Turbine shaft balancing
AssigneeGeneral Motors Corporation
InventorsPaul E. Beam, Jr., Charles K. Meyers
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A multi-shaft gas turbine has an inner shaft rotatably supported at opposite ends thereof with one end adapted to be connected to a load and the other end to a turbine wheel with a tubular section that receives a balance tube removably mounted within the shaft and accessible from the aft end of the engine by removal of an inner exhaust cone and a bearing pump cover. The balance tube includes front, rear and intermediate circumferentially arranged splined lands that bear balance weights angularly positioned on the tube prior to insertion thereof into the shaft, each of the weights having a peripheral surface thereon for locating the longitudinal axis of the balance tube colinearly of the longitudinal axis of the inner shaft.
Claims2
A rotor balance assembly comprising:
- a drive shaft having a longitudinal axis and a mass thereon rotatable about said longitudinal axis, said drive shaft including an elongated tubular portion thereon having a first access opening thereto, a plurality of axially spaced reference surfaces on the interior of said tubular portion, each of said surfaces being formed continuously circumferentially of said interior, a balance tube located interiorly of said tubular portion in radially inwardly spaced relationship thereto, means for removably connecting one end of said balance tube to one end of said tubular portion, a plurality of axially spaced index splines on the outer periphery of said balance tube, an annular balance weight removably secured to each of said index splines against rotation with respect to said tube and arcuately adjustable through a plurality of circumferentially indexed positions when said balance tube is removed from said shaft, each of said balance weights having an outer peripheral surface engageable with said reference surfaces when the balance tube is inserted within said tubular portion of said shaft to align said tube concentrically within said shaft with its longitudinal axis colinear of the longitudinal axis of said shaft, said weights being configured to balance said shaft means and mass thereon in multple planes in-situ within said shaft.
A rotor balance assembly comprising:
- a drive shaft having a longitudinal axis and a mass thereon rotatable about said longitudinal axis, said drive shaft including an elongated tubular portion thereon having a first access opening thereto, a plurality of axially spaced reference surfaces on the interior of said tubular portion, a balance tube located interiorly of said tubular portion in radially inwardly spaced relationship thereto, means for removably connecting one end of said balance tube to one end of said tubular portion, means engageable with said reference surfaces when the balance tube is inserted within said tubular portion of said shaft to align said tube concentrically within said shaft with its longitudinal axis colinear of the longitudinal axis of said shaft, a plurality of axially spaced index splines on the outer periphery of said balance tube, an annular balance weight removably secured to each of said index splines against rotation with respect to said tube and arcuately adjustable through a plurality of circumferentially indexed positions when said balance tube is removed from said shaft, said weights being configured to balance said shaft means and mass thereon in multiple planes in-situ within said shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.