IP Library Granted Patent US 12680552
Granted Patent B2
US 12680552 · App. 18/667,278 · Granted Jul 14, 2026

Turbomachine and method of assembly

Inventors: Jixian Yao (Niskayuna, NY); Trevor Howard Wood (Clifton Park, NY); Kishore Ramakrishnan (Rexford, NY); William J. Solomon (Montgomery, OH); Giridhar Jothiprasad (Clifton Park, NY); Aaron J. King (West Harrison, OH)
Assignee: General Electric Company
F04D29/384F04D19/002
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12680552
App. No.
18/667,278
Granted
Jul 14, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A turbomachine includes an annular casing, a fan disposed inside the annular casing and mounted for rotation about an axial centerline, and an airfoil. The fan includes fan blades that extend radially outwardly toward the annular casing. The airfoil includes a composite core having a pressure sidewall and a suction sidewall extending between a core leading edge and a core trailing edge and a leading edge protective wrap. The fan has an average chord fan width according to a first performance factor. The fan has a quantity of fan blades according to a second performance factor.

Claims (518)

1 . A turbomachine for an aircraft comprising:

an annular casing;

a fan disposed inside the annular casing and mounted for rotation about an axial centerline, the fan including fan blades that extend radially outwardly toward the annular casing; and

an airfoil comprising a composite core having a pressure sidewall and a suction sidewall extending between a core leading edge and a core trailing edge and a leading edge protective wrap;

wherein the fan includes an average fan chord width of the fan blades (“c”), a diameter of the fan (“D”), a fan pressure ratio (“FPR”), and a redline corrected fan tip Mach number

(

M

t

ip

,

c

(

R

L

)

)

 according to a First Performance Factor (“FPF”),

wherein

FPF

=

[

c

0.15

·

D

]

/

[

[

FPR

-

1

0.4

]

/

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

]

-

1.23

,

wherein

m

1

·

[

M

t

ip

,

c

(

R

L

)

-

1

.

1

]

+

9

.

1

4

>

FPF

>

m

2

·

[

M

t

ip

,

c

(

R

L

)

-

1

.

1

]

,

 and

wherein m 1 is equal to 9.43 when

M

t

ip

,

c

(

R

L

)

 is greater than or equal to 1.1 and is equal to 27.02 when

M

t

ip

,

c

(

R

L

)

 is less than 1.1, and

wherein m 2 is equal to 0.87 when

M

t

ip

,

c

(

R

L

)

 is greater than or equal to 1.1 and is equal to 3.34 when

M

t

ip

,

c

(

R

L

)

 is less than 1.1.

2 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein:

FPF is within a range equal to or greater than −0.8 and equal to or less than 8.4;

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

 is within a range equal to or greater than 0.8 and equal to or less than 1.5;

a ratio c/D is within a range equal to or greater than 0.1 and equal to or less than 0.3; and

FPR is within a range equal to or greater than 1.2 and equal to or less than 1.6.

3 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein the turbomachine has a gear ratio within a range equal to or greater than 3.2 and equal to or less than 5.0.

4 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the fan blades includes an airfoil portion made from a polymer matrix composite (PMC) material, a ratio c/D is between 0.16 and 0.21, and the fan has between 16 and 25 fan blades.

5 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein the leading edge protective wrap comprises:

a trailing wrap wrapped around the core leading edge and connected to the pressure sidewall and the suction sidewall of the composite core, the trailing wrap having a leading edge and having a pressure sidewall and a suction sidewall, and

a leading wrap wrapped around the core leading edge and the leading edge of the trailing wrap and connected to the pressure sidewall and the suction sidewall of the trailing wrap, the leading wrap having a leading edge that is spaced from the leading edge of the trailing wrap.

6 . The turbomachine of claim 5 , wherein:

the leading wrap is connected to the pressure sidewall and the suction sidewall of the trailing wrap;

the leading edge of the leading wrap is spaced from the leading edge of the trailing wrap;

the airfoil further comprises a filler positioned between the leading edge of the trailing wrap and the leading edge of the leading wrap; and

the airfoil further comprises a protective nose connected to the leading edge of the leading wrap.

7 . The turbomachine of claim 6 , wherein:

the trailing wrap and the leading wrap are formed of a non-metallic material;

the non-metallic material is a fibrous composite material; and

the fibrous composite material is formed of at least one of an S-glass, carbon, E-glass, and Kevlar material.

8 . The turbomachine of claim 6 , wherein the trailing wrap has a first thickness and the leading wrap has a second thickness that is less thick than the first thickness.

9 . The turbomachine of claim 6 , wherein:

the composite core defines a pressure sidewall camber distance and a suction sidewall camber distance, the pressure sidewall camber distance spans between the core leading edge and the core trailing edge along the pressure sidewall of the composite core and the suction sidewall camber distance spans between the core leading edge and the core trailing edge along the suction sidewall of the composite core, and

the trailing wrap is wrapped around the core leading edge of the composite core such that the trailing wrap extends from the core leading edge at least twenty percent of the pressure sidewall camber distance and from the core leading edge at least twenty percent of the suction sidewall camber distance.

10 . The turbomachine of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the leading wrap and the trailing wrap has fibers that wrap unbroken around the core leading edge.

11 . The turbomachine of claim 6 , wherein the filler is formed of at least one of a resin, an adhesive, composite tows, a 2D weave, a 3D weave, rolled fibers, and a preform.

12 . The turbomachine of claim 6 , wherein the composite core extends between a base and a tip defining a span length, and wherein the leading wrap, the trailing wrap, and the filler extend the span length of the composite core.

13 . The turbomachine of claim 6 , wherein the leading wrap extends between a pressure side end and a suction side end, the pressure side end being connected to the pressure sidewall of the trailing wrap and the suction side end being connected to the suction sidewall of the trailing wrap, and wherein the leading wrap is thinner at the leading edge of the leading wrap than at one or both of the pressure side end and the suction side end.

14 . The turbomachine of claim 6 , wherein the trailing wrap extends between a pressure side end and a suction side end, the pressure side end being connected to the pressure sidewall of the composite core and the suction side end being connected to the suction sidewall of the composite core, and wherein the trailing wrap is thinner at the leading edge of the trailing wrap than at one or both of the pressure side end and the suction side end.

15 . The turbomachine of claim 5 , wherein:

the airfoil further comprises a nose laminate, the nose laminate forming a butt joint with the leading edge of the trailing wrap; and

the leading wrap includes a pressure sidewall and a suction sidewall, the pressure sidewall of the leading wrap being connected at least in part to the pressure sidewall of the trailing wrap and at least in part to the nose laminate, the suction sidewall of the leading wrap being connected at least in part to the suction sidewall of the trailing wrap and at least in part to the nose laminate.

16 . The turbomachine of claim 15 , further comprising a filler positioned between at least one of:

the nose laminate and the pressure sidewall of the leading wrap; and

the nose laminate and the suction sidewall of the leading wrap.

17 . The turbomachine of claim 15 , wherein the nose laminate has at least two plies, and wherein at least one ply of the at least two plies of the nose laminate and the trailing wrap have the same thickness.

18 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein:

the leading edge protective wrap is wrapped around the core leading edge and connected to the pressure sidewall and the suction sidewall of the composite core, the leading edge protective wrap being formed of a 3D woven material;

the leading edge protective wrap has a leading edge, a pressure sidewall connected to the pressure sidewall of the composite core, and a suction sidewall connected to the suction sidewall of the composite core; and

the pressure sidewall of the leading edge protective wrap tapers from a pressure taper point positioned along the pressure sidewall of the leading edge protective to a pressure side end of the leading edge protective wrap and the suction sidewall of the leading edge protective wrap tapers from a suction taper point positioned along the suction sidewall of the leading edge protective to a suction side end of the leading edge protective wrap.

19 . A turbomachine comprising:

an annular casing;

a fan disposed inside the annular casing and mounted for rotation about an axial centerline, the fan including fan blades that extend radially outwardly toward the annular casing; and

an airfoil comprising a composite core having a pressure sidewall and a suction sidewall extending between a core leading edge and a core trailing edge and a leading edge protective wrap;

wherein the fan includes a fan hub-to-tip ratio (“HTR”), a fan blade count (“BC”), a fan pressure ratio (“FPR”), and a redline corrected fan tip Mach number

(

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

)

 according to a Second Performance Factor (“SPF”),

wherein

SPF

=

π

4

(

1

-

HTR

2

)

/

(

BC

20

)

/

(

FPR

-

1

0.4

)

/

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

-

0.97

,

wherein

m

3

·

[

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

-

1.1

]

+

2.52

>

SPF

>

m

4

·

[

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

-

1.1

]

wherein m 3 is equal to 3.17, and

wherein m 4 is equal to 0.41 when

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

 is greater than or equal to 1.1 and is equal to 0.55 when

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

 is less than 1.1.

20 . A turbomachine for an aircraft comprising:

an annular casing;

a fan disposed inside the annular casing and mounted for rotation about an axial centerline, the fan including fan blades that extend radially outwardly toward the annular casing; and

an airfoil comprising a composite core having a pressure sidewall and a suction sidewall extending between a core leading edge and a core trailing edge and a leading edge protective wrap;

wherein the fan includes an average fan chord width of the fan blades (“c”), a diameter of the fan (“D”), a fan pressure ratio (“FPR”), and a redline corrected fan tip Mach number

(

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

)

 according to a First Performance Factor (“FPF”),

wherein

FPF

=

[

c

0.15

·

D

]

/

[

[

FPR

-

1

0.4

]

/

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

]

-

1.23

,

wherein

m

1

·

[

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

-

1.1

]

+

9.14

>

FPF

>

m

2

·

[

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

-

1.1

]

,

 and

wherein m 1 is equal to 9.43 when

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

 is greater than or equal to 1.1 and is equal to 27.02 when

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

 is less than 1.1, and

wherein m 2 is equal to 0.87 when

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

 is greater than or equal to 1.1 and is equal to 3.34 when

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

 is less than 1.1;

wherein the fan includes a fan hub-to-tip ratio (“HTR”), a fan blade count (“BC”), the fan pressure ratio (“FPR”), and the redline corrected fan tip Mach number

(

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

)

 according to a Second Performance Factor (“SPF”),

wherein

SPF

=

π

4

(

1

-

HTR

2

)

/

(

BC

20

)

/

(

FPR

-

1

0.4

)

/

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

-

0.97

,

wherein

m

2

·

[

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

-

1.1

]

+

2.52

>

SPF

>

m

4

·

[

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

-

1.1

]

wherein m 3 is equal to 3.17, and

wherein m 4 is equal to 0.41 when

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

 is greater than or equal to 1.1 and is equal to 0.55 when

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

 is less than 1.1.