finally, Pro-E data were transferred to an FDM machine for the manufacture of turbine blades. The objective of this paper is to present the innovative method used to design, modify and manufacture blades in a time and cost effective manner using a concurrent engineering approach.
KW - FDM rapid prototyping
KW - Impulse turbine
KW - Manufacturing and concurrent engineering
KW - Wave energy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036316477&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1243/09544050260174247
DO - 10.1243/09544050260174247
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0036316477
SN - 0954-4054
VL - 216
SP - 1053
EP - 1059
JO - Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture
JF - Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture
IS - 7
ER -
