Digital manufacture of large-grade hydro turbine's blades

The blade is one of the vital components and the most difficulty in manufacturing of large hydro turbines. In order to cost-effectively and productively manufacture these kinds of blades, a series of innovative digital techniques have been developed. It includes the digital design of hydro turbine blades based on manufacturers’ requirements, computer-aided location and the machined error evaluation with three-dimensional digitized measure, tool path generation strategy for enhancing machining efficiency and controlling deviation in NC machining, tool path generation and NC machining simulation by means of a virtual NC machining environment for blades, and feasible strategy and the systematic scheme for manufacturing of large blades with 5-axis simultaneous CNC machining technology. The developed innovative digital manufacture techniques have been successfully applied in the manufacturing of both the large grade Kaplan and Francis hydraulic turbine blades. It has been shown that the higher efficiency and the better surfaces finish accuracy can be achieved in practical engineering.