Industrial Automation Magazine India

Optomec receives Air Force contract for metal additive system for aero engine repair

Published on : Monday 07-09-2020

Next generation automated machine will enable production repair of titanium turbine blades.

September 2020 – The US Air Force has awarded Optomec a $1 million contract to deliver a high volume production machine for refurbishing turbine engine components, including titanium parts. The equipment will include a range of state-of-the-art capabilities, including an automation system for batch processing, an oxygen-free controlled atmosphere, and an adaptive vision system. This automated additive repair system will be capable of processing tens of thousands of repairs per year, with an initial focus on tip refurbishment for turbine blades. Optomec will also assist the US Air Force in developing optimal process parameters for a range of target repairs. The solution will be installed at Tinker Air Force Base, in Oklahoma City, which already hosts a world class comprehensive aircraft engine overhaul capability.

The US Air Force spends billions of dollars annually servicing the engines of its military aircraft, an activity referred to as MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul). More broadly, there is a $50 Billion a year global market for Aircraft Engine MRO across all commercial and military aviation combined. A large part of the expenditure is tied to the replacement of worn or damaged components with newly made parts. In contrast, Optomec’s Metal Additive Repair solutions enable restoration of the existing parts, with a demonstrated cost savings of up to 70%. In addition to significant cost savings, the Air Force will benefit from shortened, more predictable lead times and reduced supply chain dependencies, which translates to improved readiness for our military.

Optomec’s metal additive repair solution is based on its proprietary LENS technology, which was first commercialised more than 20 years ago. LENS uses a process called Directed Energy Deposition (DED) in which a highly concentrated stream of metal powder is jetted into a molten pool created by the focus of a laser beam. By precisely controlling the melt pool and the powder flow, a high performance metal structure is built up, either in the form of a fully printed part or as a local deposit onto an existing component to repair it.

Optomec has delivered more than 200 LENS/DED machines, with nearly 100 being used in production to repair turbine blades in the commercial aviation and power generation markets.