General Electric Company

Kenneth Willgoose

Charles E Steckle

Ralph A Kirkpatrick

Philip W Dietz

Omer D Erdmann

A vibration damper for rotor blades of a gas turbine engine has a shaft and a contact head connected thereto. The shaft is slidably inserted in a cylindrical recess incorporated in the rotor blade platform. During rotation of the rotor disk, the shaft of the damping member slides along the shaft axis, whereby the damping member is moved at least in the radial and circumferential directions by centrifugal forces. The contact head of the damping member of one rotor blade finally bears against the platform portion of an adjacent rotor blade, serving to damp vibratory motion of both blades.

Turbine blade platform damper

The present invention discloses a turbomachinery blading configuration. The configuration includes a circumferential recess in a blade support structure and a plurality of blades. Each blade has a platform for mounting the blade within the recess. Each platform includes oppositely directed, generally circumferentially facing edges, each edge having a first and second axial surfaces separated by a recess. The surfaces contact matching surfaces on adjacent blades thereby determining predictable load paths for tangential and twisting moment reaction forces acting on the blades.

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West Chester, OH, United States of America

Kenneth Willgoose