CN104981586A - Composite blades with unidirectional spars with airfoils - Google Patents

Abstract

A gas turbine engine composite blade (10) includes an airfoil (12), the airfoil (12) having pressure and suction sides (41, 43) extending in a spanwise direction (S) outwardly from a blade root (20) to a blade tip (47) along a span (S). A core (50) of the blade (10) comprising quasi-isotropic composite plies (52) extends span-wise outwardly through the blade (10). One or more spars (54, 56) comprise a stack (62) of unidirectional tape plies (63) having a fiber orientation of predominantly 0 degrees relative to the span (S) and extend span-wise outwardly through the root (20) and a portion (53) of the airfoil (12) toward the tip (47). The spars may include pressure and suction side spars (54, 56) sandwiching chordwise extensions (58) of the core (50) in the airfoil (12) and the chordwise extensions (58) being located adjacent to or along the pressure and suction sides (41, 43), respectively. The chordwise extension (58) may be centered about a maximum thickness location (61) of the airfoil (12). The spars (54, 56) may have a height (H), a width (W), and a thickness (T) that avoids a flexing airfoil mode.

Description

Composite blades with unidirectional spars with airfoils

technical field

The present invention relates to gas turbine engine blades, and in particular to composite blades.

Background technique

Composite blades have been developed for aviation gas turbine engines made of elongated filaments composited in a lightweight matrix. The blades are lightweight and have high strength. The term composite has been defined as a material comprising reinforcements such as fibers or particles supported in a bond or matrix material. Many composites are used in the aerospace industry, including metallic and non-metallic composites. The composite used for the blades disclosed herein consists of unidirectional tape material and an epoxy matrix. A discussion of this composite and other suitable materials can be found in the "Engineering Materials Handbook" (1987-1989 or later edition) published by the American Society for Materials Information (ASM INTERNATIONAL).

The composite blades disclosed herein are constructed from a non-metallic form containing carbon fiber, silicon fiber, metal fiber, metal oxide fiber, or fiber material such as ceramic fiber. The fibers are arranged unidirectionally in a tape that is impregnated with resin, formed into the shape of the part, and cured via a high-pressure infusion process or extrusion to form a lightweight, rigid, relatively homogeneous items.

Composite fan blades for aviation gas turbine engines have been developed to reduce weight and cost, especially for fan blades in larger engines. Large engine composite wide-chord fan blades provide significant weight savings compared to large engines with standard chord fan blades. The problem is that all gas turbine engine blades face a resonant or deflection mode. This problem is faced by large composite fan blades for high bypass ratio aviation gas turbine engines with relatively wide diameter fans. This is very practical for the frequencies that cause the blade to experience the first and second flexing airfoil modes (1F and 2F).

It would be highly desirable to provide lightweight and robust aviation gas turbine engine fan blades that avoid passing through or experiencing assonance and flexure modes and particularly the first and second flexure airfoil modes (1F and 2F).

Contents of the invention

A composite fan blade (10) for a gas turbine engine includes an airfoil (12) having a span-wise direction (S) from a blade root (20) of the blade (10) along a span ( S) extends outwards to the pressure side (41 ) and suction side (43) of the blade tip (47). The core (50) of the blade (10) comprises quasi-isotropic composite plies (52) extending spanwise outward towards the tip (47) through the root (20) and airfoil piece (12) of the blade (10). One or more spars (54, 56) comprising a stack (62) of unidirectional tape plies (63) with a fiber orientation preferably at 0 degrees relative to the span (S) towards the tip (47) A portion (53) extends spanwise outward through the root (20) and through the airfoil (12).

The chordwise extension (58) of the core (50) may be centered about the maximum thickness location (61) of the airfoil (12). The spars (54, 56) may have a spanwise height (H), a chordwise width (W), and a flexed airfoil that avoids such as a first flexed airfoil mode and a second flexed airfoil mode The spar thickness (TS) of the piece pattern. The one or more spars may include a pressure side spar (54) and a suction side spar (56) sandwiching a chordwise extension (58) of a core (50) in the airfoil (12), the core (50 ) can be located near the pressure side (41) and the suction side (43) or located along the pressure side (41) and the suction side (43), respectively.

In one embodiment of the blade (10), the one or more spars include chordally separated upstream pressure side spars (74) and downstream pressure side spars (76) and chordally separated upstream suction side spars (78) ) and the downstream suction side spar (80), the pressure side spar and the suction side spar sandwich the chordwise extension (58) of the core (50) in the airfoil (12).

Description of drawings

The foregoing aspects and other features of the invention are elucidated in the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a composite fan blade for an aviation gas turbine engine having a composite unidirectional strip spar.

2 is a cross-sectional view of a composite fan blade through 2-2 in FIG. 1 .

3 is a schematic perspective view of an alternative aviation gas turbine engine composite fan blade with composite unidirectional strip spars.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the composite unidirectional strip spar shown in FIG. 3 .

5 is a schematic perspective view of the -P degree, 0 degree, and +P degree plies of the composite fan blade shown in FIG. 2 .

6 is a perspective view of an alternative aviation gas turbine engine composite fan blade with a composite unidirectional strip spar.

7 is a cross-sectional view of a composite fan blade through 7-7 in FIG. 6 .

Detailed ways

Shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a composite fan blade 10 for a high bypass ratio fan jet gas turbine engine (not shown) having a composite airfoil 12 . Composite fan blade 10 is comprised of filament-reinforced laminates 30 formed from composite material laminates 36 of filament-reinforced composite plies 40 (shown in FIG. 5 ). As used herein, the terms "laminate" and "ply" are synonymous. The airfoil 12 includes a pressure side 41 and a suction side 43 extending outward in the spanwise direction along the span S from the fan blade root 20 to the blade tip 47 . In the exemplary embodiment, root 20 includes an integral dovetail 28 that enables fan blade 10 to be mounted to a rotor disk.

The exemplary pressure side 41 and suction side 43 shown herein are concave and convex, respectively. The airfoil 12 extends along a chord C between chordwise spaced leading and trailing edges LE and TE. The thickness T of the airfoil 12 varies in the chordwise direction C and the spanwise direction S and is on the pressure side 41 and the suction side 43 of the blade 10 , also referred to as the convex and concave sides of the blade or airfoil. extend between. The airfoil 12 may be hub mounted and integral with the hub to form an integrally bladed rotor (IBR) or integral with the disk in an open integrally blisk (BLISK) configuration.

Ply 40 is generally constructed entirely of unidirectional fibrous filamentary ply material, preferably tapes, as it is generally referred to, which are generally arranged in spanwise order and used to form the composite as shown in FIG. Airfoil 12. The plies 40 are essentially those plies forming the airfoil 12 and the root 20 of the blade 10 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 .

Composite fan blade 10 is constructed of filament-reinforced laminates 30 formed from composite laminates 36 of different filament-reinforced airfoil plies 40 . The blade 10 utilizes filament reinforced stacks or plies with filament orientations of 0 degrees, +P degrees, and −P degrees as shown in FIG. 5 . Angle P is a predetermined angle measured from 0 degrees corresponding to a generally radially extending axis of the airfoil, which may be the centerline or stack line of the airfoil, and is typically about 45 degrees. Exemplary structures are more particularly pointed out and illustrated by Stanley in US Patent No. 4,022,547.

Referring to FIGS. 1-4 , composite fan blade 10 includes a core 50 comprised of quasi-isotropic composite plies 52 . In the airfoil 12, the pressure side spar 54 and the suction side spar 56 sandwich a chordwise extension 58 of the core 50 extending approximately from or along the pressure side 41 and the suction side 43, respectively. The quasi-isotropic composite plies 52 of the pressure side 41 and the suction side 43 are formed. A chordwise extension 58 of the core 50 extends chordwise partially through the airfoil 12 . The chordwise extension 58 of the core 50 is generally chordwise centered in the airfoil 12 . The exemplary embodiment of the chordwise extension 58 shown herein extends chordwise about 1/3 through the airfoil 12 and is generally chordwise centered about the middle of the airfoil 12 . The quasi-isotropic composite ply chordwise extension 58 of the core 50 is preferably limited to thicker cross-sectional regions of the airfoil 12 around the maximum thickness T _MAX location 61 of the airfoil 12 or with respect to the airfoil The maximum thickness T _MAX of 12 is centered at position 61 (as shown in FIG. 2 ) so as to be most efficient. For the exemplary airfoil shown herein, the T _MAX position 61 is approximately the central third of the airfoil in the chordwise direction C between the leading edge LE and the trailing edge TE. The pressure side spar 54 and the suction side spar 56 consist of a stack 62 of unidirectional tape plies 63 (see FIG. 5 ) with a fiber orientation relative to the span S of 0 degrees, preferably 0 degrees.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4 , pressure side spar 54 and suction side spar 56 (and the unidirectional tape plies they are made of) extend spanwise S through fan blade root 20 and through a portion of airfoil 12 53 to spar tip 57. The pressure side spar 54 and the suction side spar 56 have a spanwise height H measured from the fan blade root 20 to the spar tip 57 that is less than the span S of the airfoil. In the embodiment of the composite fan blade 10 shown herein, the pressure side spar 54 and the suction side spar 56 (and the unidirectional tape plies they are made of) extend all the way through the Root 20.

The quasi-isotropic ply core 50 generally comprises alternating plies of tape with different fiber orientations +P, 0, and -P. The pressure side spar 54 and the suction side spar 56 comprise unidirectional tape plies with a fiber orientation of primarily 0 degrees. Exemplary blade ply laminates are disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,375,978 to Evans, entitled "Foreign Object Damage Resistant Composite Blade and Manufacturing," issued in 1994 December 27 and assigned to the same assignee of this patent and incorporated herein by reference. The ply laminate disclosed in 5,375,978 refers to a standard quasi-isotropic laminate with various ply shapes and fiber orientations of 0°, +45°, 0°, -45° sequence.

The stack 62 of spars comprises unidirectional tape plies with a fiber orientation of primarily 0 degrees. Several plies may have another fiber orientation. An example is a stack with a total of 8 plies, with 4 plies with fiber orientations of 0 degrees on either side of two plies with fiber orientations of +30 degrees and -30 degrees respectively. The ply laminate may be represented or indicated by 0, 0, 0, 0, +30, -30, 0, 0, 0, 0.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, the spar has a spanwise height H, a chordwise width W, and a spar thickness TS designed to increase the weight of the wing without increasing the weight of the blade. The radial or span stiffness of the profile 12. The spar is also designed or tailored or tuned to avoid flexed airfoil modes such as the first flexed airfoil mode 1F and the second flexed airfoil mode 2F. The spanwise height H and the spar thickness TS are designed or tailored to accommodate or avoid flexed airfoil modes such as the first flexed airfoil mode 1F and the second flexed airfoil mode 2F. A unidirectional ply spar with a predominantly 0-degree fiber orientation allows for a stiffer blade without increasing thickness and without increasing weight and performance degradation. The exemplary embodiment of the composite blade shown here is a fan blade, but it is also possible to have a quasi-isotropic ply core and a spar consisting of a stack 62 of 0 degree unidirectional tape plies 63 The composite blades are used in other gas turbine engine blades such as compressor blades.

The exemplary embodiment of the composite blade 10 shown herein includes one or more outer cover plies 66 of quasi-isotropic composite plies around the core 50 and the pressure side spars 54 and suction side spars 56 . A leading edge metal shroud 68 is incorporated around the leading edge LE. This shroud is often referred to as a metal cladding.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7 , an alternative spar design for a composite fan blade 10 includes a core 50 composed of quasi-isotropic composite plies and two sets of pressure and suction side spars. These two sets include chordally spaced upstream pressure side spars 74 and downstream pressure side spars 76 and chordally spaced upstream suction side spars 78 and downstream suction side spars 80 sandwiching the core respectively The chordwise extension 58 of 50 is composed of quasi-isotropic composite plies approximately in the vicinity of the pressure side 41 and the suction side 43 or along the pressure side 41 and the suction side 43 respectively.

The invention has been described by way of illustration. It will be understood that the terms that have been used are intended to be words of description rather than words of limitation. While there has been described herein what are considered to be preferred and exemplary embodiments of this invention, other modifications of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the teachings herein, and therefore, It is intended to protect in the appended claims all such changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is intended to be protected by Letters Patent of the United States of America, therefore, is the invention as defined and distinguished in the appended claims.

Claims (26)

1. a gas turbine engine composite blading (10), comprising:

Airfoil (12), described airfoil (12) has on direction (S), extend out to vane tip (47) in exhibition from the root of blade (20) of described blade (10) along the span (S) on the pressure side (41) and suction side (43)

The core (50) of described blade (10), described core (50) comprises quasi-isotropic compound synusia (52), described synusia (52) is towards described tip (47) along opening up to extending outwardly through the described blade (10) comprising described root (20) and described airfoil (12)

One or more spar (54,56), described one or more spar (54,56) comprises the stack (62) that the one-way tape synusia (63) that is mainly 0 degree by the fiber-wall-element model relative to the described span (S) is formed, and

Described one or more spar (54,56) is towards described tip (47) along exhibition to extending outwardly through described root (20) and through the part (53) of described airfoil (12).

2. blade according to claim 1 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises described one or more spar, and described one or more spar is included on the pressure side spar (54) and the suction side spar (56) of the tangential extension part (58) of sandwiched described core (50) in described airfoil (12).

3. blade according to claim 2 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50), described in the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50) lays respectively on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) vicinity or respectively along described on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) location.

4. blade according to claim 1 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50), and the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50) is placed in the middle about the maximum ga(u)ge position (61) of described airfoil (12).

5. blade according to claim 4 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises described one or more spar, and described one or more spar is included on the pressure side spar (54) and the suction side spar (56) of the tangential extension part (58) of sandwiched described core (50) in described airfoil (12).

6. blade according to claim 5 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50), described in the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50) lays respectively on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) vicinity or respectively along described on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) location.

7. blade according to claim 1 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises described spar (54,56), and described spar (54,56) has exhibition to height (H), tangential width (W) and the spar thickness (TS) avoiding bending airfoil pattern.

8. blade according to claim 7 (10), is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises described flexure airfoil pattern, and described flexure airfoil pattern comprises the first flexure airfoil pattern and the second flexure airfoil pattern.

9. blade according to claim 8 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises described one or more spar, and described one or more spar is included on the pressure side spar (54) and the suction side spar (56) of the tangential extension part (58) of sandwiched described core (50) in described airfoil (12).

10. blade according to claim 9 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50), described in the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50) lays respectively on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) vicinity or respectively along described on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) location.

11. blades according to claim 8 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50), and the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50) is placed in the middle about the maximum ga(u)ge position (61) of described airfoil (12).

12. blades according to claim 11 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises described one or more spar, and described one or more spar is included on the pressure side spar (54) and the suction side spar (56) of the tangential extension part (58) of sandwiched described core (50) in described airfoil (12).

13. blades according to claim 12 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50), described in the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50) lays respectively on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) vicinity or respectively along described on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) location.

14. blades according to claim 1 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises described one or more spar, described one or more spar comprises tangential isolated upstream pressure flank beam (74) and downstream pressure flank beam (76) and suction side spar, tangential isolated upstream (78) and suction side, downstream spar (80), in described airfoil (12), the tangential extension part (58) of described on the pressure side spar and the sandwiched described core (50) of described suction side spar.

15. blades according to claim 14 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50), described in the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50) lays respectively on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) vicinity or respectively along described on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) location.

16. blades according to claim 15 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50), and the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50) is placed in the middle about the maximum ga(u)ge position (61) of described airfoil (12).

17. blades according to claim 16 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises and has exhibition to height (H), tangential width (W) with avoid the described upstream pressure flank beam (74) of the spar thickness (TS) bending airfoil pattern and described downstream pressure flank beam (76) and tangential suction side spar, isolated described upstream (78) and suction side, described downstream spar (80).

18. blades according to claim 17 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises described flexure airfoil pattern, and described flexure airfoil pattern comprises the first flexure airfoil pattern and the second flexure airfoil pattern.

19. blades according to claim 17 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50), described in the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50) lays respectively on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) vicinity or respectively along described on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) location.

20. blades according to claim 19 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises described flexure airfoil pattern, and described flexure airfoil pattern comprises the first flexure airfoil pattern and the second flexure airfoil pattern.

21. blades according to claim 1 (10), is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises:

Described root (20) comprises the Dovetail (28) of one,

Around one or more outer cover sheets (66) of described core (50), and

Be combined in described leading edge (LE) leading edge metal skirt (68) around.

22. blades according to claim 21 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises described spar (54,56), and described spar (54,56) has exhibition to height (H), tangential width (W) and the spar thickness (TS) avoiding bending airfoil pattern.

23. blades according to claim 22 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises described flexure airfoil pattern, and described flexure airfoil pattern comprises the first flexure airfoil pattern and the second flexure airfoil pattern.

24. blades according to claim 23 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises described one or more spar, and described one or more spar is included on the pressure side spar (54) and the suction side spar (56) of the tangential extension part (58) of sandwiched described core (50) in described airfoil (12).

25. blades according to claim 24 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50), and the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50) is placed in the middle about the maximum ga(u)ge position (61) of described airfoil (12).

26. blades according to claim 25 (10), it is characterized in that, described blade (10) also comprises the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50), described in the described tangential extension part (58) of described core (50) lays respectively on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) vicinity or respectively along described on the pressure side (41) and described suction side (43) location.