Balance for rotating member
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorDiether E. Carreno
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Dovetail spacers containing slots enable final balancing of a turbine or compressor rotor or wheel without employing grooves or drilling holes in the wheel itself. The spacers are installed in the normal fashion and, when final balancing is performed, appropriate weights are inserted into the slots in selected ones of the spacers. Fine tuning can be performed by drilling or grinding the weights. In one embodiment, the spacer is provided with a radial hole which joins an axial hole. After the turbine or compressor rotor is assembled, additional counterweight material can be added through the radial hole and then be held in place by suitable means such as a setscrew. In this embodiment, weights of suitable material can also be removed as necessary.
Claims21
Apparatus for balancing a rotating component of the type having a wheel and a plurality of blade members extending from said wheel, each of said blade members including a dovetail fittable into a dovetail slot in a perimeter of said wheel for support of said blade member, comprising:
- said dovetail slot having a length exceeding a length of said dovetail;
- at least one spacer fittable into said dovetail slot abutting said dovetail and effective to retain said dovetail in a predetermind longitudinal position in said dovetail slot;
- a balance slot in said spacer;
- said balance slot being disposed to retain sufficient strength in said spacer to permit said spacer to resist inertial forces thereon;
- a balance weight fittable into said balance slot;
- and
- means for retaining said balance weight in said balance slot.
A rotating component comprising:
- a rotatable wheel;
- a plurality of dovetail slots in a perimeter of said wheel;
- a plurality of blade members;
- each of said blade members including a dovetail fittable into one of said dovetail slots for support of said blade member;
- a length of said dovetail slot exceeding a length of said dovetail;
- at least one spacer fittable into said dovetail slot abutting said dovetail and effective to retain said dovetail in a predetermined position in said dovetail slot;
- a balance slot axially disposed in a radially inward surface of said spacer;
- said balance slot having a U-shaped cross section with an opening of said U-shaped cross section facing radially inward;
- a cylindrical balance weight fittable into said balance slot with a radius of said balance weight being substantially equal to a radius of a closed end of said U-shaped cross section;
- and
- means for retaining said balance weight in said balance slot.
A rotating component comprising;
- a rotatable wheel;
- a plurality of dovetail slots in a perimeter of said wheel;
- a plurality of blade members;
- each of said blade members including a dovetail fittable into one of said dovetail slots for support of said blade member;
- a length of said dovetail slot exceeding a length of said dovetail;
- at least one spacer fittable into said dovetail slot abutting said dovetail and effective to retain said dovetail in a predetermined position in said dovetail slot;
- a balance slot disposed in said spacer;
- a radial hole from a radially outward surface of said spacer communicating with said balance slot;
- and
- said balance weight being fittable through said radial hole thereby retaining said balance weight in said balance slot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.