Apologies if this sound a daft question, but here I go.
We externally peen using a wheel, if we keep the wheel at the same RPM use during our saturation curve process along with the part travel speed (which is at the slowest it will go) but increase the amount of media flow into the wheel, will this result in the part coverage being achieved at a quicker rate?
Generally yes, this will increase the rate of coverage. However, if the media is allowed to accumulate on the surface (a blanket of media) then the incoming media cannot strike the surface directly and this would interfere with the coverage.
You probably should run your saturation tests at the increased flow rate, otherwise an audit finding might result. All conditions used for saturation tests must then be used for production.
We are now looking at speeding up our internal peening and wondered, if we were to increase the orifice of our nozzle to widen the spray pattern and allow more media out, would we need to increase any of our other parameter to enable us to maintain the intensity?
And if so is there any data to enable us to calculate these?
Yes, your larger nozzle will allow a higher media flow rate and hence faster coverage will be achieved. However, you may have to increase your air pressure at the higher flow rates to maintain your intensity.
Generally if you double the media flow rate you can expect to reduce the time needed for coverage by up to 50%, depending on other factors.