Retainer plate
AssigneeROLLS-ROYCE plc
InventorsIan Colin Deuchar Care, Matthew Paul Jevons
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A retainer plate is provided for retaining a dovetail root of a fan blade of a gas turbine engine in a corresponding axially-extending slot in the rim of a fan disc. In use, the plate locates in a cavity formed at an end of the slot such that a first side of the plate is arranged for contact with an axial end face of the dovetail root and an opposite second side of the plate is arranged for contact with an abutment surface of the cavity to limit axial movement of the root along the slot. The retainer plate is a unitary component and has a layered structure including a first layer at the first side of the plate, a second layer at the second side of the plate, and an intermediate layer between the first and the second layers.
Claims14
A fan assembly of a gas turbine engine, the assembly having:
- a fan disc;
- a circumferential row of fan blades, each fan blade having a dovetail root which is retained in a corresponding axially-extending slot in a rim of the fan disc;
- each slot having a cavity formed at an end of the slot;
- and
- a circumferential row of first retainer plates, each first retainer plate having a layered structure including a first layer at a first side of the first retainer plate, a second layer at a second side of the first retainer plate, and an intermediate layer between the first and the second layers, the first, intermediate and second layers being formed of different materials each having a different Young's Modulus, and the Young's moduli of the first and intermediate layers being less than the Young's Modulus of the second layer;
- wherein each first retainer plate is located in a respective one of the cavities such that the first side of the first retainer plate is arranged for contact with an axial end face of the respective dovetail root and the opposite second side of the first retainer plate is arranged for contact with an abutment surface of the cavity to limit axial movement of the root along the slot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.