Rotor blade mounting
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsThomas Joseph Farineau, Robert Edward Deallenbach, Timothy Scott McMurray
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wheel dovetail groove with a wheel hook retains blade hooks of mounted blades. Opposed arcuate cut-outs in upper recessed areas of the groove may form an assembly gate. Blade hooks may be inserted into the groove in a first orientation, rotated to a second orientation at the assembly gate, and slid into a predetermined position. Blades may be secured with shims between adjacent bucket dovetails. Blade tip cover blocks may be included to form a cover. All blades may be substantially identical and not need special mounting arrangements at the assembly gate.
Claims20
A blade mounting system comprising:
- a blade including a bucket dovetail, the bucket dovetail including a blade hook portion;
- a wheel dovetail groove formed in a rotor, the wheel dovetail groove having a shape complementary to a shape of the bucket dovetail and including an assembly gate;
- and
- the bucket dovetail being configured to have a first orientation in which the blade hook portion will fit through the assembly gate and a second orientation in which the blade hook portion is retained by the wheel dovetail groove, the bucket dovetail further being configured so that it may rotate between the first orientation and the second orientation at the assembly gate and be restrained against rotation at other locations in the wheel dovetail groove.
A rotor blade mounting arrangement comprising:
- a rotor including a substantially cylindrical surface;
- a wheel dovetail formed in the rotor through the substantially cylindrical surface, the wheel dovetail including a substantially circumferential groove in the rotor, a wheel neck shoulder, and an upper recessed area at an opening of the groove;
- a rotor blade including a bucket dovetail, the bucket dovetail being configured to support the rotor blade and to be retained against radial movement in and by the wheel dovetail;
- a blade hook shoulder of the bucket dovetail configured to engage and be retained against exit from the wheel dovetail groove by the wheel neck shoulder;
- an upper shoulder of the bucket dovetail configured to at least partly overlie the wheel neck shoulder;
- an assembly gate including a cut-out formed in the upper recessed area of the wheel dovetail groove, the cut-out being configured to allow the blade hook shoulder to be inserted into the wheel dovetail groove in a first orientation of the bucket dovetail and to allow the upper shoulder to pass when the bucket dovetail is rotated into a second orientation.
A rotor comprising:
- a substantially cylindrical surface of a rotor body;
- a wheel dovetail including a substantially circumferential groove in the substantially cylindrical surface;
- a plurality of substantially identical rotor blades each comprising a bucket dovetail having blade hook portion with a first orientation in which the blade hook portion may be inserted into the groove and a second orientation in which the blade hook portion is retained in the groove and retained against rotation in the groove, each bucket dovetail comprising blade hook shoulders in the blade hook portion and upper shoulders in an upper portion of the bucket dovetail;
- opposed wheel neck shoulders formed in the groove between a wheel hook portion of the groove and an upper portion of the groove, the wheel neck shoulders being configured to retain a respective blade hook portion of each rotor blade via respective blade hook shoulders;
- opposed upper recessed areas formed in the top portion of the groove and configured to retain respective upper shoulders of each bucket dovetail against rotation;
- an assembly gate in the groove configured to allow the upper shoulders of each bucket dovetail to pass when the bucket dovetail is rotated to a second orientation in which the bucket dovetail is retained in the groove.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.