GB2475008A - Jet engine blade to disc joint - Google Patents

Jet engine blade to disc joint Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2475008A
GB2475008A GB1103812A GB201103812A GB2475008A GB 2475008 A GB2475008 A GB 2475008A GB 1103812 A GB1103812 A GB 1103812A GB 201103812 A GB201103812 A GB 201103812A GB 2475008 A GB2475008 A GB 2475008A
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United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
disc
blade
holes
fasteners
jet engine
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
GB1103812A
Other versions
GB2475008B (en
GB201103812D0 (en
Inventor
Michael Victor Rodrigues
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Individual
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Individual
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Priority to GB1103812A priority Critical patent/GB2475008B/en
Publication of GB201103812D0 publication Critical patent/GB201103812D0/en
Publication of GB2475008A publication Critical patent/GB2475008A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of GB2475008B publication Critical patent/GB2475008B/en
Expired - Fee Related legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64C—AEROPLANES; HELICOPTERS
    • B64C11/00—Propellers, e.g. of ducted type; Features common to propellers and rotors for rotorcraft
    • B64C11/02—Hub construction
    • B64C11/04—Blade mountings
    • B64C11/08—Blade mountings for non-adjustable blades
    • B64C11/10—Blade mountings for non-adjustable blades rigid
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F01—MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; STEAM ENGINES
    • F01D—NON-POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT MACHINES OR ENGINES, e.g. STEAM TURBINES
    • F01D5/00—Blades; Blade-carrying members; Heating, heat-insulating, cooling or antivibration means on the blades or the members
    • F01D5/30—Fixing blades to rotors; Blade roots ; Blade spacers
    • F01D5/3053—Fixing blades to rotors; Blade roots ; Blade spacers by means of pins
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04D—NON-POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT PUMPS
    • F04D29/00—Details, component parts, or accessories
    • F04D29/26—Rotors specially for elastic fluids
    • F04D29/32—Rotors specially for elastic fluids for axial flow pumps
    • F04D29/321—Rotors specially for elastic fluids for axial flow pumps for axial flow compressors
    • F04D29/322—Blade mountings
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04D—NON-POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT PUMPS
    • F04D29/00—Details, component parts, or accessories
    • F04D29/26—Rotors specially for elastic fluids
    • F04D29/32—Rotors specially for elastic fluids for axial flow pumps
    • F04D29/34—Blade mountings
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F05—INDEXING SCHEMES RELATING TO ENGINES OR PUMPS IN VARIOUS SUBCLASSES OF CLASSES F01-F04
    • F05D—INDEXING SCHEME FOR ASPECTS RELATING TO NON-POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES OR ENGINES, GAS-TURBINES OR JET-PROPULSION PLANTS
    • F05D2220/00—Application
    • F05D2220/30—Application in turbines
    • F05D2220/36—Application in turbines specially adapted for the fan of turbofan engines
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02T—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION
    • Y02T50/00—Aeronautics or air transport
    • Y02T50/60—Efficient propulsion technologies, e.g. for aircraft

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Aviation & Aerospace Engineering (AREA)
  • Structures Of Non-Positive Displacement Pumps (AREA)

Abstract

A jet engine rotor comprises a disc 1 having symmetrical peripheral facets 1f, and blades 2 with integral flanges 2f at their bases, the blades being secured to the disc by fasteners 3 passing through holes in the flange and into holes in the disc facets. Optionally, separate flanges are provided to secure the blades through secondary holes with secondary fasteners. The flanges may be T-shaped or L-shaped. The fasteners may include bolts, nuts, rivets and/or threaded fasteners. Joint faces may be separated by elastomeric shims 7. The shims may be made of Viton, PTFE, or Nylon. The rotor may be a fan of a turbofan engine.

Description

INTELLECTUAL
. ... PROPERTY OFFICE Application No. GB 1103812.2 RTM Date:15 March 2011 The following terms are registered trademarks and should be read as such wherever they occur in this document: Qantas A3 80 Trent RB211 Rolls-Royce esp @ cenet Intellectual Property Office is an operating name of the Patent Office www.ipo.gov.uk Jet Engine Fail-proof Blade to Disc Joints Invention relates to Jet engines -particularly fail-proof turbofan blade to disc joints.
Turbofan loss is of concern to airlines, passengers, crews & jet engine makers.
Blade losses resulted in 47 fatalities at Kegworth & 112 at Sioux City. Recent failures on Qantas A380 Trent 900 & Qantas 747 RB211 engines prove that even new jet engines are vulnerable. Huge sums are lost grounding fleets, and Jet Engine plc shares & profits fall sharply. During 2008 to 2010 four Blade Loss incidents prompted the FAA to increase frequency of dovetail slot crack inspections for potential blade-off failures.
This invention offers fail proof 50 times strength with 10-fold back-up safety over dovetail slots which have no back-up safety. Bolted joints are 90% cheaper & faster than current production.. With 50 times strength., costly blade-off tests become unnecessary.
Inventor's Pedigree: Michael V. Rodrigues a top professional aircraft design stress engineer inventor -was an original team designer of the world's fastest Lynx helicopter, (400 kin/hr), saw successful active service in Faildands & Gulf wars.
See Inventor Profile www.gigadron.coml?page_idz=25 Definitions in Citation: "dicc" includes fan-disc, rotor disc, rotor & disk.
"SIot-less"& "slot-free" means no dovetail slots, circumferential slots, nor any slots.
"Dovetail slots" include curved dove-tail slots & female slot profiles in disc.
Problem dovetail slots a tear awaiting fracture, are unsafe for large turbofans with high centrifugal forces. Furthermore, dovetail slots need large slide-in clearances prone to blade rattle, vibration & noise leading to fatigue fracture & tragic failure.
BBC 1 Text 10 Feb 2011 -Manufacturing Giant Rolls-Royce said the mid-air failure of its Trent 900 engine on a Qantas super jumbo had led to costs of £56m.
The Nov 2009 A380 engine explosion forced an emergency landing and the one-off cost contributed to annual pre-tax profits dropping 76% to £702m in 2010 from £2.96bn.
Solution: The basic invention comprises a disc with peripheral facets & holes bolted to flanged blade roots for fail proof strength as one I OOKN Ml 2 bolt is five times stronger than a dovetail slot. 10 bolts give 10-fold back-up safety & 50 times the strength..
Elastomeric shims between all joints eliminate vibration, noise & fatigue failure.
Prior Art -World Patent & Product Searches -show no anticipations: At the time of filing, a World Patent Search carried out on esp(enet websites showed no prior art of "slot-free, boiled bladeldisc joints" as cited in the present application.
World Product Searches as well as searches of comprehensive jet engine design books showed no anticq'ations of the novelty steps cited in the claims of present invention.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION: Jet engine blade/disc fail-proof joints comprising disc with peripheral facets embodying threaded holes secured with bolts to mating holes in flanges integrally provided in blade roots.
USES: Jet engine blade/disc fail-proof joints, to avert dovetail slot failure fan-loss of concern to airlines, passengers, crew & jet engine makers, as dovetail slot production is scheduled to continue until 2014.
ADVANTAGES: 1. Fail-proofjoint offers 50 times strength with 10-fold back-up safety.
2. Rotor/blade assembly remains intact, even after bird & hail strikes.
3. Eliminates need for £l2million blade-off tests.
4. Reduces current production time & costs (of dovetail slots) by 90%.
5. Eliminates rattle vibration, wear fracture & noise for quieter, safer engines.
6. Reduces disc & cowling weight / costs reducing flight fuel costs.
7. Faceted discs are about 20% lighter than dovetail slotted discs.
REFERENCE TO DRAWINGS: General Notes on suffixed A & suffixed B figures Figures suffixed A are zoomed-rn views of various blade to disc assembled joints.
Figures suffixed B are full views of the same cut sections of assembled blades to disc.
Figure 1-is a blade with integral T-shaped flange bolted directly to disc.
The versatile design permits any desired blade root pitch angle to disc axis.
Front partial cut-away view details how the flange is bolted to the faceted disc.
Figure 2 -is a T flanged blade root pitched at 90 degrees to the axis of rotation.
Figure 3-is a plain blade bolted via a separate T-shaped flange to disc.
The middle facet shows a T-shaped flange bolted to disc without blade.
The lowest facet shows the bare facet with threaded holes.
Figure 4-is a blade with integral L-shaped flange bolted directly to the disc.
Figure 5-is a blade bolted via a separate L-shaped flange to the disc.
Figure 6 Fig 6 C is a full blade/disc assembly. Fig 6 D is a faceted disc only.
Key to Drawing Reference Numbers:-
Reference No. Description of Part or Feature
1 Disc if Disc Facet ih Facet Primary Threaded Hole 2 Blade with Integral T-flange, or an L-Flange 2f Blade Integral Flange -T-shaped or L-shaped 2h Primary Hole in Integral Blade Flange 3 Primary Fasteners -Bolting Flange to Facets 4 Separate Flange T-shaped or L-shaped 4h Secondary Holes in separate T-shaped or L-shaped flanges Flangeless Blades with mating secondary holes 6 Secondary Fasteners for bolting blades to flange uprights 7 Primary Shim used between facet & flange 8 Secondary Shim used between blade & flange uprights
Description:
1. Referring to the drawings, the invention titled Jet Engine Fail-proof Blade to Disc Joints comprise a disc, 1, embodying symmetrical peripheral facets, if, with holes, lh, secured with fasteners, 3, through primary boles, 2h, in integral flanges, 2f, provided at base of blades, 2; optionally, separate flanges, 4, are provided to secure the blades, 5, through mating secondary holes, 4h, with secondary fasteners, 6.
2. The number of facets, equals the number of blades attached, the profile of said integral flanges & separate flanges is preferably 1-shaped, figs I to 3, and L-shaped, figs 4 & 5, at least one row of fasteners is provided for securing all joints and preferably all joint faces are separated by elastomeric shim means, 7 & 8.
3. All boles include threaded holes & plain through holes, the fasteners include bolts, nuts & rivets, and threaded fasteners include provision of thread lock means.
4. The materials provided for the disc, blades, flanges, & fusteners include steel & titanium alloys; the profiles & dimensions of the blades, flanges, disc facets, fasteners & holes are provided to be strong enough to offer a life time fail-proof warranty for the assembly to remain intact afler bird, sand & hail strikes, to make costly blade-off tests superfluous, to reduce disc & cowling weight, corresponding costs of same, to obtain significant savings in flight fuel costs.
5. The elastomeric shim means, 7 & 8, preferably comprise an inert, ambient temperature proof, elastomeric material, which includes viton, ptfe & nylon, sandwiched between joint faces to eliminate vibration, metal to metal contact wear, noise, and for fine clearance adjustments between blade tips & cowling.

Claims (5)

  1. CLAIMS: 1. Jet engine fail-proof blade to disc joints comprising a disc embodying symmetrical peripheral facets with holes secured with fasteners through holes in an integral flange provided at base of blades; optionally, separate flanges are provided to secure the blades through mating secondary holes with secondary fasteners.
  2. 2. Jet engine fail-proof blade to disc joints as in claim I, wherein the profile of said integral flanges & separate flanges is preferably T-shaped and L-shaped, at least one row of fasteners is provided for securing all joints, and preferably all joint faces are separated by elastomeric shim means.
  3. 3. Jet engine fail-proof blade to disc joints as in claim 2, wherein said holes include blind threaded holes & plain through holes, said fasteners include bolts, nuts & rivets, and threaded fasteners include the provision of thread lock means.
  4. 4. Jet engine fail-proof blade to disc joints as in claim 3, wherein said disc, blades, flanges & fastener materials include steel & titanium alloys, the profiles & dimensions of the blades, flanges, disc facets, fasteners & holes are provided to be strong enough to offer a life time fail-proof warranty for the assembly to remain intact after bird, sand & hail strikes, to make costly blade-off tests superfluous, to reduce disc & cowling weight, corresponding costs of same, to obtain significant savings in flight fuel costs.
  5. 5. Jet engine fail-proof blade to disc joints as in claim 4, wherein said elastomeric shim means preferably comprises an inert, ambient temperature proof, elastomeric material, including viton, ptfe & nylon, sandwiched between joint faces to eliminate vibration, metal to metal contact wear, noise, and for fme clearance adjustments between blade tips and cowling.AMENDMENTS TO THE CLAIMS HAVE BEEN FILED AS FOLLOWSCLAIMS: 1 Turbofan Jet engine blade to disc joints comprising a disc embodying symmetrical peripheral facets with holes secured with fasteners through holes in a rectangular flange provided at base of blades.2. Turbofan Jet engine blade to disc joints as in claim 1, wherein the number of facets equals the number of blades attached, the profile of said rectangular flange includes T-shaped and L-shaped rectangular flanges, at least one row of fasteners is provided for securing joints, said rectangular flange provided at base of blades includes integral & separate rectangular flanges.3. Turbofan Jet engine blade to disc joints as in claim 2, wherein said holes include blind threaded holes & plain through holes, said fasteners include bolts, nuts & rivets, and threaded fasteners include the provision of thread lock means.4. Turbofan Jet engine blade to disc joints as in claim 3, wherein said disc, blades, rectangular flanges, & fastener materials include steel & titanium alloys, the profiles & dimensions of the blades, flanges, disc facets, fasteners & holes are provided to be strong enough to offer a life time fail-proof warranty for the assembly to remain intact after bird, sand & hail strikes, to make costly blade-off tests superfluous, to * reduce disc & cowling weight, corresponding costs of same, to obtain significant savingsinflightfuelcosts. ** *** S 5. Turbofan Jet engine blade to disc joints as in claim 4, wherein elastomeric shim means comprising an inert, ambient temperature proof, elastomeric material, * including viton, ptfe & nylon, is sandwiched between joint faces to eliminate blade * 30 rattle noise, vibration, metal to metal contact wear, high-cycle metal fatigue, and offer fine clearance adjustments between blade tips and cowling.
GB1103812A 2011-03-05 2011-03-05 Turbofan jet engine fail-proof blade to disc joints Expired - Fee Related GB2475008B (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB1103812A GB2475008B (en) 2011-03-05 2011-03-05 Turbofan jet engine fail-proof blade to disc joints

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB1103812A GB2475008B (en) 2011-03-05 2011-03-05 Turbofan jet engine fail-proof blade to disc joints

Publications (3)

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GB201103812D0 GB201103812D0 (en) 2011-04-20
GB2475008A true GB2475008A (en) 2011-05-04
GB2475008B GB2475008B (en) 2011-09-21

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Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2518715A (en) * 2014-07-14 2015-04-01 Michael Victor Rodrigues Jet engine turbine & compressor bolted blades
EP3213811A3 (en) * 2016-03-01 2018-01-17 Sulzer Management AG Vane for an impeller of an agitator, impeller and agitator

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB456126A (en) * 1936-06-11 1936-11-03 Edward Clifford Improvements in and relating to airscrews
GB590383A (en) * 1945-01-23 1947-07-16 Colchester Woods Improvements in fans
GB1043707A (en) * 1962-08-08 1966-09-21 Aerex Ltd Improvements in and relating to axial flow fans

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB456126A (en) * 1936-06-11 1936-11-03 Edward Clifford Improvements in and relating to airscrews
GB590383A (en) * 1945-01-23 1947-07-16 Colchester Woods Improvements in fans
GB1043707A (en) * 1962-08-08 1966-09-21 Aerex Ltd Improvements in and relating to axial flow fans

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2518715A (en) * 2014-07-14 2015-04-01 Michael Victor Rodrigues Jet engine turbine & compressor bolted blades
EP3213811A3 (en) * 2016-03-01 2018-01-17 Sulzer Management AG Vane for an impeller of an agitator, impeller and agitator
RU2729275C2 (en) * 2016-03-01 2020-08-05 Зульцер Мэнэджмент Аг Blade for agitating impeller, impeller and mixing device
US10835879B2 (en) 2016-03-01 2020-11-17 Sulzer Management Ag Vane for an impeller of an agitator, impeller and agitator
US11642637B2 (en) 2016-03-01 2023-05-09 Sulzer Management Ag Vane for an impeller of an agitator, impeller and agitator

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB2475008B (en) 2011-09-21
GB201103812D0 (en) 2011-04-20

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PCNP Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee

Effective date: 20210305