Software Extension Aids in Turbine Blade Inspection, 1 in a Series

By DE Editors

Geomagic(Research Triangle Park, NC) has introduced Geomagic Blade, a softwareextension developed specifically for turbine blade inspection. GeomagicBlade is purpose-built to satisfy the need for greater ease of use,speed, and quality in all areas of turbine blade inspection, includingaerospace, turbine-generated power grid, propulsion, specializedcompression equipment, and others.

Geomagic Blade extends Geomagic Qualify computer-aided inspection (CAI)software to provide special features that have been tested and verifiedby leading turbo-machinery companies such as GE Power Systems,Honeywell, Howmet, PCC Airfoils LLC, Pratt and Whitney, SolarTurbines, Siemens and others. Geomagic Qualify automatically processesscan data from a physical part, enabling instant graphical comparisonsbetween CAD models and as-built parts. It is used for first-articleinspection, tool validation, wear analysis, object alignment, GDandT,and reporting.

Geomagic worked in cooperation with leading companies in the aerospace,turbine and power-generation industries to develop functionality thatmakes it easier and faster to inspect and analyze turbine blades. Intesting conducted with leading blade manufacturers, Geomagic Blade hasexcelled in three important ways:

1) It generated reproducible test results based on 3D models derivedfrom millions of points, which increases test confidence andcomplements traditional CMM analysis. 2) It increased inspection andanalysis speed by collecting data with non-contact scanners andprocessing it with patented technology from Geomagic Qualify. 3) Itprovided easy access to dedicated functions that test critical turbineblade attributes and automatically generate numerical and graphicalreports of results.    

New alignment techniques in the extension enable users to align withedge-to-pin contact that is typically used for turbine blade analysis.Blade section analysis within Geomagic Blade provides graphicalinspection for airfoil characteristics such as mean (camber) line, maxthickness, leading-edge and trailing-edge radii, thickness at offsetsfrom the blade ends, chord lengths (axial, max and parallel), and twistangles.

The program also includes 2D twist analysis, which in the past has beendifficult to accurately analyze using the limited point data from CMM.The software allows a cross section of a model to be aligned withreference data to determine the twist of the blade. Constraints can beplaced on maximum rotation and twist tolerance.

Geomagic Blade is available in English, German, Chinese, Japanese, and French. For more information visit geomagic.com.