DEVELOPMENT OF GUIDED VANE FACRICATION

Important results from the project

The purpose of the project was to support Brogren´s competence development to be able to take overall responsibility for fabrication of guide vanes. In the project, methods to master all sub-processes have been developed, which leads to robustness. Optimization of welding processes based on new methodology is still a goal. Material waste in the manufacture of guide vanes has been reduced while high requirements have been met. Competence development has been met by close collaboration in the project. As a result, Brogren´s conditions to act as a total supplier have been strengthened.

Expected long term effects

Environmental benefits in the form of reduced material consumption are a direct result of the project that can have greater impact as more variants can be manufactured with the developed approach. Together with the competence to handle more variants of these products in efficient processes, competitiveness is achieved through e.g. reduced cost. Developed generic methodology and expertise is expected to increase market shares and may also result in applications in adjacent industries. As a result, more complex interactions between processes are studied in other ongoing projects.

Approach and implementation

The activities development of forming process, modelling of welding, competence transfer and geometry securing have largely taken place in parallel. Basic weld modelling was started early but needs final results from the forming to be completed. Change of process layouts and blank geometries in the forming required a lot of work to achieve the required tolerance. Therefore, there are solution approaches to continue working with. In the project, work with numerical and physical demonstrators has been combined, which effectively supported development and competence build up.