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US 8,985,956 B2Granted
Compressive stress system for a gas turbine engine
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorNicholas Alvin Hogberg
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present application provides a compressive stress system for a gas turbine engine. The compressive stress system may include a first bucket attached to a rotor, a second bucket attached to the rotor, the first and the second buckets defining a shank pocket therebetween, and a compressive stress spring positioned within the shank pocket.
Claims14
A compressive stress system for a gas turbine engine, comprising:
- a first bucket with a first shank portion and a first platform portion attached to a rotor;
- a second bucket with a second shank portion and a second platform portion attached to the rotor;
- the first and the second buckets defining a shank pocket therebetween, wherein the shank pocket is defined by the first and the second shank portions and the first and the second platform portions;
- and
- a compressive stress spring positioned within the shank pocket, the compressive spring comprising:
- a spring dovetail attached to the rotor;
- a first arm extending from the spring dovetail towards the first bucket, the first arm in contact only with the first shank portion of the first bucket and comprising a first radially outward curl;
- and
- a second arm extending from the spring dovetail towards the second bucket, the second arm in contact only with the second shank portion of the second bucket and comprising a second radially outward curl.
6 more elements
A method of reducing interlaminar stresses in a composite material bucket, comprising:
- positioning a compressive stress spring in a shank pocket between adjacent buckets by engaging a spring dovetail of the compressive spring with a rotor;
- releasing a pair of arms of the compressive stress spring into contact only with shank portions of each of the adjacent buckets, the pair of arms comprising radially outward curls;
- and
- asserting a compressive force on the shank portions of each of the adjacent buckets by the pair of arms so as to reduce the interlaminar stresses in each of the adjacent buckets.
1 more element
A compressive stress system for a gas turbine engine, comprising:
- a first bucket with a first shank portion and a first platform portion attached to a rotor;
- a second bucket with a second shank portion and a second platform portion attached to the rotor
- the first bucket and the second bucket comprise a composite material;
- the first bucket and the second bucket define a shank pocket therebetween, wherein the shank pocket is defined by the first and the second shank portions and the first and the second platform portions;
- and
- a compressive stress spring with radially outward curls positioned within the shank pocket and asserting a force only on the first shank portion of the first bucket and the second shank portion of the second bucket.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.