US 11,668,317 B2
Airfoil arrangement for a gas turbine engine utilizing a shape memory alloy
Abhijeet Jayshingrao Yadav, Karad (IN); Nitesh Jain, Bangalore (IN); Nicholas Joseph Kray, Mason, OH (US); Ravindra Shankar Ganiger, Bangalore (IN); and Praveen Sharma, Bangalore (IN)
Assigned to General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US)
Filed by General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US)
Filed on Aug. 23, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/408,986.
Claims priority of application No. 202111030863 (IN), filed on Jul. 9, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0008935 A1, Jan. 12, 2023
Int. Cl. F04D 29/36 (2006.01); F04D 19/00 (2006.01); F03G 7/06 (2006.01)
CPC F04D 29/368 (2013.01) [F03G 7/0614 (2021.08); F04D 19/002 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An airfoil rotatable about an axis in a first circumferential direction to move air in a first axial direction, the airfoil comprising:
a root portion;
a tip portion; and
a clearance device formed of a shape memory alloy and disposed between the root portion and the tip portion, the clearance device movable between:
a first position wherein a clearance line is defined along a proximal point, a transition point, and a distal point and extends in a substantially straight direction along the proximal point, the transition point, and the distal point; and
a second position wherein the clearance line is interrupted at the transition point to define a proximal line between the proximal point and the transition point, a distal line between the distal point and the transition point, and a deflection angle between the proximal line and the distal line less than one hundred and eighty degrees;
wherein the clearance device comprises a tip intermediate portion, the tip intermediate portion disposed radially further than the transition point from the axis, wherein the tip portion comprises a tip overlapping portion, wherein the clearance device comprises a first clearance device overlapping portion, wherein the first clearance device overlapping portion overlaps the tip overlapping portion across a chord of the airfoil, and wherein the first clearance device overlapping portion extends across less than seventy-five percent (75%) of the airfoil.