Tool for gas turbine engine maintenance
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsYounkoo Jeong, Zhen Liu, Andrew Crispin Graham, Ambarish Jayant Kulkarni
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful for performing maintenance operations within a gas turbine engine. In some embodiments, a tool performing maintenance operations within a gas turbine engine includes a link assembly; an elongated enclosure having a cavity and an enclosure line guide; a line assembly inserted through the enclosure line guide and is selectively coupled to the tip link of the link assembly; and an actuator apparatus coupled to the link assembly and configured to move the link assembly through the cavity and out of the distal end of the elongated enclosure from a retracted state to an extended state.
Claims20
A tool for performing maintenance operations within a gas turbine engine, the tool comprising:
- a link assembly, the link assembly comprising a plurality of links sequentially coupled together and having a tip link at one end, wherein each of the plurality of links is formed with a link line guide that is configured to receive a line assembly;
- an elongated enclosure having a cavity and an enclosure line guide, the link assembly being disposed within the cavity, the enclosure line guide including a distal section with a distal opening and a proximal section with a proximal opening;
- wherein the line assembly is inserted through the enclosure line guide and is selectively coupled to the tip link of the link assembly, and wherein the line assembly, when coupled to the tip link, is operated to cause tensioning of links of the plurality of links past a distal end of the elongated enclosure to rigidize the link assembly;
- and
- an actuator apparatus coupled to the link assembly and configured to move the link assembly through the cavity and out of the distal end of the elongated enclosure from a retracted state to an extended state,
- wherein in the retracted state, the line assembly is disposed outside the link line guide of at least one link of the plurality of links, and
- wherein in the extended state, the at least one link of the plurality of links is disposed outside of the elongated enclosure and the line assembly is inserted within the link line guide of the at least one link.
A method for performing maintenance operations on a component within a gas turbine engine, the method comprising:
- positioning a link assembly in a cavity of an elongated enclosure, the link assembly being a plurality of links sequentially coupled together and having a tip link at one end, wherein each of the plurality of links is formed with a link line guide that is configured to receive a line assembly;
- coupling a looped end of the line assembly with the tip link of the link assembly, the line assembly partially disposed through an enclosure line guide of the elongated enclosure;
- moving, by an actuator apparatus coupled to the link assembly, the link assembly through the cavity and out of a distal end of the elongated enclosure;
- and
- tensioning the line assembly, by the actuator apparatus, to change a state of links of the plurality of links past the distal end of the elongated enclosure from a retracted state to an extended state to rigidize the links,
- wherein when in the retracted state, the line assembly is disposed outside the link line guide of at least one link of the plurality of links, and
- wherein when in the extended state, the at least one link of the plurality of links is disposed outside of the elongated enclosure and the line assembly is inserted within the link line guide of the at least one link.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.