Hollow fan blade for gas turbine engine
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsMichael A. Weisse, William R. Graves
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Hollow fan blades for turbo fan gas turbine engines are formed of two separate detail halves. Each detail half has a plurality of cavities machined out to reduce weight and form ribs. The ribs extend continuously and without intersecting one another in order to facilitate machining. The ribs extend in different directions in different regions of the detail half. In at least one region, the ribs extend in a serpentine pattern, such that concatenated rib segments are substantially perpendicular to one another, thereby providing stiffness in multiple directions.
Claims20
A hollow fan blade detail half comprising:
- a substrate having a root edge and an opposite tip spaced radially outward from the root, the substrate further including a leading edge opposite a trailing edge, the leading edge spaced chordwise from the trailing edge, the substrate including a first surface;
- and
- a plurality of serpentine rib portions in a first region of the substrate, wherein the serpentine rib portions are each portions of one of a plurality of first ribs, the first ribs extending continuously into a second region adjacent the leading edge of the substrate and extending at an acute angle toward the tip and the leading edge in the second region.
A method for making a hollow fan blade detail half including the steps of:
- a) forming a set of substantially parallel continuous serpentine first rib portions on a substrate in a first region, each of the first rib portions including a plurality of substantially perpendicular concatenated rib segments, wherein the first rib portions do not intersect one another or any other rib portions;
- and
- b) forming a set of substantially parallel continuous serpentine first cavities adjacent each of the first rib portions.
A hollow fan blade comprising:
- a pressure side wall having a tip, a leading edge and a trailing edge;
- a suction side wall spaced from the pressure side wall;
- and
- a plurality of serpentine rib portions extending between the pressure side wall and the suction side wall, the plurality of serpentine rib portions extending substantially chordwise.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.