Patent ID: 6877956
Filing Date: 2005-04-12
Classification: F01D,F05D,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of fabricating a rotor assembly for a turbine to facilitate minimizing radial leakage of a working fluid, the rotor assembly, rotatable about a longitudinal axis, the rotor assembly including a radially outer rim and a plurality of buckets that extend radially outward from the radially outer rim, each of the buckets including a blade including a pair of opposing sidewalls, said method comprising the steps of: forming a cover on each bucket radial tip, the cover including a leading edge side in a direction of rotation, and a trailing edge in the direction of rotation wherein the leading edge and the trailing edge are parallel with respect to each other, and wherein the leading edge and the trailing edge are skewed with respect to the axis of rotation; forming an extension in the cover leading edge side; forming a groove in the cover trailing edge side; and attaching each bucket to the radially outer rim, such that the extension in the cover leading edge side of one cover is in mating engagement with the groove in the cover trailing edge side of an adjoining cover.