Fan case liner
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorKeven G. Van Duyn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fan containment case assembly 30 of a gas turbine engine 10 includes a hardened fan case liner 42 disposed therein. In the event of a fan blade loss condition, the hardened fan case liner allows for circumferential movement of the fan blade tips 38 around the fan case 48. Thus, the liner reduces the destructive cutting away of the fan case, minimizing damage to the fan case and decreasing torque loading of the fan case from rotor deflections. Alternate embodiments of the fan case liner are described.
Claims9
A gas turbine engine disposed about a longitudinal axis, the gas turbine engine having a rotor and a stator, the rotor including a fan, the fan having a plurality of blades mounted thereon, the stator including a fan case disposed radially outward of the fan, wherein the improvement is characterized by:
- a segmented hardened liner disposed in the fan case to circumscribe the fan blades for minimizing the damage to the fan case during a fan blade loss condition by allowing the fan blades to skid along the segmented liner and for precluding the embedding of the blades in the fan case to minimize unwanted torque loading of the fan case, with the hardened liner being harder that the fan blade tip material;
- wherein by the segmented hardened liner includes a plurality of plate shingles circumferentially disposed in the fan case, each of the plurality of the shingles being offset from adjacent shingles and forming an overlap region between the adjacent shigles.
A gas turbine engine disposed about a longitudinal axis, the gas turbine engine having a rotor and a stator, the rotor including a fan, the fan having a plurality of blades mounted thereon, the stator including a fan case disposed radially outward of the fan, wherein the improvement is characterized by:
- a hardened liner disposed in the fan case to circumscribe the fan blades;
- said liner having an interior surface for minimizing the damage to the fan case during a fan blade loss condition by allowing the fan blades to skid ablong the interior surface of the liner and for precluding the embedding of the blades in the fan case to minimize unwanted torgue loading of the fan case, with the hardened liner being harder than the fan blade tip material;
- and
- a radial zone of interaction bounded outwardly by the hardened liner, the zone being measured from the fan blade tips in a non-operative condition and fully engaged with the fan disk, wherein the rotor is centered about the engine, such that during a high rotor imbalance condition the fan blades skid along the interior surface of the hardened liner as opposed to embedding in the fan case thereby reducing torque and imbalance loads.
A gas turbine engine having a centerline, a rotor having a centerline of rotation coincident with said engine centerline, the rotor including a fan, the fan having a disk, blades and tips at one end thereof, a stator including a fan case having a characteristic diameter, disposed radially outward of the fan, wherein the improvement is characterized by:
- a hardened structure having an interior surface, disposed in the fan case;
- and
- a radial zone of interaction which extends for a distance less than one hundredth of the fan case diameter, said radial zone of interaction bounded outwardly by the hardened structure, the zone being measured from the fan blade tips in a non-operative condition and fully engaged with the fan disk, wherein said rotor is centered about the engine, such that during a high rotor imbalance condition the fan blades skid along the interior surface of the hardened structure as opposed to embedding in the fan case thereby reducing torque and imbalance loads.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.