US 2026/0286972 A1Published application

Rotor assembly with interchangeable blades

AssigneeRescue South, Inc.

InventorJeremy Edmonds

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Abstract

A rotor assembly for use with a pump jet, axial-flow pump, jet drive, or similar fluid propulsion system includes a central hub defining a sleeve passage extending axially therethrough, an adapter sleeve received within the sleeve passage and defining a shaft passage configured to receive a drive shaft, and a plurality of removable and replaceable blades extending radially outward from the central hub. Each blade is individually removably secured to the central hub by mechanical fasteners at blade-mounting stations, enabling field-serviceable removal and replacement of individual blades without disassembly of the central hub or adapter sleeve. The blades are interchangeable with blades of different pitch, profile, and diameter configurations to adapt the rotor assembly for different operating conditions. The adapter sleeve is interchangeable to accommodate drive shafts of different manufacturers. The modular construction reduces weight, manufacturing cost, and field-repair downtime relative to conventional monolithic rotor assemblies.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A rotor assembly for use with a fluid propulsion system, the rotor assembly comprising:

a central hub defining a sleeve passage extending axially therethrough, the central hub having a front face, a rear face opposing the front face, and an outer peripheral surface, the central hub further including a plurality of blade-mounting stations disposed about the outer peripheral surface, each blade-mounting station including at least one threaded hole formed in the central hub;
an adapter sleeve received within the sleeve passage, the adapter sleeve defining a shaft passage configured to receive a drive shaft;
and
a plurality of removable and replaceable blades, each blade comprising a blade base and a blade body extending radially outward from the blade base, the blade base including at least one fastener aperture registrable with a corresponding threaded hole of a respective blade-mounting station, each blade being individually removably secured to the central hub at a respective blade-mounting station by at least one mechanical fastener cooperatively engaging the at least one fastener aperture and the at least one threaded hole;
wherein each blade of the plurality of blades is independently removable from and replaceable on the central hub without removal of the remaining blades and without disassembly of the adapter sleeve from the central hub.

2 more elements

A modular rotor assembly system for an axial-flow pump, the system comprising:

a central hub defining a sleeve passage extending axially therethrough, the central hub including a plurality of circumferentially spaced blade-mounting stations, each blade-mounting station including at least one threaded receiving feature;
a first adapter sleeve receivable within the sleeve passage, the first adapter sleeve defining a first shaft passage having a first drive-coupling configuration;
a second adapter sleeve receivable within the sleeve passage, the second adapter sleeve defining a second shaft passage having a second drive-coupling configuration different from the first drive-coupling configuration;
a first set of removable blades, each blade of the first set having a first blade configuration including a first pitch and a first diameter, each blade of the first set including a blade base having at least one fastener aperture alignable with the at least one threaded receiving feature of a respective blade-mounting station;
and
a second set of removable blades, each blade of the second set having a second blade configuration including at least one of a second pitch different from the first pitch or a second diameter different from the first diameter, each blade of the second set including a blade base having at least one fastener aperture alignable with the at least one threaded receiving feature of a respective blade-mounting station;
wherein the first adapter sleeve and the second adapter sleeve are selectively interchangeable within the sleeve passage to adapt the central hub for use with drive shafts of different configurations, and wherein the first set of removable blades and the second set of removable blades are selectively interchangeable on the central hub to alter the performance characteristics of the rotor assembly.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.