General Electric Company

Richard William Laferriere

Robert A Schaefer

Robert Patrick Tameo

A compressor includes an axially split casing surrounding stages of rotor blades and stator vanes. The vanes include a shroud joined to radially inner ends thereof and disposed in a cavity adjoining a rotor disk. An annular cavity seal abuts the vane shroud and adjoins the rotor disk for sealing the cavity therebetween. The seal is axially retained to the shroud in both casing halves, and is radially inwardly retained in only the casing lower half for allowing assembly and removal of the casing upper half relative to the casing lower half without radial interference between the shroud and the seal.

Cavity sealed compressor

A fan stator includes a split outer casing having a pair of outer rails, and a pair of key slots disposed at a splitline thereof. A plurality of standard stator vanes have outer platforms and hooks which engage the casing rails for supporting the vanes, with the vanes also having inner hooks extending from inner platforms thereof. A pair of locking stator vanes are disposed at the casing splitline and include an outer platform having outer hooks which engage the casing rails, an anti-rotation key disposed in the casing key slot, and an inner platform having first and second locking hooks extending therefrom. The first locking hook is equal in size with the first inner hooks and includes a first dam blocking the first locking hook at one end thereof, and the second locking hook is axially shorter than the second inner hooks and includes a second dam blocking the second locking hook at the same end thereof. A plurality of arcuate standard shrouds includes a pair of inner rails engaging the vane inner hooks, and a pair of arcuate locking shrouds includes inner rails also engaging the vane inner hooks. The locking shroud rails have a pair of oppositely facing notches at one circumferential end thereof sized for receiving the dams of the locking vane. One of the locking shroud rails includes a blocking pin disposed in one of the notches which is sized to block differential circumferential movement with corresponding inner hooks of the standard vanes, while allowing differential circumferential movement with the axially shorter second hooks of the locking vanes.

Growing community of inventors

Topsfield, MA, United States of America

Richard William Laferriere