United Technologies Corporation

Raytheon Technologies Corporation

Rtx Corporation

Eric W Malmborg

Daniel A Bales

Matthew E Bintz

Dmitri Novikov

Robert C Dolan

Steven T Gordon

Michael A Weisse

Larry Foster

Francis B Parisi

Anthony R Bifulco

Russell Albert Beers

David P Houston

Joseph W Bridges, Jr

Peter T Schutte

Michael DuPont

Stanley J Balamucki

William R Graves

Thomas DeMichael

Fadi S Maalouf

William D Owen

Xuedong Zhou

Robert W Baumgarten

Charles P Gendrich

Kenneth A Frisk

Robert A Grelotti

Randy P Salva

David F Cloud

James R Midgley

Christopher Mark Palazzini

Thomas H Rogers

Thomas A Pollack

Tri Nguyen

Christopher Treese

Frank E Palko

Donald A Jacques

Russell A Beers

Thomas W Rogers

C Palazzini

Frank Palko

An airfoil includes a metal body that has holes, a cover panel carried on the metal body, and push fasteners that extend through the cover panel and into the holes to lock the cover panel on the metal body. Each of the push fasteners includes flexible barbs that engage sides of the holes to resist retraction of the fasteners from the holes. The heads of the push fastener are embedded in recesses in the cover panel.

Airfoil with body and cover panel

An airfoil for a gas turbine engine according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, an airfoil body extending between leading and trailing edges and extending from a root section, and the airfoil body defining pressure and suction sides. The airfoil body defines a recessed region extending inwardly from at least one of the pressure and suction sides, and the airfoil body includes one or more ribs that define a plurality of pockets within a perimeter of the recessed region. A plurality of cover skins is welded to the airfoil body along the one or more ribs to enclose respective ones of the plurality of pockets. The plurality of cover skins are formed from a common cover having a perimeter that is dimensioned to mate with the perimeter of the recess.

Multi-cover gas turbine engine component

An airfoil for a gas turbine engine includes a first portion joined to a second portion along an interface such that at least the first portion establishes an airfoil section and the second portion establishes a root section. The airfoil section includes an airfoil body that extends between leading and trailing edges in a chordwise direction, between pressure and suction sides separated in a thickness direction, and from the root section to a tip portion in a spanwise direction. A recessed region extends inwardly from at least one of the pressure and suction sides. The airfoil body includes at least one rib that bounds a respective pocket within a perimeter of the recessed region. The recessed region and the at least one rib are dimensioned to extend across the interface. A cover skin is coupled to the airfoil body along the at least one rib to enclose the recessed region.

Hybridized airfoil for a gas turbine engine

An airfoil a metal body, a cover panel carried on the metal body, and push fasteners extending through the cover panel and locking the cover panel on the metal body.

A fan blade assembly for a gas turbine engine includes a blade extending from a blade root to a blade tip, and from a blade leading edge to a blade trailing edge. The blade includes a plurality of ribs defining a plurality of blade cavities. A pressure surface cover is affixed to the blade and at least partially defines a pressure surface of the fan blade. At least one rib of the plurality of ribs extends along a predicted impact path of a foreign object at the fan blade assembly, thereby supporting impact loads on the pressure surface cover.

Following blade impact load support

An airfoil for a gas turbine engine according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a first portion welded to a second portion along an interface such that at least the first portion establishes an airfoil section and the second portion establishes a root section mountable to a rotatable hub. The airfoil section includes an airfoil body extending between leading and trailing edges in a chordwise direction, extending between pressure and suction sides separated in a thickness direction, and extending from the root section in a spanwise direction to a tip portion. A recessed region extends inwardly from at least one of the pressure and suction sides. The airfoil body includes at least one rib bounding a respective pocket within a perimeter of the recessed region. A cover skin is welded to the airfoil body along the at least one rib to enclose the recessed region. A method of forming a gas turbine engine component is also disclosed.

An airfoil for a gas turbine engine according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, an airfoil body extending between leading and trailing edges in a chordwise direction and extending from a root section in a spanwise direction, and the airfoil body defining pressure and suction sides separated in a thickness direction. The airfoil body defines a recessed region extending inwardly from at least one of the pressure and suction sides, and the airfoil body includes one or more ribs that define a plurality of pockets within a perimeter of the recessed region. A plurality of cover skins is welded to the airfoil body along the one or more ribs to enclose respective ones of the plurality of pockets. The plurality of cover skins formed from a common cover having a perimeter that is dimensioned to mate with the perimeter of the recess. A method of forming a gas turbine engine component is also disclosed.

An airfoil includes a body that has rib nodes that each define a node cavity therein. A cover panel is carried on the body over the rib nodes. The cover panel includes tabs that project into the node cavities. Plugs are disposed in the node cavities and pinch the tabs against the node cavities to lock the cover panel on the body.

An airfoil for a gas turbine engine according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, an airfoil body defining a recessed region and including at least one rib dimensioned to loop about a respective pocket within a perimeter of the recessed region. At least one cover skin is welded to the airfoil body along the at least one rib to enclose the recessed region. The at least one cover skin is welded to the at least one rib along a respective weld path. The weld path defines a weld width, the at least one rib defines a rib width, and a ratio of the weld width to the rib width is equal to or greater than 3:1 for each position along the weld path. A method of forming a gas turbine engine component is also disclosed.

Airfoil with cover for gas turbine engine

A method of forming a gas turbine engine component according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, forming a plurality of internal channels in a main body between one or more internal ribs, and forming a weld pattern in an external surface of a cover skin. The weld pattern is based on at least a geometry of the one or more internal ribs. The method includes positioning the cover skin along the main body to enclose the plurality of internal channels, and welding the cover skin to the main body along the weld pattern subsequent to the positioning step.

Method of forming gas turbine engine components

A method of forming a gas turbine engine according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, attaching a first skin to a main body to enclose at least one internal channel, the first skin and the main body cooperating to define pressure and suction sides of an airfoil, holding the first skin and the main body between first and second dies, and pressurizing the at least one internal channel such that walls of the first skin and the main body move outwardly toward surface contours of the first and second dies. A gas turbine engine component is also disclosed.

Hollow airfoil with catenary profiles

An airfoil for a gas turbine engine according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, an airfoil section extending in a spanwise direction, extending between a leading edge and a trailing edge in a chordwise direction, and extending in a thickness direction between a pressure side and a suction side. The airfoil section has a main body and a first skin. The main body includes a plurality of ribs defining a plurality of internal channels. The first skin is attached to the main body to enclose the plurality of internal channels such that the main body and the first skin cooperate to define the pressure and suction sides. A damper has at least one layer of damping material sandwiched between the first skin and the plurality of ribs. A method of forming a gas turbine engine component is also disclosed.

Damped airfoil for a gas turbine engine

An embodiment of an apparatus includes means for peripherally welding a cavity-back blade and a cover of the cavity-back blade to form a 3-dimensional hollow blade assembly, and a plurality of bellows contained in one or both of a first die half and a second die half receiving the 3-dimensional hollow blade assembly. The plurality of bellows are disposed within the region defined around or inward of the peripherally welded interface of the cover and the blade. At least a portion of the plurality of bellows are arranged in a manner to provide pressure to the cover at approximately a 90 degree angle to each of a plurality of nodes, each node defined by an intersection of two or more ribs in the cavity-back blade.

Apparatus and method for selective bonding to form hollow components

An airfoil includes an airfoil body portion that has a pressure side and a suction side. A recessed area in the airfoil body portion is located on one of the pressure side or the suction side. At least one rib divides the recessed area into at least one geometric shape. A cover encloses the recessed area and includes at least one pedestal that engages a distal end of at least one rib. A weld extends through the cover and a portion of at least one rib. The weld spans a width of the distal end of at least one rib.

Fan blade for a gas turbine engine

A method of producing a gas turbine engine fan blade having a geometric configuration is provided. The method includes: plastically deforming an initial substrate comprised of a first metallic material into a formed substrate; depositing a second metallic material onto the formed substrate using an additive manufacturing process to produce a blade blank, which depositing includes: additively depositing second metallic material to at least one of the first face surface or the second face surface of the formed substrate adjacent the first end surface, to form a root portion; additively depositing second metallic material to at least one of the first face surface or the second face surface of the formed substrate between the root portion and the second end surface to form an airfoil portion; and shaping the blade blank into the geometric configuration.

Growing community of inventors

Amston, CT, United States of America

Eric W Malmborg