Patent 7857588 was granted and assigned to United Technologies on December, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A reinforced airfoil includes an airfoil body including opposed walls that define a hollow interior space and a reinforcement member provided on at least one of the walls within the interior space, the reinforcement member increasing the thickness of the at least one wall so as to resist deformation of the at least one wall but not extending from one wall to the other.