George H Gunn

US Patent:

6553665, Apr 29, 2003

Filed:

Mar 8, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/520459

Inventors:

George Gerald Gunn - Landrum SC
John Robert Fulton - Simpsonville SC
Francis Lawrence Kirkpatrick - late of Galway NY
Raymond Joseph Jones - Oxford MA

Assignee:

General Electric Company - Schenectady NY

International Classification:

B21K 2500

US Classification:

2988921, 4152094

Abstract:

Turbine vane segments having outer and inner bands and a vane extending therebetween are welded one to the other by E-beam welding along their adjoining margins and from the outside of the bands. The adjoining margins on the hot gas path sides of the outer and inner bands are chamfered, TIG-welded and machined to provide a smooth, continuous gas path surface. The aft hook of each segment is cut back to provide inset faces in a radially projecting flange and a flange extending axially from the radial flange. A filler piece having a body shaped to correspond to the shape of the space between the inset faces of the radial flange is E-beam welded to the radial flange. Gaps between a tongue on the filler piece and the inset faces of the axially extending flange are provided with weld filler material and TIG-welded to complete the welding of the aft hook.

US Patent:

20040064930, Apr 8, 2004

Filed:

Oct 8, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/265745

Inventors:

George Gunn - Landrum SC, US
Robert Devine - Simpsonville SC, US

International Classification:

B23P017/00

US Classification:

029/421100, 029/889721

Abstract:

Apertures in airfoils for use in a hot gas path of a turbine are formed from the interior of the airfoil to the exterior in circumstances where line-of-sight access from locations external to the nozzle is inhibited or prohibited. A water jet nozzle head is disposed in a cavity within the airfoil and angled at the desired inclination to cut an angled hole through the airfoil wall using a water jet and abrasive material contained in the water. A protective device, e.g., a backstop or shield, is provided on the outside of the nozzle to prevent damage to other portions of the nozzle from the water jet which would otherwise impinge but for the protective device.