General Electric Company

George Gerald Gunn

Martin Kin-Fei Lee

James Michael Placko

Iain Robertson Kellock

Francisco J Cunha

Raymond J Jones

Francis Lawrence Kirkpatrick

John Robert Fulton

Turbine vane segments having outer and inner bands and a vane extending therebetween are welded one to the other by E-beam welding along their adjoining margins and from the outside of the bands. The adjoining margins on the hot gas path sides of the outer and inner bands are chamfered, TIG-welded and machined to provide a smooth, continuous gas path surface. The aft hook of each segment is cut back to provide inset faces in a radially projecting flange and a flange extending axially from the radial flange. A filler piece having a body shaped to correspond to the shape of the space between the inset faces of the radial flange is E-beam welded to the radial flange. Gaps between a tongue on the filler piece and the inset faces of the axially extending flange are provided with weld filler material and TIG-welded to complete the welding of the aft hook.

Stator vane assembly for a turbine and method for forming the assembly

A mold for molding a core for use in casting hollow parts includes, a lower mold portion and an upper mold portion defining therein a cavity corresponding to the outer surface of the core. The lower mold portion includes a cutout disposed along a parting line defined between the lower mold portion and the upper mold portion and opening onto the cavity. After introduction of a ceramic slurry mixture into the mold the upper mold portion is removable, to expose a first side of the core and a protective flash formed in the cutout. Desirably, a heat shield is positioned over the protective flash and the exposed portion of the parting line of the lower mold portion so that the lower mold portion is not exposed directly to a flame during a preliminary firing to impart sufficient strength to the ceramic core so that the ceramic core may be handled. Providing the core with a protective flash allows the mold to be advantageously fabricated by rapid tooling technique such as by a stereolithography process from a plastic material.

Apparatus and method for molding a core for use in casting hollow parts

Nozzle segments in the form of singlets having radial outer and inner walls with a single vane therebetween are coated with a base coat of nickel, chromium, aluminum and yttrium and prevent oxidation of the base metal. A finish coat of yttrium-stabilized zirconia is applied for anti-oxidation and anti-corrosion purposes. The singlets are welded to one another adjacent the abutting margins of the outer and inner walls. Electron beam welding is used to fuse the material of the walls together to a depth which does not penetrate the coating on the wall surfaces of the segments forming the hot gas path components of the turbine.

Methods for coating and securing multi-vane nozzle segments

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Landrum, SC, United States of America

George Gerald Gunn