Patent ID: 9733195
Date: 2017-08-15
CPC Classifications: F01D,F05D,G01M,G01N

Claim:
1. A system for inspecting surfaces of rotor blades for a surface characteristic, the system including: an assembly comprising a movable arm and, mounted on the movable arm, a scanner; and a row of the rotor blades desirably positioned near the assembly for inspection, the row including at least a plurality of the rotor blades circumferentially spaced about a center axis; wherein at least one of the row of the rotor blades and the assembly is moved relative to the other so as to index the row of the rotor blades relative to the assembly; a rotor disc having an outer periphery on which the rotor blades of the row of the rotor blades are mounted; wherein the each of the rotor blades include an airfoil defined between a concave pressure side face and a laterally opposed convex suction side face, the pressure side face and the suction side face extending axially between opposite leading and trailing edges and radially between an outboard tip and a platform of a root configured for mounting the rotor blade to the rotor disc; and wherein the surfaces for inspection comprises as least one of: the pressure side face of the airfoil; the suction side, face of the airfoil; the outboard tip of the airfoil; and the platform; wherein the row of the rotor blades includes multiple neighboring pairs of the rotor blades; and wherein a gap is formed between the airfoils of each of the neighboring pairs of the rotor blades, the gap being defined: circumferentially between the pressure side face and the suction side face of the neighboring pairs of the rotor blades; radially between the platforms of the neighboring pairs of the rotor blades and a reference, plane connecting the outboard tips of the neighboring pairs of the rotor blades; and axially between a reference plane connecting the leading edges of the neighboring pairs of the rotor blades and a reference plane connecting the trailing edges of the neighboring pairs of the rotor blades; wherein the movable arm is configured for controllably moving the scanner between an indexing position and a scanning position, wherein: the indexing position comprising a position outside of any of the gaps formed between the neighboring pairs of the rotor blades; and the scanning position comprising a position inside one of the gaps formed between the neighboring pairs of the rotor blades.