Solar Turbines Inc.

George L Prater

John Frederick Lockyer

Jeffrey Eugene Tarczy

Kwok-Kwong Ben Tse

Marius Dumitrascu

Gusheng Hu

James Maleski

Victor Antonio Chagala Galicia

Jeffrey B Stewart

Megan K Waller

Antonio Fajardo Celis

Oscar Sanchez Kuri

Conventionally, trim balancing for a power turbine has been performed at the equipment coupling. Disclosed embodiments comprise a hub that is installed on the shaft. This hub enables trim balancing to be performed on the shaft coupling, closer to the rotor, which is more effective. The disclosed hub also enables unbalance corrections to remain with the power turbine after uncoupling. In addition, the use of the hub improves efficiency and eliminates safety risks faced by personnel in the field during coupling of the power turbine to the equipment.

Power turbine shaft with hub assembly for gas turbine engine

Tip shrouds or other shrouds with multi-slope geometries are generally implemented using segments, since performing the necessary cut for an alternative split-ring design is difficult given conventional cutting processes. However, a segmented design generally results in more leakage, relative to a split-ring design. Accordingly, a split-ring multi-slope design is disclosed that can be more easily manufactured. In particular, a continuous ring may be cut along a linear path to produce a split ring, and then the ends of the split ring may be machined to form complementary shiplap portions. The split ring may then be compressed for installation by overlapping the shiplap portions, to form a seal against leakage through the shroud.

Machine ring multi-slope tipshoe/tip shroud/outer air shroud

Exhaust outlets (e.g., in a gas turbine engine) are generally made from sections of thin-walled materials (e.g., sheet metal) that are joined by flanges. Due to the length of the exhaust outlet and differing thermal expansion coefficients exhibited by the flanges and the thin-walled materials, these joints are subjected to high mechanical, as well as thermal, stresses. A long-arm flange is disclosed that decouples the mechanical stress from the thermal stress in the flange and distributes the stress, to thereby reduce the stress at the flange interface. Additionally, the long-arm flange can be easily adapted to the specific geometry of any exhaust outlet.

Long-arm flange design for connecting and supporting thin-walled parts subject to high bending and thermal loads

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

George L Prater