GE FINDS CUTTING EDGE WITH LASER BEAM THAT SHOOTS THROUGH WATER

GE Adapts Laser MicroJet to Make Better Parts, Faster

Engineers at GE have adapted a machining technology that uses lasers and water to improve efficiency at its turbine production plants. Turbines found inside modern jet engines and power plants operate at very high temperatures, 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1370 Celsius) and above. Due to the intense heat, the turbine’s blades require sophisticated cooling techniques. Engineers pepper the blades with a series of tiny channels and holes that let in enough air to cool them. The process of making these channels and holes is extremely challenging, each cut must be made without weakening the blades; which turn thousands of times per minute and withstand gigantic pressures. Traditionally, turbine manufacturers have used lasers to make the tiny holes, the heat of the laser is focused on the surface until the steel vaporizes. But this method can cause the metal to form molten microscopic fragments that glide through the air and contaminate the surface of the blade.

Charlie Hu, an industrial manufacturing engineer at GE Power & Water has adapted a technology called Laser MicroJet to improve the hole-machining process. His efforts could save GE both time and money. The Laser MicroJet, developed by a Swiss company Synova, “fires a laser beam inside a hair-thin jet of water, which acts like an optical fiber and guides the laser to the blade surface. The jet also helps cool down the surrounding material and flushes out machining debris.” GE believe “the technology could allow engineers to make more durable parts faster and design turbines that perform better.” Dr Hu is now working on a new technique that combines water and laser cutting in a single process.