Airfoils for wake desensitization and method for fabricating same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9249666-B2
Application number	US-201113334609-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2011
Priority date	Dec 22, 2011
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

An airfoil and method of fabricating an airfoil including a first and a second side coupled at a leading and a trailing edge and extending there between. The airfoil includes a plurality of first chord sections having a first chord length and extending outward from one of the first side or second side at the leading edge and a plurality of second chord sections having a second chord length and extending outward from the one of the first side or the second side at the leading edge. The leading edge including spaced-apart wave-shaped projections defining a waveform. The configuration defining a three-dimensional crenulated airfoil configured to facilitate desensitization of an airfoil unsteady pressure response to at least one impinging upstream generated wake or vortex by decorrelating spatially and temporally and reducing in amplitude an unsteady pressure caused by interaction of the airfoil with the upstream generated wake or vortex.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An airfoil comprising:
a first side and a second side coupled together at a leading edge and a trailing edge, wherein the leading edge extends an entire length of the airfoil in a span-wise direction and the trailing edge is spaced chord-wise and downstream from the leading edge, the airfoil configured to facilitate desensitization of an airfoil unsteady pressure response to at least one impinging upstream generated wake or vortex by reducing in amplitude and decorrelating spatially and temporally an unsteady pressure caused by interaction of the airfoil with the at least one impinging upstream generated wake or vortex; and
a plurality of first chord sections defining at least one first chord length and a plurality of second chord sections defining at least one second chord length, the plurality of first chord sections and second chord sections defining a waveform along a leading edge of the airfoil, at least one chord section of said plurality of first chord sections extending outward from one of the first side or the second side of the airfoil at the leading edge and extending only a partial width of the airfoil in a chord-wise direction and at least one chord section of said plurality of second chord sections extending outward from one of the first side or the second side of the airfoil at the leading edge and extending only a partial width of the airfoil in a chord-wise direction, said leading edge comprises:
a plurality of spaced-apart wave-shaped projections each wave-shaped projection of said plurality of wave-shaped projections defines a wave tip and at least one trough portion defined between at least one pair of adjacent spaced-apart wave-shaped projections, wherein adjacent wave-shaped projections define a tip-to-tip distance therebetween, the tip-to-tip distance is within a range of values representative of a percentage of the at least one first chord length, wherein each of said wave-shaped projections include a radially inner edge and a radially outer edge that are angled such that they maintain the leading edge to the impinging upstream generated wake or vortex and wherein said wave-shaped projections are at least one of substantially evenly spaced and unevenly spaced,
wherein the outwardly extending first and second chord sections and the plurality of spaced-apart wave-shaped projections defining a three-dimensional crenulated airfoil.

2. An airfoil in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said airfoil is configured to minimize adverse effects of a high flow acceleration around the leading edge.

3. An airfoil in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising a thickness measured between said first and second sides extending from said leading edge to said trailing edge, said airfoil thickness varies in a span-wise direction.

4. An airfoil in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said plurality of first chord sections has a first thickness and said plurality of second chord sections has a second thickness, each first chord section of said plurality of first chord sections is defined between each second chord section of said plurality of second chord sections.

5. An airfoil in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the first chord length is longer than the second chord length.

6. An airfoil in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the plurality of spaced-apart wave-shaped projections are formed along only a portion of the airfoil in a span-wise direction.

7. An airfoil in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the plurality of spaced-apart wave-shaped projections are formed along substantially an entire length of the airfoil in a span-wise direction.

8. An airfoil in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the plurality of spaced-apart wave-shaped projections are unequal.

9. An airfoil in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the plurality of spaced-apart wave-shaped projections are equal.

10. An airfoil in accordance with claim 1 , wherein a portion of the plurality of spaced-apart wave-shaped projections are equal and a portion of the spaced-apart wave-shaped projections are unequal.

11. An airfoil in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said airfoil is a stationary guide vane.

12. An airfoil in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said airfoil is a rotating blade.

13. An airfoil for use in an engine, said airfoil comprising:
a first side and a second side coupled together at a leading edge and a trailing edge, wherein the leading edge extends an entire length of the airfoil in a span-wise direction and the trailing edge is spaced chord-wise and downstream from the leading edge, the airfoil configured to facilitate desensitization of an airfoil unsteady pressure response to at least one impinging upstream generated wake or vortex by reducing in amplitude and decorrelating spatially and temporally an unsteady pressure caused by interaction of the airfoil with the at least one impinging upstream generated wake or vortex; and
a plurality of first chord sections having a first thickness and defining at least one first chord length and a plurality of second chord sections having a second thickness and defining at least one second chord length, wherein each first chord section of said plurality of first chord sections is defined between each second chord section of said plurality of second chord sections and wherein the first chord length is longer than the second chord length defining a waveform along a leading edge of the airfoil, at least one chord section of said plurality of first chord sections extends outward from one of the first side or the second side of the airfoil at the leading edge and extending only a partial width of the airfoil in a chord-wise direction, and at least one chord section of said plurality of second chord sections extends outward from one of the first side or the second side of the airfoil at the leading edge and extending only a partial width of the airfoil in a chord-wise direction, said leading edge comprises:
a plurality of spaced-apart wave-shaped projections each wave-shaped projection of said plurality of wave-shaped projections defines a wave tip and at least one trough portion defined between at least one pair of adjacent spaced-apart wave-shaped projections, wherein adjacent wave-shaped projections define a tip-to-tip distance therebetween, the tip-to-tip distance is within a range of values representative of a percentage of the at least one first chord length, wherein each of said wave-shaped projections include a radially inner edge and a radially outer edge that are angled such that they maintain the leading edge to the impinging upstream generated wake or vortex and wherein said wave-shaped projections are at least one of substantially evenly spaced and unevenly spaced,
wherein the outwardly extending first and second chord sections and the plurality of spaced-apart wave-shaped projections defining a three-dimensional crenulated airfoil.

14. An airfoil in accordance with claim 13 , further comprising a thickness measured between said first and second sides extending from said leading edge to said trailing edge, said airfoil thickness varies in a span-wise direction.

15. An airfoil in accordance with claim 13 , wherein the plurality of spaced-apart wave-shaped projections are formed along one of a portion of the airfoil in a span-wise direction or along substantially an entire length of the airfoil in a span-wise direction.

16. An airfoil in accordance with claim 13 , wherein said airfoil is one of an outlet guide vane, a fan blade, a rotor blade, a stator vane, a ducted fan blade, an unducted fan blade, a strut, a nacelle inlet, a wind turbine blade, a propeller, an i

Assignees

• Wood Trevor Howard
• Ramakrishnan Kishore
• Paliath Umesh
• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Wood Trevor Howard
• Ramakrishnan Kishore
• Paliath Umesh

Classifications

• F01D9/041

  using blades (F01D5/148 takes precedence) · CPC title

• Y02T50/673

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y10T29/49336

  Blade making · CPC title

• Y02E10/721

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F05D2220/36

  specially adapted for the fan of turbofan engines · CPC title