General Electric Company

James Harvey Vogan

David Alan Caruso

Dennis William Roberts

Kiernan Francis Ryan

Robert E Seeley

Christopher Edward Wolfe

Mark Edward Burnett

Robert Edward Deallenbach

Bruce William Brisson

Raymond J Jones

Stephen G Ruggles

Cuong V Dinh

William James Sumner

Joseph Michael Pelech

Carl L De Cesare

Joseph H Stocks, Iii

Carlos E Silva

Robert J Lindinger

Axial entry dovetails on buckets are installed axially into generally complementary-shaped female dovetails about the rim of the turbine wheel. The buckets include bucket covers having an interference fit such that upon installation, the buckets tend to rotate, which causes radial inward displacement of the buckets. To eliminate the bucket rotation and radial displacement, the male dovetails mount an anti-rotation key for reception in a generally complementary-shaped recess at the base of the female dovetail. The anti-rotation key in the slot eliminates rotation and radial displacement of the bucket, maintaining the buckets on radii and enables the bucket covers to be machined to proper diameters.

Axial entry turbine bucket dovetail with integral anti-rotation key

A seal assembly and method for a turbomachine having a rotary member and a stationary member circumscribing the rotary member. The seal assembly comprises an annular-shaped platform on the rotary member so as to be disposed at an outer circumferential region thereof. The platform is supported radially outward from the rotary member so as to project beyond axially-adjacent regions of the rotary member. The platform has a contact region radially separated from the rotary member by a cavity. A sealing member is disposed at a radially inward region of the stationary member, with a portion of the sealing member in rubbing contact with the contact region.

Turbomachine seal assembly and method therefor

A first steam turbine of a reaction stage design is retrofitted to form a second turbine of a substantially impulse stage design using common components with the first turbine. To retrofit the new steam path into the first turbine, the upper outer and inner shells and rotor of the first turbine are removed leaving the lower outer shell. A lower carrier section is installed in the lower outer shell. A lower inner shell forming part of the new steam path is installed on the lower carrier ring. The rotor forming part of the new steam path is installed. The upper inner shell is bolted to the lower inner shell encompassing the rotor and an upper carrier section is bolted to the lower carrier section. Finally, the upper outer shell is bolted to the lower outer shell. Consequently a new steam path of reduced diameter is retrofitted into a prior turbine using the prior turbines outer shell.

Method and apparatus for retrofitting a steam turbine and a retrofitted steam turbine

A system and method for securing an integral closure bucket to a rotor wheel assembly. The integral closure bucket is inserted in a direction coincident with a radius of the rotor wheel assembly, where the remaining buckets have been previously inserted in a direction parallel to the axis of the turbine rotor wheel. The closure bucket has an integral shroud and is connected to a turbine rotor wheel assembly in which the remaining buckets have been previously inserted in an axial direction. The buckets adjacent the closure bucket are spread apart both tangentially and axially to provide sufficient clearance for the radial insertion of the integral closure bucket. To prevent axial movement of the closure bucket and adjacent buckets, twist locks are utilized in channels provided in the bottom of the female dovetails in the rotor wheel.

System and method for securing a radially inserted integral closure bucket to a turbine rotor wheel assembly having axially inserted buckets

In a steam turbine rotor wheel and bucket dovetail joint construction wherein the wheel dovetail includes three radially aligned hooks each interconnected by a neck having an upper and lower fillet, an improvement includes redesigned fillet radii which, in a first embodiment, include the upper fillet having a radius greater than the lower fillet radius. In certain embodiments, the upper fillet may have a radius twice that of the lower fillet. In other embodiments, the radii in both the upper and lower fillets have been enlarged.

Bucket to wheel dovetail design for turbine rotors

A dovetail joint between a rotor wheel and a bucket includes a male dovetail component on the rotor wheel and a female dovetail component in the bucket, wherein the male dovetail component includes four laterally projecting hooks, each hook from an uppermost hook to a lowermost hook decreasing in radial thickness and increasing in axial length. Each hook has a substantially flat top surface to effectively increase the average thickness, and a neck between the respective hooks having enlarged fillets. The new dovetail joint reduces peak stresses so as to avoid or minimize stress corrosion cracking.

Bucket and wheel dovetail design for turbine rotors

A last-stage steam turbine bucket having a profile according to the charts set forth in the specification.

Bucket for the last stage of turbine

Applicants have identified and unexpected mechanism which contributes to solid particle erosion of the trailing edge of spaced apart aerodynamically shaped nozzle partitions in an axial fluid flow turbine. Particles entrained in the fluid flow pass through passages between nozzle partitions, strike rotating buckets and rebound upstream to impinge upon the suction side of the nozzle partitions in the trailing edge region. Accordingly, a nozzle partition includes a protection device disposed over at least a portion of the suction side of the nozzle partition, preferably from the trailing edge to the throat, for preventing solid particle erosion of the partition.

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Schenectady, NY, United States of America

James Harvey Vogan