April 2008 Edition

SPOTLIGHT: WATERJET

Prototyping a Hot Project

An energy lab at Colorado State University cut the prototyping time for a better stove for developing countries by using a waterjet; now the waterjet is a critical piece of equipment for other projects

Conserving energy and reducing indoor pollution for people burning wood and other biomass materials in stoves was one of several projects under development at the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory - EECL - at Colorado State University. The lab needed a way to speed prototype development and found the solution with a waterjet system.

The lab's mission is to create energy solutions and entrepreneurial models which benefit people and have global impact.

EECL's research focuses on fuels, energy conversion, and energy distribution solutions in transportation, air quality, indoor air quality, village energy systems, and distributed energy. The university's global field resources let the lab test and refine applications such as the development of safe, clean- burning biomass cook stoves for use in developing nations.

"More than three billion people - roughly half the world's population - cook in their homes using traditional fire and stoves, burning biomass fuels like wood, dung, and crop waste," Mac McGoldrick, programs manager and research anthropologist at the EECL, part of the Colorado State University department of mechanical engineering, said.

"For hours at a time, families breathe fumes from these cooking fires. Indoor air pollution currently claims the lives of 1.5 million people a year worldwide, or one person every 20 seconds. Women and children make up the majority of these deaths due to their increased exposure in the home."

"In our research, we build and test a large number of prototype stoves - all of which we build on site," McGoldrick said.

The lab creates stove prototypes, then fabricates parts to build them. McGoldrick said the department learned about the benefits of waterjet technology and decided to use a WaterjetPRO 2031 waterjet cutting machine from Flow International Corp., Kent, WA.

The EECL has a 15-year history of delivering solutions to energy challenges and providing students and researchers with experience.

Products developed at the EECL, in partnership with its industrial sponsors, have reduced pollution in the atmosphere by millions
of tons and have saved more than 14 billion ft³ of natural gas.

Shooting the Rapids

Waterjet cutting technology is simple on the face of it, but complex in the details. When water is pressurized up to 60,000 psi - or more - and forced through a tiny opening, it can cut a variety of materials, such as rubber and foam. With the addition of abrasive particles, such as garnet, a waterjet can cut material such as metal, composites, stone, and glass.

The lab's waterjet system provides the ability for rapid prototyping, critical to the laboratory's research efforts. The EECL can prototype test stoves and then fabricate them.

"The waterjet has been a wonderful tool in this research, and has helped us accelerate the development schedule," McGoldrick said. "The time required to build these research models would be much longer if not for the waterjet. We're able to fabricate test stoves much quicker using the waterjet - it takes approximately four hours using the waterjet compared to two to three days or more without it."

McGoldrick said that while the waterjet was first brought in for the stoves project, the lab found it to be a valuable tool for all its work.

"We've used the waterjet to cut steel, wood, Styrofoam, plastic, iron, granite, and other materials," he said.

The versatility and ease of use of the waterjet has helped students resolve research and engineering challenges.

"The waterjet assists our students' education. We have a large number of students trained to use the equipment, and almost all of them have designed a part for waterjet cutting. It also helped students think about how they address engineering and research challenges - knowing that they can fabricate the necessary components for a test. We conduct a lot of tours and host quite a few visitors each day and the waterjet lab is one of the coolest stops - everyone is quite impressed by even the scraps we have lying around."

McGoldrick said that while they use the waterjet on almost all the projects that operate out of the EECL, other departments have been requesting to use the waterjet as well.

Now Everyone Wants One

"We've had people from other departments, ranging from chemical and biological engineering to the art department, ask to use the waterjet. We are one of the only university research facilities in the world with the capability to work on large scale engines - 2 megawatts - and have used the waterjet to fabricate as many of the necessary parts as we can. It saves time and money during research. Last year, a professor from the art department used the waterjet to create a sculpture for her gallery exhibit - a beautiful and intricate lighting fixture."

Overall, McGoldrick has been pleased with the waterjet.

"The waterjet has proven to be invaluable to our entire operation," he said. Flow International Corp.

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Low Cost with High Features

The 1000 Series pure waterjet is equipped with dual drives, an engineered aluminum extrusion frame, 25mm bearings throughout, and a KMT Water Jet System. The waterjet features custom engineered aluminum extrusion design; high-speed contouring; a user-friendly controller; a materials database; dual X-axis drives; 8 Mb memory; standard Ethernet or RS-232 direct connections. MultiCam, Dallas Ft. Worth Airport, TX

For more information (click here)

Cutting with the Big Boys

The Byjet L, an abrasive waterjet cutting system for processing large sheet sizes, is designed for processing large volumes of waterjet parts. The base frame of the machine is of modular construction that can be expanded in 6.5' increments based upon the end-user' s needs. Models offered range from the Byjet L 2030 with a 6.5'×10' cutting area, up to the Byjet L 16030 with a 52.5'×10' cutting area. All models include two high-precision technology abrasive waterjet cutting heads with automatic head spacing, height sensing, and collision protection. Removable cassettes, for loading and unloading of material, improve output. Included with the system is Bysoft, the proprietary CAD/CAM software package, which optimizes nesting for multi-head waterjet cutting. Bystronic Inc., Hauppauge, NY

For more information (click here)

Cuts Directly from CAD and DXF Files

The Model 5555 JetMachining Center cuts complex flat parts out of most materials including metal, plastic, glass, ceramic, and composites directly from a CAD drawing or DXF file. No tool changes or complex fixturing are necessary. Standard features include an X-Y table with motorized Z-axis; pre-loaded linear bearings and precision ball screws; complete component protection against water, dirt, and grit; rapid water level control for submerged cutting; abrasive feed system; direct-drive pump with 30 hp and 35 hp optional at 50,000 psi and 55,000 psi respectively; and a patented shear damper. It has a 131"×95"×118" footprint, accuracy of motion at 70° F, and cuts at 180 ipm.OMAX, Kent, WA

For more information (click here)

Diesel-powered Cutting System

The iP55-280DS is powered by a 280 hp Cummins turbo diesel engine that meets domestic and international Tier 3 emissions standards. It is capable of producing a flow rate of up to 4.1 gpm of 55,000 psi water for waterjet cutting, surface preparation, and cleaning applications. It uses a pressure-compensated hydraulic system to drive dual plunger-style intensifiers. The use of hydraulic fluid power provides smooth flowing water. The pump is built on a skid-mounted frame with lifting eyes and forklift guides. At 7,700 lb, it has a 134"×63"×84" footprint and a 90 gal fuel tank capacity. Jet Edge, St. Michael, MN

For more information (click here)

Medical Specialist

The MD+JET waterjet is designed for the medical industry. Its CNC controls the self-positioning sensor, placing the cutting head next to the material and maintaining the right distance between the focusing tube and the material. Other features include a pressurized abrasive bulk transfer system that feeds the cutting head through a small mini-hopper. The system comes with a Mitsubishi M700 Series Control with WaterCAD/CAM programming to process materials in 2D. The programming is compatible with most formats. WaterCAM users can select type and quantities of stored pieces to be laid on one or more plates. It also generates an automatic estimation of the work before the actual production, showing costs, timing, and cutting lengths. MC Machinery Systems, Inc., Wood Dale, IL

For more information (click here)