Composite Shaft Fiber Layout for Torque and Vibration Balance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engine shaft components face challenges in meeting the specific requirements for torque transmission, particularly in reducing undesirable vibrations and maintaining optimal torque transmission while minimizing weight and space requirements.
Innovation Solution
A shaft component design featuring regions with varying fiber orientations, densities, and resin-to-fiber ratios, utilizing fiber-reinforced plastic with specific angular ranges and woven materials, optimized for balanced stiffness and reduced geometric convolutions, is employed. This design incorporates different fiber orientations and materials in distinct regions to manage dynamic behavior and torque transmission efficiently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If uniform fiber reinforced plastic is used throughout the shaft component, then manufacturing is simple, but torque transmission efficiency and vibration control are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft component employs different fiber orientations in different regions: ±45° fiber angles in first and second regions for optimal torque transmission, and 0° fiber angle in a third region for enhanced axial stiffness. This local differentiation of fiber properties allows each region to be optimized for its specific functional requirements, improving overall torque transmission efficiency while controlling vibrations.
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft component is divided into multiple regions with distinct fiber reinforcement patterns. The first region has fibers at +45° and -45° angles, the second region has fibers at different ±45° angles, and the third region has fibers at 0° angle. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each region's mechanical properties to meet specific torque and vibration control requirements.
2Volume of moving object
If geometric convolutions such as bellows are added to reduce space requirements, then compactness is improved, but weight and manufacturing complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the material parameters by varying fiber orientation angles in different regions rather than adding geometric convolutions. By using ±45° and 0° fiber arrangements strategically, the shaft achieves the required flexibility and compactness through material anisotropy, avoiding the need for bellows or other volumetric reduction features that would increase weight and manufacturing complexity.
3Power
If fiber orientation is optimized for torque transmission, then torque capacity increases, but axial stiffness may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft component applies different fiber orientations to different regions: ±45° angles in regions requiring high torque transmission capacity, and 0° angle in the third region where axial stiffness is prioritized. This local quality differentiation allows the shaft to simultaneously achieve high torque capacity in critical regions while maintaining adequate axial stiffness through the 0° fiber region.
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft is segmented into regions with different fiber orientations to balance torque and axial performance. The first and second regions with ±45° fibers handle torque transmission, while the third region with 0° fibers provides axial stiffness support, creating a segmented functional optimization throughout the shaft length.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively balances axial and torsional stiffness, reduces weight and space requirements, and minimizes undesirable vibrations, enhancing the overall efficiency of torque transmission in gas turbine engines.
Implementation Method 1
The shaft component has at least two regions comprising fiber reinforced plastic, with fibers and/or their matrix in the at least two regions differing in their composition, their geometric properties, their density, their radial position, their axial position and/or in their fiber orientation
Data Source
AI summary
A shaft component, which in particular can be connected or is connected to the input or output side of a gear box in a gas turbine engine, in particular an aircraft engine, wherein the shaft component has at least two regions comprising fiber reinforced plastic, with fibers in the at least two regions differing in their composition, their geometric properties, their density, their radial position, their axial position and/or in their fiber orientation in the shaft component.