Laserdyne Enters Agreement with TurboCombustor Technology

This agreement comes with the expansion of TCT’s laser drilling capability at a critical time for the turbine engine manufacturing community, where new designs have dramatically increased the requirement for laser drilled holes and rethinking of the manufacturing process.

Prima Power Laserdyne, LLC (Champlin, MN), a world leader in precision multi-axis laser machining systems, announced a long term multi-system supply agreement with Dynamic Precision Group – TurboCombustor Technology Inc. (TCT; Stuart, FL).

Terry L. VanderWert, the president of Prima Power Laserdyne made the announcement, saying, “Our agreement with TCT is for the supply of our new 795XL laser systems and the remanufacture of their existing 890 systems. They are also adding a ‘new’ remanufactured 890 system. We have had an especially close relationship with TCT since 1994, and with this agreement they will become one of our largest customers in terms of number of systems.”

TCT also joined as a partner in Prima’s collaboration with IPG Photonics Corporation (Oxford, MA) investigating the use of fiber lasers for creating all types of cooling holes in turbine engine components. The expansion of TCT’s laser drilling capability comes at a critical time for the turbine engine manufacturing community. New designs have dramatically increased the requirement for laser drilled holes. This, along with the planned introduction of new engine models, requires a rethinking of the manufacturing process with the challenge of further increasing throughput and quality.

“We are gratified that they have the experience and confidence to become a partner in that effort and are especially pleased to create this agreement with TCT,” added VanderWert. “With over 30 years of experience providing components and assemblies for the aerospace industry, Turbo Combustor Technology personnel understand the requirements of aerospace parts and are very effective at judging and employing laser system features. A customer with this foresight and ability is a valued partner.”

Founded in 1951, Dynamic Precision Group -TurboCombustor Technology is a part of the Carlyle Group and has two plants in Stuart, FL and one each in Cincinnati, OH and Budapest, Hungary. They manufacture combustors and complex sheet metal fabrications for virtually all leading aerospace engine manufacturers.

Gary Loringer, head of laser processing for TurboCombustor Technology, stated that the 795XL systems will be used to process existing as well as new designs: “These systems are the most versatile and accurate multi-axis laser processing systems available. Laserdyne has demonstrated their leadership in system design and control with their ability to obtain the most from the relatively new fiber laser technology.

“They have installed the largest number of fiber lasers systems in our field and have a keen understanding of how to exploit the potential of this laser,” continued Loringer. “We also appreciate the philosophy they have of offering to remanufacture older 780 and now 890 systems. This provides us with the advantages of the S94P control, the new high accuracy and compact BeamDirector BD3Y, as well as software and hardware process control tools in a system design we are familiar with. The BeamDirector BD3Y design will allow the processing of the ever increasingly complex hole patterns, angles and shapes as well as provide access for drilling smaller combustors. There is no other company with this depth of experience and commitment to the customer.”

The 795XL is a six-axis system with a 2 m x 1 m x 1 m (80 in x 40 in x 40 in) work envelope that incorporates a high accuracy rotary table and Laserdyne’s latest controller, the S94P that has introduced hardware and software features such as Optical Focus Control (OFC) and BreakThrough Detection. OFC complements the patented Automatic Focus Control (AFC) which, together, have been shown to not only produce parts with a shorter cycle time but with a better flow consistency. www.primapower.com, www.tct-inc.com