Turbine Engine Fan Blade Edge Guard Anti-Icing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Airfoils in turbine engine fan sections, such as fan blades and outlet guide vanes, are prone to icing and damage from airborne debris, with conventional edge guards offering limited protection due to low elasticity and ductility.
Innovation Solution
The development of edge guards formed from materials with enhanced toughness, flexural modulus, bulk modulus, hardness, and ductility, incorporating internal lattice structures and matrix composites, and equipped with heating conduits for anti-icing systems using bleed air from the turbine engine.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional edge guards are used to protect airfoils, then protection against debris is provided, but the edge guards themselves are prone to damage due to low elasticity and ductility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameters of the edge guard by incorporating elastomeric material with specific elasticity and ductility properties. This allows the edge guard to deform elastically under impact loads and return to its original shape, preventing permanent damage while maintaining protection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite material construction where an elastomeric material is combined with a substrate or reinforcement structure. This composite approach provides both the protective function and the necessary elasticity/ductility to prevent edge guard failure during debris impact.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If heating conduits are added to edge guards for anti-icing, then ice formation is prevented, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the anti-icing heating function with the protective edge guard structure by integrating heating conduits directly into the edge guard. This combination eliminates the need for separate heating systems and simplifies the overall configuration while providing effective ice prevention.
Solution Approach 2:
The edge guard is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: debris protection, elastic deformation absorption, and anti-icing. By incorporating heating conduits into the edge guard, the structure becomes multi-functional, reducing the need for additional separate components.
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 enhanced edge guards provide improved protection against debris impacts and ice formation by absorbing energy and utilizing heating fluids to prevent icing, thereby enhancing the operational performance and durability of turbine engine airfoils.
Implementation Method 1
The edge guard may include one or more heating conduits that may define an internal lattice structure
Implementation Method 2
equipped with heating conduits for anti-icing systems using bleed air from the turbine engine
Data Source
AI summary
An airfoil for a fan section of a turbine engine may include a fan blade or an outlet guide vane, and an edge guard attached thereto. The edge guard may include a heating conduit disposed within at least a portion of the edge guard. An anti-icing system for a plurality of fan blades or outlet guide vanes may include a fluid supply pathway configured to supply heating fluid to respective ones of a plurality of heating conduits within the edge guards attached to respective ones of a plurality of fan blades and/or to a plurality of outlet guide vanes. The heating fluid may include bleed air from a core air flowpath. A method of inhibiting icing on an airfoil may include flowing a heating fluid into a heating conduit disposed within an edge guard attached to the airfoil and heating the edge guard with the heating fluid.