General Electric Company

James W Tucker

Jan Christopher Schilling

Ambrose A Hauser

Bruce Clark Busbey

Stephen J Szpunar

Sidney B Elston, Iii

Carl C Koch

Robert Andrew Peck

Mohammad Ehteshami

Kerry W Quinn

Robert O Bobinger

Thomas S Koertge

The present invention provides a composite airfoil, particularly useful as a wide chord fan blade having a high degree of twist in a large high bypass ratio turbofan engine. The composite airfoil of the present invention has a reinforced region of its airfoil that extends a portion of its span from its tip and a portion of its chord from its trailing edge. The region is covered by thin metallic sheathing bonded to trailing edge surfaces of the blade in a manner to reinforce that portion of the composite blade.

Composite fan blade trailing edge reinforcement

A compressor stator includes an axial centerline axis and has a unitary annular outer case and a plurality of circumferentially spaced outer hooks extending radially inwardly therefrom. A circumferentially segmented inner case is disposed radially inwardly within the outer case and includes a plurality of arcuate inner case segments, each including an arcuate shroud and at least one inner hook extending radially outwardly therefrom, with respective ones of the outer and inner hooks being axially slidably joined to each other for radially supporting an inner surface of the shroud at a common radius.

Compressor stator

A containment system for wide chord turbofan fan blades, the system having a containment housing which forms a nesting area to accommodate broken blades and blade parts. Connected to the containment housing and constituting a part of the nesting area are structural rings which are positioned so that centrifugal forces will direct the larger blade fragments to impact upon the structural rings causing the large blade fragments to break into smaller fragments which are then easily housed in the nesting area, thus reducing the required area of the nesting area and minimizing the weight of the containment system.

Structural ring mechanism for containment housing of turbofan

An improved blade retainer for locking radially projecting blades on a rotor includes an elastic spacer sized to be inserted into a radial space between the blade tang and the bottom of the rotor slot in a generally undeformed state without deformation of the tang or slot. The spacer is provided with a first arcuate surface which abuts the tang and a second arcuate surface which, in one embodiment, abuts the bottom of the rotor slot when the spacer is deformed, thereby exerting an outwardly directed load on the tang. The spacer is fixed against axial movement relative to the blades by means of a forward end lug which is in confronting and overlapping relationship with an end face on the blade tang when the spacer is deformed. Blocker means are insertable between the spacer and the bottom of the slot to retain the spacer in a deformed state and thereby bias the blade radially outwardly. A channelled sleeve can be provided under the spacer and blocker means to distribute the load over a greater area of the rotor slot to reduce wear thereof.

Blade retainer

A blade locking device, for locking radially projecting blades on a rotor includes a pair of retaining pins having enlarged forward and aft end portions or lugs. The retaining pins are inserted into a radial space between the blade tang and the bottom of the rotor slot. Spacer means maintain the retaining pins circumferentially spaced apart and further maintain the end lugs in confronting and overlapping relationship with forward and aft abutment surfaces on the sides of the rotor and with forward and aft end faces on each end of the blade tang. The spacer means are fixed against axial movement relative to said retaining members. Resilient biasing means can be provided to bias the rotor blade radially outward.

Growing community of inventors

Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

James W Tucker