Sonic Flow Rig Fixture Design
Loading...
Date
2021-12-08
Authors
Abdelaziz, Basel
Birch, Hayden J.
Porteous, Colton D.
Sweeney, Riley
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Standard Aero’s Helicopter Programs business unit requires fixtures to be designed to allow five guide vanes from two new engine models to be mounted on their proprietary SonicFlow Rig for testing [1]. This test is intended to find the effective flow area of the guide vane to meet OEM certification requirements [2]. Currently, the guide vanes for these engine models are tested on a machine that uses low-pressure, subsonic flow to determine effective flow area [2]. These flow conditions do not accurately represent the choked-flow conditions experienced during regular engine operation [2]. The SonicFlow Rig recreates these conditions much more accurately and is already used to test guide vanes of other engine models [2]. The goal of this project is to allow component testing of these vanes on the SonicFlow Rig, thereby increasing the subsequent first test pass rate of the overall engine and reducing test cell costs [2]. Creating fixture designs for five different guide vanes required the team to perform thorough project definition and concept development phases. The vanes vary in size, geometry, and features, so the team needed to understand how their similarities and differences would influence the fixture designs. The team identified the client’s needs for the project: all fixtures must be compatible with the current test setup and tooling, the fixtures hold the vane similarly to in the engine, all airflow is forced across the airfoils, and cost is minimized where possible. These needs were utilized during the concept development phase, both when generating concepts and systematically selecting which concept would become the final design for each vane. Phase 3 focused on the final refinement and analysis of the final concepts to ensure all client needs have been met. The team also finalized all the deliverables expected by the client, including a CAD model, preliminary engineering drawings, failure analysis, and a bill of materials. Due to time constraints, the last three deliverables mentioned were prepared only for one fixture, but the results of each are expected to be roughly the same. The report follows these main topics: • Introduction, including a summary of the progress of the project, the project scope, and the project needs and objectives. • The detailed refinement process for one of the vane fixtures. • A detailed design analysis of the selected vane fixture. • Instructions to assemble the selected vane fixture. • Design refinement summary of the remaining fixtures following the concept development phase. Overall, the team was able to satisfy all project needs and objectives while also under-cutting cost expectations for the manufacturing of the fixture.
Description
Keywords
Mechanical Engineering