• IE interfaces
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.411-417
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• 2008

An impeller is a type of high-speed rotor that is used to compress or transfer fluid under high-speed and pressure at high temperatures. The impeller is composed of an axial hub and several blades attached along the hub. The weight and shape of an impeller must be balanced, because their imbalances can cause noise and vibration, which can lead to the breakage of the impeller blades during operation. Thus, the hub and blades of an impeller are commonly machined in a 5-axis NC machine to obtain qualified surfaces. The impeller machining strategy or process plan can not be easily obtained due to the complex, overlapped and twisted shapes of impeller blades. Skillful machining process planners may generate appropriate machining strategies based on their experiences and floor data. However, in practice most shop floor data for the impeller machining is not well-structured such that it does not effectively provide a process planner with information for machining strategies and/or process plans. This paper reports the development of a case-based machining strategy support system (CBMS) that employs case-based reasoning to obtain the machining strategy of an impeller by using the existing machining strategies of the shop floor. The CBMS generates impeller machining strategies through a stepwise reasoning process considering the similarity features between the blade shapes and machining regions. A case study is provided to demonstrate that CBMS can generate useful machining strategies facilitating process planners. The developed system can simulate the tool paths of impeller machining and runs on the web.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.1-8
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• 2002

This study is continuous with the study I (A Study on the Modeling) and the sample impeller of this study is defined by the modeling process of the exclusive CAD/CAM system developed in the study Ⅰ. And, this study describes a method for the 5-axis machining of impeller blades formed by ruled surface. Therefore, the exclusive CAD/CAM system is the software for modeling md machining of impeller blades. By using the machining method suggested in this study, we could manufacture impeller blades on 5-axis CNC machining center and the machined impeller was very agreeable to the designed impeller. Thus, theories proposed in this study can be very useful for the 5-axis machining of impeller blades.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.19-26
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• 1997

The manufacture of an impeller typically requires the 5-axis CNC machining, since the impeller is usually under working conditions such as high speed, high temperature, and high pressure. Thus, this study contributes to development of an exclusive CAM system for effective 5-axis CNC machining of a ruled surface type impeller. In this study, the sampled impeller is made of blades and a body and the blade consists of ruled surfaces between hub curve and shroud curve. In the post processing for 5-axis NC part program, the cutter axis direction vector is the straighten vector on ruled surface. The position of ball center in ball end mill cutter is decided on the interference check between the cutter and body surface of impeller using with the modified z-map method that z-axis is the same of cutter axis direction vector. The exclusive CAM system for an impeller developed in this study was very effective for designs and 50-axis machining of a ruled surface type impeller.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.175-180
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• 2000

This paper describes the method and the process for impeller machining on 5-axis CNC machining center. Also, The CAD/CAM software for the impeller post processing is developed. The software can be interfaced with Solid-works software for confirmation of the impeller shapes. In this study, blades on impeller is described from Ruled-surfaces between two Ferguson curves. In this study, using 5-axis NC part program obtained from the developed software, a sample impeller was machined on 5-axis CNC machining center. The machined impeller was very agreeable to the designed impeller. Thus, theories proposed in this study can be very useful for the 5-axis machining of impeller blades with Ruled-surfaces.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.109-114
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• 2011

An impeller is difficult to machine because of severe collision due to the complex shape, overlapping and twisted shape that form impeller blades. So, most CAM software companies have developed CAM module for manufacturing impeller in addition to their CAM software. But it is not still easy for inexperienced users to machine impellers. The purpose of this paper is the development of automatic CAM module for manufacturing impeller(E-ICAM) which is based on visual basic language and it is used CATIA graphical environment in order to be easily machining impellers. Automatic CAM module for manufacturing of impellers generates tool path, and proposes recommended cutting condition according to the material of stock and tool. In addition, it has also included a post processor for 5-axis control machining. Therefore the user can easily machine impellers using this automation module.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.399-404
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• 2002

An efficient method of machining impeller is presented. In the roughing process, the cutting area is divided into two regions to reduce cutting time and select cutting tools. The regions are determined by characteristic point on the geometry of impeller blade. Then, the tool of the maximum radius is selected in each area. Tool interference in cutting areas is avoided by checking the intersection between cooing tool axis and ruling line on blade surface.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.1795-1798
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• 2003

This paper presents a method for impeller modeling by the reverse engineering and the 5-axis machining. The impeller is composed of pressure surface, suction surface and leading edge, and so on. The impeller is modeled by using the characteristic curves of impeller such as hub curves, shroud curves and leading edge. The characteristic curves are extracted from the scanned data. The hub curves and shroud curves are generated by intersection between blade surface and hub boundary and shroud boundary. respectively. A sample impeller machining is performed by tool path plan and post-processing with inverse kinematic solution.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.924-933
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• 2007

An impeller is a important part of turbo-machinery. It has a set of twisted surfaces because it consists of many blades. Five-axis machining is required to produce a impeller because of interference between tool and workpiece. It can obtain good surface integrity and high productivity. This paper proposes finish cutting method for machining impeller with 5-axis machining center and optimization of cutting condition by response surface method. Firstly, cutting methods are selected by consideration of operation characteristics. Secondly, response factors are determined as cutting time and cutting error for prediction of productivity. Experiments are projected by central composite design with axis point. Thirdly, regression linear models are estimated as single surface in the leading edge and as dual surface in the hub surface cutting. Finally, cutting conditions are optimized.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1917-1924
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• 2003

This paper proposes a roughing path generation method fer machining impeller with 5-axis machining center. Traditional researches are focus on finishing for machining impeller. To achieve efficient machining, roughing method must be studied. The proposed method consists two steps : One is to select optimal tool size and tool attitude by dividing cutting area into two regions to reduce cutting time. The regions are automatically divided by character point on the geometry of impeller blade. After dividing, the tool of the optimal size is selected for each divided region. The other is avoidance of tool interference. Tool interference in cutting areas is avoided by checking the distance between tool axis vector and ruling line on blade surface or approximated plan between ruling line. Using this method, the cutting time is reduced efficiently.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.417-418
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• 2007