General Electric Company

Charles Thomas O'Clair

Michael Thomas Hamlin

Jeyaruban Selliah Amirtharajah

Thomas Joseph Farineau

James Rollins Maughan

David Alan Caruso

Michael Earl Montgomery

Andrew John Tomko

Richard Jon Chevrette

Dennis Roger Ahl

Mark Edward Braaten

Robert Walter Hausler

Carl A Greco

A method of fabricating a steam turbine nozzle box is provided, wherein the method includes forming an annular chamber defined by a radially outer wall and a radially inner wall and coupling a plurality of inlets in flow communication with the annular chamber such that steam is discharged from each of the plurality of inlets into the chamber at an oblique discharge angle with respect to an inlet axial centerline.

Steam turbine nozzle box and methods of fabricating

Disclosed herein is a nozzle box assembly including a torus, a steam path ring, and a bridge ring. The torus has a plurality of steam inlets and an annular steam outlet. The steam path ring has an annular steam inlet, the annular steam inlet has an inner diameter (ID) and an outer diameter (OD), the steam path ring is disposed downstream of the torus. The bridge ring has an annular steam inlet and an annular steam outlet, the annular steam outlet has an ID and an OD, the bridge ring is disposed between the torus and the steam path ring, the bridge ring annular steam outlet is adjacent to the steam path ring annular steam inlet, and the steam path ring annular steam inlet OD is greater than the bridge ring annular steam outlet OD and the steam path ring annular steam inlet ID is smaller than the bridge ring annular steam outlet ID.

Optimized nozzle box steam path

A nozzle box includes a torus, bridge ring and nozzle ring portions wherein steam flowing generally circumferentially in the torus portion is redirected for flow generally axially by the bridge ring portion. The steam exiting the bridge ring portion flows into nozzles formed by adjacent partitions of the nozzle ring portion. Bridges in the bridge ring portion are tangentially leaned to exactly match the angle of inclination of the leading edges of the axially adjacent partitions at like circumferential locations. For strength purposes, there are two bridges for each partition. Every other bridge axially registers with the leading edge of the axially downstream partition matching its angle while remaining bridges are equally spaced between the aligned bridges. In this manner, the steam flow is straightened by the bridges to match the angle of the leading edge of the nozzle partitions with consequent reduction of passage area loss.

Steam turbine nozzle box

A packing ring holder assembly for packing seal segments about a steam turbine rotor includes a nozzle box and a holder cooperable to form a dovetail for securing packing ring segments to the nozzle box. A spring is interposed between the nozzle box and packing ring segment to bias the latter radially inwardly for sealing with the rotor. The holder includes a shoulder for preventing axial movement of the spring in one direction.

Mounting structure for a packing ring seal segment in a turbine

Halves of a torus, bridge ring and nozzle are fitted up on tapered fits and clamped one to the other. Weld preps are performed on the torus and nozzle surfaces to be welded. Weld material is applied along the inner and outer radii, initially in a root pass to consume the metal, in subsequent intermediate passes to build up the base metal and finally in a rapid deposition of weld material, e.g., using submerged arc process. The nozzle box assembly half is then stress-relieved, X-rayed and machine-finished.

Methods for manufacturing a nozzle box assembly for a steam turbine

A nozzle box includes first and second nozzle box halves which are bolted together. Each nozzle box half includes a nozzle ring segment that carries nozzles along its entire 180&deg; arc, so that when the nozzle box halves are joined together a nozzle box is formed with no discontinuities of nozzles around its 360&deg; circumference. The nozzles carried on each nozzle ring segment communicate with inlet ports, and associated passages which are perpendicular to the nozzle box exit plane.

Growing community of inventors

Waterford, NY, United States of America

Charles Thomas O'Clair