CMC Vane Arc Segments With Single-Sided Platform Interlocks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Implementing ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials in airfoils of gas turbine engines faces challenges due to thermal gradients, interlaminar stresses, and complex attachment features that are not suitable for CMC materials, leading to inefficient loading and manufacturing difficulties.
Innovation Solution
The use of CMC vane arc segments with single-sided platforms that project in a circumferential direction, featuring bearing surfaces, ledges, and interlocking mechanisms, allowing for separate fabrication and improved load-carrying capacity through cross-corner loading and interconnection without double-sided platform limitations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If double-sided platforms are used in CMC airfoils, then attachment features can be provided on both sides, but manufacturing complexity and interlaminar stresses increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the attachment features from one side only, creating a single-sided platform configuration. This eliminates the need for complex double-sided platform structures while maintaining the essential attachment functionality. The attachment features are concentrated on a single platform, reducing manufacturing steps and interlaminar stress points.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs asymmetric design by positioning the platform on only one side of the airfoil cross-section. This asymmetric configuration simplifies the overall structure compared to symmetric double-sided platforms, reducing manufacturing complexity while providing sufficient attachment capability through the single platform and its associated bearing surfaces.
2Strength
If complex attachment features are implemented in CMC airfoils, then structural integrity can be maintained, but thermal gradients and interlaminar stresses worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the attachment structure into distinct functional elements: a single platform, bearing surfaces, and interlocking features. This segmentation allows each element to be optimized independently, reducing stress concentrations and thermal gradient impacts while maintaining overall structural integrity through the coordinated arrangement of these simpler components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the attachment features, specifically adopting a single-sided platform configuration with optimized bearing surface angles and dimensions. These parameter changes reduce the complexity and stress-inducing characteristics of the attachment structure while preserving load-carrying capacity and structural integrity.
3Strength
If double-sided platforms with complex attachment features are used, then load distribution can be improved, but manufacturing difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts unnecessary complexity from the attachment structure by implementing features on only one side. The single platform incorporates all necessary attachment functionality, eliminating the need for corresponding features on the opposite side. This reduction in features directly translates to easier manufacturing while maintaining adequate load distribution through the optimized single-sided configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of the conventional approach of providing attachment features on both sides of the airfoil, the patent inverts this approach by concentrating all attachment features on a single side. This inverted configuration simplifies manufacturing processes while the bearing surfaces and interlocking mechanisms are designed to provide sufficient load distribution and structural support.
Data Source
AI summary
A gas turbine engine includes a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) vane arc segments that are arranged in a circumferential row. Each of the CMC vane arc segments includes an airfoil section that defines first and second side walls, leading and trailing ends, and first and second radial ends. At the first radial end, the airfoil section has a single-sided platform that and the second side wall has a bearing surface. The single-sided platform of each of the CMC vane arc segments in the circumferential row is situated to bear against the bearing surface of the next of the CMC vane arc segments in the circumferential row.