US 5,281,097 AGranted

Thermal control damper for turbine rotors

AssigneeGeneral Electric Company

InventorsPaul S. Wilson, Dean A. Rankey, Monty L. Shelton, Thomas T. Wallace

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Abstract

Sheet Metal thermal control dampers are disposed in the cavities between turbine blades to bear against the undersides of opposed blade platforms portions of angularly adjacent blades under centrifugal loading to dampen blade vibrations and to seal the gaps between platforms against the radial flow of working fluid into the interblade cavities. The dampers are configured to cooperate with forward and aft seals to also block the axial flow of working fluid through the interblade cavities. Holes are provided in the dampers through which cooling air introduced into the interblade cavities can flow into contact with the platform undersides and cool the platforms, thereby controlling temperature rise in the blade attachment structure.

Claims19

Dependent claims

Apparatus for damping vibrations and for controlling the temperature of attachment structure securing blades to turbine disks of a gas turbine engine, said apparatus comprising, in combination:

A) a damper disposed in an interblade cavity between each adjacent pair of angularly spaced blades of a turbine disk, said damper comprised of a metallic sheet configured to assume an operative position under centrifugal loading in surface contact with the undersurfaces of circumferentially opposed platform portions of an adjacent pair of blades, whereby to dampen vibrations in the adjacent blade pair and to seal a gap between axially extending edges of the opposed platforms portions, said damper further including a plurality of holes therein open to the interblade cavity;
and
B) means for cooling the blade attachment structure by introducing cooling air into the interblade cavity for flow through said holes to cool at least one of the opposed platform portions.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.