US 12,173,622 B1
Composite blade with tapered root section
Xuetao Li, South Glastonbury, CT (US); George Alan Salisbury, East Hampton, CT (US); Royce E. Tatton, Shelley, ID (US); Thomas J. Robertson, Glastonbury, CT (US); Darin S. Lussier, Guilford, CT (US); Po-Ching Yeh, Woodbridge, CT (US); and Jason H. Elliott, Huntington, IN (US)
Assigned to RTX CORPORATION, Farmington, CT (US)
Filed by RTX CORPORATION, Farmington, CT (US)
Filed on Oct. 13, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/486,419.
Int. Cl. F01D 5/30 (2006.01); F01D 5/28 (2006.01)
CPC F01D 5/3007 (2013.01) [F01D 5/282 (2013.01); F01D 5/284 (2013.01); F01D 5/3084 (2013.01); F05D 2220/32 (2013.01); F05D 2240/30 (2013.01); F05D 2300/6033 (2013.01); F05D 2300/6034 (2013.01); F05D 2300/614 (2013.01)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A blade comprising:
an airfoil section defining leading and trailing edges and spanning between first and second radial ends; and
a root section at the second end of the airfoil section, the root section extending in a chord-wise direction between leading and trailing root faces and in a radial direction that is perpendicular to the chord-wise direction from an inner root face to the second end of the airfoil section, the root section defining a dovetail cross-section that is perpendicular to the chord-wise direction, the airfoil section and the root section being comprised of a composite material architecture including:
inter-section fiber plies each extending from the leading edge to the trailing edge and from the airfoil section into the root section, and
wedges each extending in the root section and interleaved with the inter-section fiber plies in the root section, each of the wedges tapering in the chord-wise direction such that, along the chord-wise direction, the dovetail cross-section tapers between the leading and trailing root faces, and each of the wedges tapering in the radial direction such that, along the radial direction, the dovetail cross-section tapers between the inner root face and the second end of the airfoil section.