Method of repairing a turbine blade
AssigneesSiemens Westinghouse Power Corporation, Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corporation
InventorsZachary Sinnott, Kevin D. Smith, John E. Junkin, Kevin Updegrove, Michael F. Foster, Daniel Lovelace
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for repairing a turbine blade (10) wherein the tip (16) of the blade is removed (41,43) and a replacement cap is attached by welding (49). The cap may consist of a plate (48) attached by welding and a squealer (54) formed by depositing weld material (52), as illustrated in FIG. 3. The plate and/or squealer may be formed from a material different from the material of the airfoil portion (42) of the blade in order to optimize the performance of the blade.
Claims20
A method of repairing a turbine blade, the blade comprising a plurality of cooling passages having respective ends formed therein extending to a tip of the blade, the blade further comprising a cap brazed over an end of a cooling passage at the tip and a squealer portion extending beyond the cap, the method comprising the steps of:
- removing the squealer portion, cap, and all braze material from the blade to form a repair surface on the tip;
- forming a replacement cap sized to span the plurality of ends of the cooling passages;
- attaching the replacement cap to the repair surface by welding to seal the cooling passage ends;
- forming a replacement squealer portion by welding.
A method of manufacturing a turbine blade, the method comprising the steps of:
- forming a blade root and airfoil portion from a directionally solidified columnar grained cast material;
- forming a cap from a conventionally cast material;
- welding the cap onto an end of the airfoil portion.
A method of repairing a turbine blade, the blade comprising an airfoil section having a plurality of cooling passages formed therein, the blade having been rejected due to a minimum wall violation caused by an end of a cooling passage being located proximate a surface of a tip end of the airfoil, the method comprising:
- removing a portion of the tip end of the airfoil to eliminate the portion containing the minimum wall violation and to form a repair surface;
- attaching a cap to the repair surface by welding.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.