Fan blade protection system
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsJames O. Hansen, Joseph Parkos, Thomas J. Watson, Christopher J. Hertel, Kelly L. Hoover
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for protecting a fan blade with an airfoil, a tip, a root and a sheath, the root to be inserted into a hub includes peening the airfoil of the blade; inserting a scrim cloth between the fan blade and the sheath to galvanically isolate the fan blade from the sheath; bonding the sheath to the blade with an epoxy adhesive; peening the blade root; bonding wear pads to the root with epoxy adhesive to galvanically isolate the root from the hub; applying a protective cover to the tip of the blade; and applying a coating to all exposed areas of the blade to inhibit corrosion.
Claims18
A method for protecting a fan blade with and airfoil, a tip, a root and a sheath, the root to be inserted into a hub, the method comprising
- peening an airfoil of a fan blade with an airfoil, a tip, a root and a sheath;
- inserting a scrim cloth between the fan blade and the sheath to galvanically isolate the fan blade from the sheath;
- bonding the sheath to the blade with an epoxy adhesive;
- peening the blade root;
- bonding wear pads to the root with epoxy adhesive to galvanically isolate the root from the hub;
- applying a protective cover to the tip of the blade;
- applying a coating to all exposed areas of the blade to inhibit corrosion;
- and
- performing a low temperature cure cycle on the blade.
A blade comprising:
- a blade with an airfoil, a leading edge, a trailing edge, a tip and a root for inserting into a hub, with the blade having gone through a peening process to impart residual stress to the blade;
- a sheath attached to the leading edge;
- a scrim supported epoxy that bonds the sheath to the blade and to galvanically isolate the blade from the sheath;
- wear pads attached to the root with epoxy adhesive to galvanically isolate the root from the hub;
- a cover to protect the tip of the blade;
- and
- a coating applied to all exposed areas of the blade to inhibit corrosion, wherein the coating comprises:
- a base coating in a first color;
- and
- a top coating in a second color.
A method for protecting a fan blade, the method comprising:
- peening an airfoil and interior cavities of an Aluminum fan blade with an airfoil, leading edge, trailing edge, tip and root;
- bonding a sheath to the leading edge of the airfoil using a scrim supported adhesive extending about ½ inch (about 12.7 mm) beyond the edge of the sheath;
- deep peening the blade root;
- bonding wear pads to the root using a scrim supported adhesive;
- applying a protective cover to the tip of the blade;
- and
- applying a first coating in a first color to all exposed areas of the blade to inhibit corrosion;
- applying a second coating in a second color to all areas where the first coating was applied;
- and
- performing a low-temperature cure cycle on the blade.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.