Abstract: A blade or a vane preferably used in a gas turbine engine, the blade or vane being formed of a metallic core or insert with a ceramic airfoil surface bonded to the metallic insert. The insert includes a series of concave and convex portions arranged along the outer surface, in which a plurality of hoop fibers are secured within a resin matrix to firmly secure the metallic insert to the ceramic airfoil body. Axial loads between the insert and the ceramic body are transferred to the hoop fibers. The hoop fibers are strong enough to resist extending n length that would permit the hoop fibers from sliding over the widest portion of the insert.

Abstract: A gas turbine engine having a bypass flow in which the bypass flow includes a central bypass passage formed by a rotary shaft of the engine, and an outer bypass passage located between the casing and the combustor, where the hot gas stream from the turbine is located between the outer bypass flow and the central bypass flow. Also, a gas turbine engine having a central bypass passage with a single spool or twin spools, in which various ways are arranged to support the rotary members of the engine.

Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a tip shroud ring rotatably supported on a last stage blade assembly in a turbine. The tip shroud ring is formed entirely of a fiber reinforced ceramic matrix composite material to provide a very light weight tip shroud ring, but also a very strong ring. The blades include pins extending from the tips, and the tip shroud ring includes holes in which the pins slide. Thus, the tip shroud ring is completely supported by the blade tip pins, and the centrifugal force developed by the rotation of the tip shroud ring does not add to the tensile force developed along the blades. Thus, the maximum rotational speed of the turbine rotor as defined by An2 can be increased. Also, because the blade tips are secured to the tip shroud ring in a circumferential direction, the tip shroud ring acts to dampen the bladed turbine by allowing only the middle of the blade to vibrate.

Abstract: A laminated damper intended to be used to support and dampen vibrations in a bearing, where the damper includes a plurality of laminates of a flexible yet rigid material, the damper having an L-shape proximal end and a bearing support surface on the distal end, and where the distal end is spaced far enough from the proximal end that a vibration produces a relative sliding motion between laminates that the friction developed produces the damping of the vibration. The preferred embodiment of the laminated damper includes one or more layers of a viscoelastic material sandwiched between a plurality of supporting laminates, where a vibration flexes the supporting laminates and creates a shear force in the viscoelastic layer between the laminates. The shear force in the viscoelastic layer dampens the vibration.

Abstract: A bearing damper includes a coiled wire wrapped around projections formed on an outer race of the bearing, and supported by a casing having projections extending toward the coiled wire. Projections on the outer race are aligned with recesses on the casing, while projections on the casing are aligned with recesses in the outer race so that the coiled wire can flex between the projections that support the wire and provide a damping function. The coiled wire is formed of a plurality of strands. Flexing of the wire causes adjacent strands to rub and dissipate energy from the vibrations. The tension in the coiled wire can be adjusted in order to vary the damping capability of the bearing damper.

Abstract: The present invention is a shroud tip clearance control ring for use in a gas turbine engine in which a rotary blade and a shroud ring form a gap that forms a blade outer air seal, and where the shroud ring is formed of two shroud segment halves, each shroud segment including a pin located near an end of the segment, the pins being slidably within slots formed on the casing, and a drive member moves along a direction in which the pins are moved along the slots to change a radius of the shroud ring in a way such that the radius remains substantially the same along a 360 degree angle of the shroud ring. The drive member includes two positions, one that places the shroud ring in a radially inward position, and another position that places the shroud ring in a radially outward position.

Abstract: A centrifugal impeller having an inlet and a plurality of outlets, the outlets including at least one outlet in a forward direction of the impeller and at least one outlet in a rearward direction of the impeller. A flow path distance of the outlet in the forward direction can be greater than a flow path distance of the outlet in the rearward direction in order to provide a greater pressure in the outlet having the greater flow path distance. In another embodiment, the flow path volume in the forward direction can be greater than the flow path volume in the rearward direction in order to provide a greater flow volume in the forward direction. In another embodiment, the number of flow paths in the forward direction can be greater than the number of flow paths in the rearward direction in order to provide a greater flow volume in the forward direction.

Abstract: A turbo machine having a rotor disc with a plurality of rotor blades secured within slots, where the slots and blade roots have a curvature such that the blade is mounted in the slot by pivoting the blade. The blades can be installed or removed from an assembled turbo machine without having to disassemble the rotor discs. A blade pivots within the slot, and the blades are so arranged in adjacent discs, that a blade in an upstream disc will pivot in-between a space formed between blades in the adjacent rotor disc. The blade root and disc slot include a spring biased pin to lock the blade in place.

Abstract: A locking spacer assembly for filling a void between adjacent components in a turbine engine. In at least one embodiment, the locking spacer assembly may be configured to be inserted between adjacent turbine blades in a disc groove in a turbine blade stage assembly. The locking spacer assembly may be formed from fore and aft end supports and a locking device having fore and aft angled surfaces for urging the fore and aft end supports into lateral recesses in the disc groove. The locking spacer assembly may also include a mid spacer positioned between the fore and aft end supports. A retainer may be attached to the locking device to draw the fore and aft angled surfaces of the locking device into contact with the fore and aft support surfaces and urge the first and second end supports into lateral recesses in the disc groove.

Abstract: The segments of the vanes of a stator and the blades of a rotor for a gas turbine engine are dampened by utilizing braided wire cable that is affixed to adjacent segments such that each of the wire strands forming the cable is allowed to move relative to each other to dissipate the vibratory energy inflicted on the stator or rotor. The ends of the cable are welded or heated and then tapered to facilitate fitting into a sleeve or collar which in turn is affixed to the adjacent segments by braze, weld or the like.