Customer: Army Research Laboratory and Kuchera Defense
Figure 1.
Automated Cold Spray System
Project Description
Between 2000 and 2006 Raytheon Ktech had the exclusive U.S. license to manufacture and sell Cold Spray systems
(Figure 1). Cold Spray is a technology used to produce industrial coatings by spraying 5 to 50 micron-sized metal powders traveling at sonic velocities through a converging/diverging nozzle. When the particles impact a substrate, they plastically deform to the surface of a substrate to form coatings. Since this is not a thermal process, the coatings have very low residual stresses and no added oxides to the coating. Raytheon Ktech has designed, fabricated, installed, and commissioned three of these systems between 2000 and 2003 The process equipment
(Figure 2) operated includes: a gas controller, powder feeder, nozzle and pre-chamber, gas heater and power supply, motion control equipment, and a robot. All software controls systems utilize LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench) software for control of the process equipment and for data logging and acquisition. Each system is integrated into an acoustic booth and the facilities dust collection and ventilation system where it is installed. The diagram below illustrates the process flow, and the photo represents a typical installed system.
Figure 2. Cold Spray System Component Diagram
Through 2003, Raytheon Ktech designed and developed four cold spray systems for Sandia’s Thermal Spray Research Laboratory, Raytheon Ktech, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, and Kuchera Defense. These systems are used for surface engineering research and development studies in government laboratories and for commercial application of metal coating and R&D studies in industry. The software used to control the processes for the Cold Spray system was designed and developed using LabVIEW. These systems all employ similar process equipment such as pre-chamber/nozzle, powder feeder, gas controller, gas heater, and motion control equipment such as xyz coordinate and robotic systems. The dust collection system, remote turntable, and spindle unit can als-o be controlled from the operator’s console. The control system incorporates operation limits and interlocks to prevent system failure from operator error.
