General Electric Company

Gregory Leonard Diantonio

Xiaoqing Zheng

Bernard Arthur Couture, Jr

Mehmet Demiroglu

Daniel Jordy

Systems and devices for substantially fluidly isolating portions of a rotary machine are disclosed. In one embodiment, a seal assembly for a rotary machine includes: a complementary set of seal segments configured relative one another so as to form a substantially continuous body with butt gaps between the seal segments, the segments including: a head flange; and an axial neck connected to the head flange, wherein the axial neck extends radially inboard and includes an axial slot formed substantially there through; and at least one butt gap seal element, wherein the at least one butt gap seal element includes an axial flange and a radial flange, the axial flange disposed within the axial slots of adjacent seal segments; and the radial flange extending radially inboard from the axial slots to a proximity of the rotary machine substantially forming a barrier to axial flow through the butt gap.

Rotary machine seal assembly with butt gap seal elements

Disclosed herein is a seal assembly for a rotary machine having a plurality of arcuate segments and at least one seal. The plurality of arcuate segments are arrayed in an annulus and have butt joints, each of the arcuate segments has a radially outermost surface and a downstream face. The at least one seal is arranged to minimize leakage through the butt joints. The at least one seal has a first portion configured to minimize leakage at the radially outermost surface and a second portion configured to minimize leakage at the downstream face.

Growing community of inventors

Wappingers Falls, NY, United States of America

Gregory Leonard Diantonio