General Electric Company

John G Nourse

Anthony Salvatore Arrao

David R Abbott

Don Butts

John J Bourneuf

Robert C Simmons

A gas turbine engine blade includes an airfoil having first and second sides and a dovetail extending from the airfoil root. The airfoil includes a tip having a tip floor with first and second tip walls extending from the floor and spaced apart to define therebetween a tip pienum. The first tip wall is recessed at least in part from the airfoil first side to define an outwardly facing tip shelf, with the tip shelf and the first tip wall defining therebetween a trough. A plurality of cooling holes extend through the tip floor at the tip shelf for channeling cooling air from a flow channel inside the airfoil into the trough for cooling the blade tip.

Tip cooled blade

A blade-to-blade vibration damper for a turbine rotor blade is disclosed. Each blade has airfoil, platform and root portions. A plurality of blades are circumferentially spaced about a rotor disk. An inclined recess extends into the platform portion of each blade from a first surface thereof, and toward its root portion. A U-shaped wire-form damping member has its in-turned marginal end portions slidably received in each recess. When the rotor disk is rotated at a sufficient angular speed, the damping members move outwardly by the centrifugal force acting thereon to engage the opposing surface of the platform portion of the adjacent blade. When so engaged, the members damp vibrations of such blades and seal the space between the opposing platform surfaces.

Blade-to-blade vibration damper

The invention comprises a blade for a gas turbine engine including an airfoil portion having a non-linear stacking axis intersecting a reference radial axis that is effective for generating a compressive component of bending stress due to centrifugal force acting on the blade. The compressive component of bending stress is provided in a life-limiting section of the blade, which, for example, includes trailing and leading edges of the blade. Inasmuch as the stacking axis, which represents the locus of centers of gravity of transverse sections of an airfoil portion of the blade, is non-linear, an increased amount of a compressive, component of bending stress can be generated at a life-limiting section between a root and tip of the blade without substantially increasing bending stress at the root of the blade due to the non-linear stacking.

Growing community of inventors

Topsfield, MA, United States of America

John G Nourse