Granted Patent B2

US 12,651,102 · App. 17/394,297 · Granted Jun 9, 2026

Inventors: Francois Dupre (Laval, CA); Simon Gelinas (St-Constant, CA)

Assignee: Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp.

G06F30/23G06F30/12G06F30/17G06T17/10

Abstract

Claims (53)

1 . A computer implemented method for augmenting a three-dimensional model of a gas turbine engine component in a computer-aided design (CAD) environment, the method comprising:

receiving a three-dimensional CAD model of the component, the three-dimensional CAD model including a plurality of component surfaces;

generating a first three-dimensional surface representation of a first component surface of the plurality of component surfaces;

indexing, on a computer, the first three-dimensional surface representation as a first function-attributed surface (FAS) element by assigning the first three-dimensional surface representation a unique first FAS ID which associates the first FAS element with the component;

storing, on one or more memory devices, a product manufacturing information (PMI) for the first FAS element as a first FAS dataset in a FAS database, wherein the PMI includes contextual information including one of stress peak area, airflow direction of the first component surface, stack-up information, life cycle information, repair information, or information gathered during component operation;

assigning the unique first FAS ID to the first FAS dataset;

generating a graphical user interface displayed on a touch screen;

receiving at least a portion of the PMI from a user via the graphical user interface displayed on the touch screen; and

manufacturing the modeled gas turbine engine component, with a manufacturing equipment, based on the three-dimensional CAD model;

wherein the unique first FAS ID is based on a hierarchical tree referring to one or more features of the three-dimensional CAD model; and

wherein the generating the first three-dimensional surface representation and indexing the first three-dimensional surface representation as the first FAS element are performed simultaneously.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating a second three-dimensional surface representation of a second component surface of the plurality of component surfaces which is different than the first component surface; and

indexing, on the computer, the second three-dimensional surface representation as a second FAS element by assigning the second three-dimensional surface representation a unique second FAS ID, different than the unique first FAS ID, which associates the second FAS element with the component.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the first FAS dataset includes at least one scalar attribute for the first component surface represented by the first FAS element.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating a geometrical representation of a non-surface geometrical element of the three-dimensional CAD model; and

indexing, on the computer, the geometrical representation as a second FAS element by assigning the geometrical representation a unique second FAS ID, different than the unique first FAS ID, which associates the second FAS element with the component.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the non-surface geometrical element is one of a point, a line, an axis, a plane, or a volume of the three-dimensional CAD model.

6 . A data processing system for carrying out the method of claim 1 , the system comprising:

a processor; and

the one or more memory devices in signal communication with the processor, the one or more memory devices containing instructions recorded therein which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive the three-dimensional CAD model of the component, the three-dimensional CAD model including the plurality of component surfaces;

generate the first three-dimensional surface representation of the first component surface of the plurality of component surfaces; and

index, on the computer, the first three-dimensional surface representation as the first function-attributed surface (FAS) element by assigning the first three-dimensional surface representation the unique first FAS ID which associates the first FAS element with the component.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more memory devices contains instructions recorded therein which, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

generate a second three-dimensional surface representation of a second component surface of the plurality of component surfaces which is different than the first component surface; and

index, on the computer, the second three-dimensional surface representation as a second FAS element by assigning the second three-dimensional surface representation a unique second FAS ID, different than the unique first FAS ID, which associates the second FAS element with the component.

8 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the FAS database is in signal communication with the processor, and wherein the one or more memory devices contains instructions recorded therein which, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

store, on the one or more memory devices, the product manufacturing information (PMI) for the first FAS element as the first FAS dataset in the FAS database; and

assign the unique first FAS ID to the first FAS dataset.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the first FAS dataset includes at least one scalar attribute for the first component surface represented by the first FAS element.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the touch screen is in signal communication with the processor, wherein the one or more memory devices contain instructions recorded therein which, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

generate the graphical user interface displayed on the touch screen; and

receive the at least a portion of the PMI from the user via the graphical user interface displayed on the touch screen.

11 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more memory devices contains instructions recorded therein which, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

generate a geometrical representation of a non-surface geometrical element of the three-dimensional CAD model; and

index, on the computer, the geometrical representation as a second FAS element by assigning the geometrical representation a unique second FAS ID, different than the unique first FAS ID, which associates the second FAS element with the component.

12 . The system of claim 6 , further comprising a communication network in signal communication with the processor.

13 . A computer implemented method for augmenting a three-dimensional model of a gas turbine engine component in a computer-aided design (CAD) environment, the method comprising:

receiving a three-dimensional CAD model of the component, the three-dimensional CAD model including a plurality of component surfaces;

generating a first surface representation of a first component surface of the plurality of component surfaces;

generating a second surface representation of a second component surface of the plurality of component surfaces which is different than the first component surface;

indexing, on a computer, the first surface representation as a first function-attributed surface (FAS) element by assigning the first surface representation a unique first FAS ID which associates the first FAS element with the component and indexing the second surface representation as a second FAS element by assigning the second surface representation a unique second FAS ID, different than the unique first FAS ID, which associates the second FAS element with the component;

storing, on one or more memory devices, a product manufacturing information (PMI) for the first FAS element as a first FAS dataset in a FAS database, wherein the PMI includes contextual information including one of stress peak area, airflow direction of the first component surface, stack-up information, life cycle information, repair information, or information gathered during component operation;

assigning the unique first FAS ID to the first FAS dataset;

generating a graphical user interface displayed on a touch screen;

receiving at least a portion of the PMI from a user via the graphical user interface displayed on the touch screen; and

manufacturing the modeled gas turbine engine component, with a manufacturing equipment, based on the three-dimensional CAD model;

wherein the unique first FAS ID and the unique second FAS ID are based on a hierarchical tree referring to one or more features of the three-dimensional CAD model; and

wherein the generating the first three-dimensional surface representation, the indexing the first surface representation as the first FAS element, and the indexing the second surface representation as the second FAS element are performed simultaneously.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the PMI includes at least one scalar attribute for the first component surface represented by the first FAS element.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the PMI is stored in the first FAS dataset as an object-oriented structure string.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (17)