Turbine Fan Blade Fin for Platform Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Dual-flow turbine engine fan blades with integrated composite platforms face manufacturing and assembly challenges, such as misalignment and wear, leading to aerodynamic leakages and reduced performance due to opposing movements between platform sides.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a fin with a substantially triangular transverse cross-section that extends radially to overlap the junction of adjacent platform edges, providing an aerodynamic link and reducing transverse movements, while also improving mechanical strength and resistance to centrifugal stresses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If fan blades are made with integrated composite platforms, then mass is reduced and assembly is facilitated, but manufacturing precision and assembly quality become difficult to control due to misalignment and wear between platform sides
Solution Approach 1:
A fin structure is introduced as an intermediary element connecting adjacent platforms. This fin acts as a mediator that mechanically links the platforms together, preventing misalignment and wear between platform sides while maintaining the benefits of integrated composite construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The fan blade is constructed using composite materials with an integrated platform, combining multiple functions (structural support, aerodynamic surface, and platform integration) into a single composite component, thereby reducing mass while maintaining strength.
2Strength
If the platform sides are allowed to move opposingly, then flexibility and stress distribution improve, but aerodynamic leakages increase and performance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The fin serves as a connecting intermediary between adjacent platforms, mechanically coupling them to prevent opposing movements that would create gaps. This eliminates aerodynamic leakages while allowing the platforms to maintain their structural strength through the fin's load-bearing connection.
3Strength
If the platform junction area is enlarged to reduce wear, then mechanical strength improves, but the space requirement and hub ratio increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of enlarging the platform junction area in the radial direction (which would increase hub area), the fin extends in the axial dimension to provide structural connection and wear resistance. This dimensional transition allows strength improvement without increasing the hub's radial footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection structure is segmented into the fin element that extends axially between platforms, distributing the mechanical load and wear resistance function across this dedicated segment rather than requiring a larger overall junction area.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to an assembly of turbine engine (50) parts having a longitudinal axis (X), the assembly comprising at least two adjacent fan blades made of a 3D woven composite material, each blade (1) comprising a root (3), a vane (2) extending from the root (3), and an integrated platform (4) inserted between the root (3) and the vane (2), the platform (4) extending on either side of the vane (2) and forming a pressure face platform portion (4I) and a suction face platform portion (4E), the pressure face and suction face platform portions of adjacent blades being connected by a fin (14) extending at least radially at the outer side of the pressure face and suction face platform portions (4I, 4E), relative to the longitudinal axis (X), having a substantially triangular transverse cross section and extending axially and so as to upper overlap the longitudinal edges (11A, 11B) of the pressure face and suction face platform portions (4I, 4E) of the adjacent blades.