Platform seal and damper assembly for turbomachinery and methodology for forming said assembly

1. A platform seal and damper assembly for turbomachinery having a rotor disc and a plurality of rotor blades, each rotor blade along a radial direction comprising a respective root configured to affix a respective rotor blade of the plurality of rotor blades to the rotor disc, a respective platform and a respective airfoil, the platform seal and damper assembly comprising:

an axially-extending groove arranged on a side of the respective platform between a leading edge and a trailing edge thereof, wherein the axially-extending groove is defined by a pair of surfaces, wherein a radially-outward surface of the pair of surfaces is arranged at an underside of the platform and is configured to define an arc between the leading edge and the trailing edge of the respective platform, and further wherein a surface of the pair of surfaces is arranged to extend with a tangential component (T) from a radially-inward edge of the groove toward the radially-outward surface arranged at the underside of the platform;

a seal and damper member disposed in the axially-extending groove, wherein the seal and damper member comprises a body having a pair of adjoining surfaces configured to respectively engage, in response to a camming action, with the pair of surfaces that define the axially-extending groove, the camming action caused by centrifugal force (R) that develops during rotation of the rotor disc about a rotation axis, the camming action effective to produce an interference fit of the seal and damper member with the side of the respective platform and an opposed side of an adjacent platform; and

an annular cooling shield disposed on a rim of the rotor disc and arranged to direct respective flows of a cooling fluid across respective roots of the plurality of blades, wherein an axially-extending member of the annular cooling shield has an edge arranged to axially retain a first end of the seal and damper member.

2. The platform seal and damper assembly of claim 1 , wherein the turbomachinery comprises a fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) expander.

3. The platform seal and damper assembly of claim 1 , wherein the turbomachinery comprises a gas turbine engine.

4. The platform seal and damper assembly of claim 1 , wherein the trailing edge includes a radially-extending protrusion arranged to axially retain a second end of the seal and damper member, the second end of the seal and damper member being opposite to the first end of the seal and damper member.

5. The platform seal and damper assembly of claim 1 , wherein a cross-section of the body of the seal and damper member comprises a parallelogram-shaped cross-section.

6. The platform seal and damper assembly of claim 1 , wherein the pair of surfaces that define the axially-extending groove comprise adjoining surfaces.

7. A method of forming a platform seal and damper assembly for turbomachinery having a rotor disc and a plurality of rotor blades, the method comprising:

forming an axially-extending groove on a side of a respective platform between a leading edge and a trailing edge thereof, the forming of the axially-extending groove comprising:

defining the axially-extending groove by a pair of surfaces;

arranging a radially-outward surface of the pair of surfaces at an underside of the respective platform;

configuring the radially-outward surface of the pair of surfaces to define an arc between the leading edge and the trailing edge of the respective platform; and

configuring a surface of the pair of surfaces to extend with a tangential component (T) from a radially-inward edge of the groove toward the radially-outward surface arranged at the underside of the respective platform;

forming a seal and damper member; and

disposing the seal and damper member in the axially-extending groove, wherein the seal and damper member comprises a body having a pair of adjoining surfaces configured to respectively engage with the pair of surfaces that define the axially-extending groove in response to a camming action,

wherein the camming action is caused by centrifugal force (R) that develops during rotation of the rotor disc about a rotation axis, the camming action effecting an interference fit of the seal and damper member with the side of the respective platform and an opposed side of a platform adjacent to the respective platform,

wherein the forming of the axially-extending groove comprises a machining technique to machine the side of the respective platform to configure the pair of surfaces that define the axially-extending groove.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the machining technique comprises electrical discharge machining.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the machining technique comprises electrochemical machining.

10. A method of forming a platform seal and damper assembly for turbomachinery having a rotor disc and a plurality of rotor blades, the method comprising:

forming an axially-extending groove on a side of a respective platform between a leading edge and a trailing edge thereof, the forming of the axially-extending groove comprising:

defining the axially-extending groove by a pair of surfaces;

arranging a radially-outward surface of the pair of surfaces at an underside of the respective platform;

configuring the radially-outward surface of the pair of surfaces to define an arc between the leading edge and the trailing edge of the respective platform; and

configuring a surface of the pair of surfaces to extend with a tangential component (T) from a radially-inward edge of the groove toward the radially-outward surface arranged at the underside of the respective platform;

forming a seal and damper member; and

disposing the seal and damper member in the axially-extending groove, wherein the seal and damper member comprises a body having a pair of adjoining surfaces configured to respectively engage with the pair of surfaces that define the axially-extending groove in response to a camming action,

wherein the camming action is caused by centrifugal force (R) that develops during rotation of the rotor disc about a rotation axis, the camming action effecting an interference fit of the seal and damper member with the side of the respective platform and an opposed side of a platform adjacent to the respective platform,

wherein the forming of the seal and damper member is by way of an additive manufacturing technique.

11. A method of forming a platform seal and damper assembly for turbomachinery having a rotor disc and a plurality of rotor blades, each rotor blade along a radial direction comprising a respective root configured to affix a respective rotor blade of the plurality of rotor blades to the rotor disc, a respective platform and a respective airfoil, the method comprising:

generating a computer-readable three-dimensional (3D) model of the platform seal and damper assembly, the model defining a digital representation comprising:

an axially-extending groove to be machined on a side of the respective platform between a leading edge and a trailing edge thereof,

processing the digital representation of the axially-extending groove in a processor configured to control a machining technique to configure the axially-extending groove on the side of the respective platform,

wherein the axially-extending groove is defined by a pair of surfaces configured by the machining technique,

wherein a radially-outward surface of the pair of surfaces being arranged at an underside of the platform and is configured to define an arc between the leading edge and the trailing edge of the respective platform, and

wherein a surface of the pair of surfaces being arranged to extend with a tangential component (T) from a radially-inward edge of the groove toward the radially-outward surface arranged at the underside of the platform;

the model further defining a digital representation comprising:

a body of a seal and damper member to be disposed in the axially-extending groove machined on the side of the respective platform, the body of the seal and damper member having a pair of adjacent surfaces configured to respectively engage, in response to a camming action, with the pair of surfaces that define the axially-extending groove, the camming action caused by centrifugal force (R) that develops during rotation of the rotor disc about a rotation axis, the camming action effective to produce an interference fit of the seal and damper member with the side of the respective platform and an opposed side of an adjacent platform; and

forming the seal and damper member using an additive manufacturing technique in accordance with the digital representation of the body of the seal and damper member.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the machining technique comprises electrical discharge machining.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the machining technique comprises electrochemical machining.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the forming of the seal and damper member is performed before a machining of the axially-extending groove.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the forming of the seal and damper member is performed after a machining of the axially-extending groove.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the forming of the seal and damper member is performed concurrent with a machining of the axially-extending groove.