United Technologies Corporation

Barry K Benedict

Yehia M El-Aini

Samy Baghdadi

A Paul Matheny

Robert J Morris

A hollow blade of a gas turbine engine has a sacrificial elongated damper disposed slideably in a chamber for minimizing modes of vibration during operation. The chamber is defined between two opposing surfaces generally spanning radially outward from an axis of the engine and a face facing radially inward. The damper is constructed and arranged to make loaded contact with the face via a centrifugal force created by rotation of the engine.

Hollow blade having internal damper

An apparatus for controlling vibrations in a rotor stage rotating through core gas flow is provided. The apparatus includes a source of high-pressure gas and a plurality of ports for dispensing high-pressure gas. The rotor stage rotates through core gas flow having a plurality of circumferentially distributed first and second regions. Core gas flow within each first and second region travels at a first and a second velocity, respectively. The first velocity is substantially higher than the second velocity. The ports dispensing the high-pressure gas are selectively positioned upstream of the rotor blades, and aligned with the second regions such that high-pressure gas exiting the ports enters the second regions. The velocity of core gas flow in the second regions consequently increases, and substantially decreases the difference in core gas flow velocity between the first and second regions.

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West Palm Beach, FL, United States of America

Barry K Benedict