Turbine blade positioning fixture

Abstract

A turbine blade positioning fixture for accurately positioning a turbine blade relative to its stacking axis during a grinding of the blade root form is characterized by a unique positioning assembly which enables the operator to quickly insert and remove turbine blades relative to the fixture for accurate uniform positioning of successive blades. The fixture includes a rigid base for supporting spaced sections of the air foil portion of a turbine blade, and a locator pin is connected with the base for abutment against the datum point of the blade. A spring-biased upper block is resiliently connected with the base to exert a positioning force on the surface of the air foil portion of the turbine blade to urge the blade against the support of the fixture base and against the locator pin. More particularly, the upper block and the base define a cavity therebetween for receiving the air foil portion of a turbine whose root form is to be ground. The lower surface of the upper block includes a dowel which is adapted to contact the surface of the turbine blade and urge the turbine blade against the support of the fixture base. The fixture is configured to fit within the V-blocks of a clamping mechanism, whereby when a turbine blade is accurately positioned with the fixture, the fixture and blade are positioned within the blocks of the clamping apparatus to clamp the blade in the desired position relative to the stacking axis. In this immovable position, the blade root form portion may then be accurately ground by a grinding tool.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.