Poly-component blade for a steam turbine
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsDonald Fredrick Mowbray, John James Fitzgerald, William Elliot Bachrach, Wendy Wen-Ling Lin, Scott Roger Finn
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Abstract
A steam turbine blade, such as those used in an electric power generation steam turbine, has an airfoil portion. The airfoil portion includes a metallic section consisting essentially of metal and at least one (lightweight) panel section not consisting essentially of metal. The metallic section extends from generally the blade root to generally the blade tip. Each panel section is an elastomeric section. The metallic section and the at-least-one panel section only together define a generally airfoil shape.
Claims11
A steam turbine blade comprising:
- a) a shank portion;
- and
- b) an airfoil portion having an operating temperature range, a design rotational speed, a blade root attached to said shank portion, a blade tip, and a radial axis extending outward toward said blade tip and inward toward said blade root, and wherein said airfoil portion also includes:
- (1) a metallic section consisting essentially of metal and having a first mass density, wherein said metallic section radially extends from generally said blade root to generally said blade tip;
- and
- (2) at least one elastomeric section consisting essentially of elastomer, having a second mass density, and bonded to said metallic section, wherein said at least one elastomeric section is resilient over said operating temperature range, and wherein said second mass density is less than said first mass density.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.