Customer
Aerospace Engine Manufacturer

Application
CFM 56 Rotors

Background
This company is a leading manufacturer of jet engines. After production, the rotors and nozzles of these jet engines must be washed and dried to remove EDM slag, small chips, etc. The rotors ranged from 30” to 40” wide, 3 1/2 ft. to 7ft. tall and weighed from 650 lbs. to 1,000 lbs. The nozzles varied from 30” - 50” ID/OD, 8” tall and weighed from 200 lbs. to 300 lbs.

Problem
This cleaning requirement presented the following obstacles: a) holding several sizes of rotors so the blades and other surfaces were not damaged, b) while the outside of the rotors needed to be washed and dried, the internal surfaces needed to stay dry, c) the inside honeycomb section of jet engine nozzles needed to be deburred, washed and dried.

Solution
Design a dual purpose cleaning system to wash,rinse and dry rotors as well as nozzles. Rotors: Unique fixturing was designed to hold the rotor (via stainless steel rotor fixturing) and clean the outside surfaces while maintaining dryness on the inside diameters. Once the rotor is lifted with an overhead hoist and seated into the custom rotor fixture, a pin is inserted to lock it into place. To prevent water from entering the part, the rotor is pressurized with compressed air (a compressed air line is connected to rotor cap). Custom plumbing for washing and drying surrounds the part. Nozzles: Again, fixturing was designed to hold several sizes of nozzles (stainless steel supports with adjustable UHMW blocks) which are loaded onto the UHMW fixtures. The nozzle’s inside diameter honeycomb section is deburred using two (2) hi-pressure spray patterns from a high PSI pump and subsequently washed and dried by separate plumbing.

System
This machine is a stainless steel F-5000-P with 100” of inside working height. It was designed to stringent customer specifications and is UL Approved. The unit has the following features: a stand-alone 60” x 60” electric box, a GE Fanuc PLC, a “Mist Kop” steam exhaust, an oil water separator, and a high pressure/low volume debur pump (4,000 PSI / 4 GPM).

9/11/97