Gas Turbine Rotor Disc with Coiled Passages for Weight Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine rotor discs are designed to minimize the risk of rupture and contain high-energy fragments, but materials meeting stringent mechanical properties are costly, and increasing casing thickness to contain fragments adds weight.
Innovation Solution
The rotor disc features an annular disc body with a plurality of passages coiled around a central axis, reducing effective mass density by at least 10% and acting as a crack growth barrier, allowing for reduced material usage and weight while maintaining structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If materials meeting stringent mechanical properties requirements are used, then fatigue and damage tolerance capabilities are ensured, but material cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rotor disc incorporates a porous core region with controlled porosity (10-60% void volume) that reduces material usage and cost while maintaining structural integrity. The porous structure is strategically positioned in non-critical areas where full density material is not required, allowing use of less expensive materials in the overall construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotor disc employs a composite structure combining dense material regions (for high stress areas) with porous material regions (for weight and cost reduction). This composite approach allows optimization of material selection and cost across different zones of the rotor disc based on local mechanical requirements.
2Reliability
If casing thickness is increased to contain fragments, then safety is improved, but engine weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rotor disc is segmented into distinct regions with different density characteristics - a dense outer rim for structural integrity and fragment containment, and a porous core region for weight reduction. This segmentation allows the rotor itself to provide fragment containment functionality, reducing the need for additional casing thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the density parameter of the rotor disc by introducing controlled porosity in the core region. This parameter change reduces the overall mass of the rotor while maintaining adequate fragment containment through the dense outer regions, thereby reducing engine weight without compromising safety.
3Weight of moving object
If passages are added to reduce effective mass density, then weight is reduced, but structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The passages are nested within the porous core region of the rotor disc, utilizing the existing porous structure to house the passage system. This nesting approach integrates the weight reduction features into the overall porous architecture rather than adding separate complex structures, thereby minimizing additional complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A rotor disc for a gas turbine engine includes an annular disc body configured to support a circumferential array of blades and having a plurality of passages defined therethrough. The passages form coils within the disc body and/or have a packing density of at least 0.1 in cross-sectional plane containing the central axis, the packing density being defined by a ratio between an open area of the passages and a solid area of the disc in the cross-sectional plane. A method of manufacturing a rotor disc is also discussed.