Scallop curvature for radial turbine wheel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10087762-B2
Application number	US-201113179634-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2011
Priority date	Jul 11, 2011
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

A turbine wheel is disposed about an axis and has a back face including a plurality of lobes disposed about a periphery of the back face. The lobes define scalloped areas therebetween. The scalloped areas are further defined by a radius BR 2 that blends into a first lobe and into a radius BR 1 that also blends into a flat area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A turbine wheel disposed about an axis, said turbine wheel comprising:
a back face including a plurality of lobes disposed about a periphery of said back face, said lobes defining scalloped areas therebetween, each of said scalloped areas having a first radius (BR 1 ), a second radius (BR 2 ) and a flat area, said flat area defined by a curve of infinite radius, said second radius (BR 2 ) blending into a first lobe and into said first radius (BR 1 ), and said first radius (BR 1 ) blending into said flat area spaced from said first lobe.

2. The turbine wheel of claim 1 , wherein each of said scalloped areas further include a third radius (BR 3 ) and a fourth radius (BR 4 ), said third radius (BR 3 ) blending into a second lobe adjacent to said first lobe and also into said fourth radius (BR 4 ), and said fourth radius (BR 4 ) blending into said flat area spaced from said second lobe.

3. The turbine wheel of claim 2 , wherein said first radius (BR 1 ) and said fourth radius (BR 4 ) are tangent to said flat area.

4. The turbine wheel of claim 2 , wherein said first radius (BR 1 ) and said second radius (BR 2 ) together define a first compound curve, and said third radius (BR 3 ) and said fourth radius (BR 4 ) together define a second compound curve.

5. The turbine wheel of claim 4 , wherein:
said first radius (BR 1 ) and said fourth radius (BR 4 ) are tangent to said flat area;
said first radius (BR 1 ) is greater than said second radius (BR 2 );
said fourth radius (BR 4 ) is greater than said third radius (BR 3 ); and
each portion of said flat area between said first radius (BR 1 ) and said fourth radius (BR 4 ) is defined by said curve of infinite radius.

6. The turbine wheel of claim 2 wherein said first radius (BR 1 ) is greater than said second radius (BR 2 ) and said fourth radius (BR 4 ) is greater than said third radius (BR 3 ).

7. The turbine wheel of claim 6 wherein a ratio between said fourth radius (BR 4 ) and said third radius (BR 3 ) is greater than or equal to about 3.0:1.

8. The turbine wheel of claim 1 wherein a ratio between said first radius (BR 1 ) and said second radius (BR 2 ) is greater than or equal to about 3.0:1.

9. The turbine wheel of claim 1 wherein said second radius (BR 2 ) is about 0.25 cm.

10. The turbine wheel of claim 1 wherein said scalloped area has a portion extending upwardly from said back face.

11. The turbine wheel of claim 1 wherein said first radius (BR 1 ) is in plane with said back face.

12. The turbine wheel of claim 11 wherein said second radius (BR 2 ) is out of plane with said back face.

13. The turbine wheel of claim 12 , wherein said second radius (BR 2 ) is in plane with said back face.

14. The turbine wheel of claim 12 wherein said flat area defines a length of about 0.1 cm to 0.15 cm.

15. A turbine wheel disposed about an axis, said turbine wheel comprising:
a back face including a plurality of lobes disposed about a periphery of said back face, said lobes defining scalloped areas therebetween, each of said scalloped areas having a first radius (BR 1 ), a second radius (BR 2 ) and a flat area, said flat area defined by a curve of infinite radius, said second radius (BR 2 ) blending into a first lobe and into said first radius (BR 1 ), and said first radius (BR 1 ) blending into said flat area spaced from said first lobe; and
a plurality of blades extending from said lobes away from said back face.

16. The turbine wheel of claim 15 , wherein each of said scalloped areas further include a third radius (BR 3 ) and a fourth radius (BR 4 ), said third radius (BR 3 ) blending into a second lobe adjacent to said first lobe and into said fourth radius (BR 4 ), said fourth radius (BR 4 ) blending into said flat area spaced from said second lobe.

17. The turbine wheel of claim 16 , wherein said first radius (BR 1 ) and said fourth radius (BR 4 ) are tangent to said flat area.

18. The turbine wheel of claim 16 , wherein said first radius (BR 1 ) and said second radius (BR 2 ) together define a first compound curve, and said third radius (BR 3 ) and said fourth radius (BR 4 ) together define a second compound curve.

19. The turbine wheel of claim 18 , wherein:
said first radius (BR 1 ) and said fourth radius (BR 4 ) are tangent to said flat area;
said first radius (BR 1 ) is greater than said second radius (BR 2 );
said fourth radius (BR 4 ) is greater than said third radius (BR 3 ); and
each portion of said flat area between said first radius (BR 1 ) and said fourth radius (BR 4 ) is defined by said curve of infinite radius.

20. The turbine wheel of claim 16 wherein said fourth radius (BR 4 ) is greater than said third radius (BR 3 ).

21. The turbine wheel of claim 20 wherein a ratio between said fourth radius (BR 4 ) and said third radius (BR 3 ) is greater than or equal to about 3.0:1.

22. The turbine wheel of claim 15 wherein a ratio between said first radius (BR 1 ) and second radius (BR 2 ) is greater than or equal to about 3.0:1.

23. The turbine wheel of claim 15 wherein said flat area defines a length of about 0.1 cm to 0.15 cm.

24. The turbine wheel of claim 15 wherein said scalloped area has a portion extending upwardly from said back face.

25. The turbine wheel of claim 15 wherein said first radius (BR 1 ) is in plane with said back face.

26. The turbine wheel of claim 25 wherein said second radius (BR 2 ) is out of plane with said back face and defines a portion of one of said blades.

27. The turbine wheel of claim 26 , wherein said second radius (BR 2 ) is in plane with said back face.

28. The turbine wheel of claim 26 wherein said portion of one of said blades is chamfered.

Assignees

• Duong Loc Quang
• Hu Xiaolan
• Yang Gao
• Jones Anthony C
• Hamilton Sundstrand Corp

Inventors

• Duong Loc Quang
• Hu Xiaolan
• Yang Gao
• Jones Anthony C

Classifications

• F01D5/048 Primary

  Form or construction · CPC title

• F05D2260/941

  particularly aimed at mechanical or thermal stress reduction · CPC title