Rotor bearing loading mechanism
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsLouis Lavoie, Yves Isabel, Natalie Kanbergs, Jason Fish, Brent Hayward, Divya Patel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for stabilizing a fan assembly of a gas turbine engine during transport includes a ring configured to engage a nose cone of the fan assembly; an outer bracket connected to the ring and configured to mount to a fan casing of the fan assembly; and a tensioning assembly between the ring and the outer bracket to move the ring along an axis of a shaft of the fan assembly. An assembly with the gas turbine engine and a method are also disclosed.
Claims20
An apparatus for stabilizing a fan assembly of a gas turbine engine during transport, comprising:
- a ring configured to engage a nose cone of the fan assembly;
- an outer bracket connected to the ring and configured to mount to a fan casing of the fan assembly;
- and
- a tensioning assembly between the ring and the outer bracket to move the ring along an axis of a shaft of the fan assembly toward the nose cone.
A fan assembly, comprising:
- a fan on a forward end of a fan shaft;
- a nose cone centrally mounted on the fan;
- a fan casing having an edge surrounding an opening for the fan, the fan shaft being mounted within the fan housing in a plurality of bearings;
- a ring configured to engage the nose cone;
- an outer bracket connected to the ring and configured to mount to the fan casing;
- and
- a tensioning assembly between the ring and the outer bracket, wherein tensioning the tensioning assembly pushes the ring rearward along an axis of a the fan shaft to load the fan shaft in the plurality of bearings rearward.
A method for stabilizing a fan assembly of a gas turbine engine during transport, wherein the fan assembly comprises:
- a fan on an end of a fan shaft;
- a nose cone centrally mounted on the fan;
- and
- a fan casing having an edge surrounding an opening for the fan, the fan shaft being mounted within the fan casing in a plurality of bearings;
- the method comprising
- engaging the nose cone with a ring configured to engage the nose cone;
- affixing an outer bracket to the fan casing, the outer bracket being connected to the ring;
- and
- tensioning a tensioning assembly between the ring and the outer bracket to move the ring along an axis of the shaft, the ring engaging the nose cone and radially supporting the nose cone within the fan casing, and the ring pushing the fan and the fan shaft rearward relative to the fan casing whereby compression is applied to the plurality of bearings.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.