Patent ID: 7726937

Claim:
A turbine engine comprising: a rotor comprising: a plurality of disks, each disk extending radially from an inner aperture to an outer periphery; a plurality of stages of blades, each stage borne by an associated one of said disks; and a plurality of spacers, each spacer between an adjacent pair of said disks; and a stator comprising a plurality of stages of vanes, the vanes of at least a first of said stages of vanes having airfoils with: inboard tips in facing proximity to an outer surface of a first of said spacers; and a dihedral and sweep profile characterized by: leading edge sweep of 25-45° along a first region of at least 10% of total span starting within 5% of the tip; and dihedral of 30-60° along a second region of at least 10% of total span staffing within 5% of the tip.