Patent ID: 8672613

Claim:
A method of forming at least one film cooling hole in a component having at least one wall comprising a first surface and a second surface, wherein the second surface has a non-planar curvature in a vicinity of an exit region of the film cooling hole, the method comprising: forming a straight section in the component wall, such that the straight section extends through the first surface of the component wall; and tapering the film cooling hole, such that a curvature of the film cooling hole in the exit region conforms to the non-planar curvature of the second surface of the component wall, thereby forming a curved exit region for the film cooling hole, wherein the step of forming the straight section comprises drilling the component wall, wherein the film cooling hole has an inboard surface and an outboard surface, and wherein the step of tapering the film cooling hole comprises at least one of: rastering a laser over the inboard surface in the exit region, selectively directing an abrasive liquid jet at the inboard surface in the exit region, and performing an electrical discharge milling (EDM) operation on the inboard surface in the exit region; and wherein the second surface of the component wall is convex in the vicinity of the curved exit region, and wherein the step of tapering the film cooling hole further comprises controlling the laser rastering, abrasive liquid jet, or EDM operation such that the local radius of curvature R′ at a given point for the film cooling hole transitions from the transition point to an end point for the curved exit region according to the equation R′=FS max [R/(S max −S)], where F is a scalar adjustment factor, S max is a surface distance between the transition and end points and S is a distance between the end point and the given point.