Shaft balancing

Patent · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1979

OSTI ID:863464

Irwin, John A ^[1]

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1. Greenwood, IN

A gas turbine engine has an internal drive shaft including one end connected to a driven load and an opposite end connected to a turbine wheel and wherein the shaft has an in situ adjustable balance system near the critical center of a bearing span for the shaft including two 360.degree. rings piloted on the outer diameter of the shaft at a point accessible through an internal engine panel; each of the rings has a small amount of material removed from its periphery whereby both of the rings are precisely unbalanced an equivalent amount; the rings are locked circumferentially together by radial serrations thereon; numbered tangs on the outside diameter of each ring identify the circumferential location of unbalance once the rings are locked together; an aft ring of the pair of rings has a spline on its inside diameter that mates with a like spline on the shaft to lock the entire assembly together.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76
• Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Detroit, MI)
• Patent Number(s): US 4177692
• OSTI ID: 863464
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

shaft
balancing
gas
turbine
engine
internal
drive
including
connected
driven
load
opposite
wheel
situ
adjustable
balance
near
critical
center
bearing
span
360
degree
rings
piloted
outer
diameter
accessible
panel
amount
material
removed
periphery
whereby
precisely
unbalanced
equivalent
locked
circumferentially
radial
serrations
thereon
tangs
outside
identify
circumferential
location
unbalance
pair
spline
inside
mates
lock
entire
assembly
outside diameter
turbine wheel
drive shaft
turbine engine
gas turbine
entire assembly
inside diameter
outer diameter
shaft including
material removed
circumferential location
/74/