Manufacturing Knowledge Base

This paper presents the involvement of Wave Energy Research Team, University of Limerick, in the design and manufacture of impulse turbine blades for experimental analysis on a 0.6 m test rig, using FDM rapid prototyping machine. Concurrent engineering approach was adopted to make rotor blades. A 3D solid model of the blade was generated using Pro-Engineer v2000i. Material and design credibility was checked by performing stress analysis under centrifugal loads using finite element analysis software, Pro-Mechanica. The blade was redesigned based on these analysis and machine capabilities. The final design data was transferred to FDM rapid prototyping machine and a complete set of turbine blades was manufactured. The objective of this paper is to report the methodology used to design, modify and produce turbine blades in a more time and cost effective manner. Authors: A. Thakker, C. Sheahan, P. Frawley, H. B. Khaleeq, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.