General Electric Company

Other

Larry W Plemmons

Robert Proctor

Steven Robert Brassfield

David R Linger

David A Di Salle

John R Hess

Dean Thomas Lenahan

Robert Joseph Albers

Richard Alan Wesling

Gary Michael Itzel

Christopher Charles Glynn

Bangalore Aswatha Nagaraj

Thomas G Wakeman

Richard William Albrecht, Jr

Gary Charles Liotta

Fred Thomas Willett, Jr

David John Wortman

Melvin Bobo

David Leach

Mark Stewart Schroder

Iain Robertson Kellock

Alan Majors Walker

Gulcharan Singh Brainch

Steven Alan Ross

Curtis Walton Stover

Donald Lee Gardner

Daniel Edward Demers

Brendan F Sexton

Shesh Krishna Srivatsa

Rolf R Hetico

Richard William Jendrix

Michael Adelbert Sullivan

Doyle Clyde Lewis

Robert Harold Weisgerber

Harold P Rieck, Jr

Vincent Marion Drerup

Ralph A Kirkpatrick

Robert Gerard Baran

Edward P Brill

William B Connor

Andrew David Kemp

Mark S Rocklin

Glenn Charles Culbertson

Dimitrios Stathopoulos

Frederick Martin Miller

Cedric Chow

Poul D Pedersen

Andrew P Elovic

Jairaj Ramachandran

John J Bourneuf

Jay Alan Benson

Nancy Ann Sullivan

Alan P Wilds

William C Oakes

Robert J Acbers

Armando J Quinones

Dennis G King

Thomas M Gately

Eugene W Kreimer

Stephen M Bishop

An open cooling circuit for a gas turbine bucket wherein the bucket has an airfoil portion, and a tip shroud, the cooling circuit including a plurality of radial cooling holes extending through the airfoil portion and communicating with an enlarged internal area within the tip shroud before exiting the tip shroud such that a cooling medium used to cool the airfoil portion is subsequently used to cool the tip shroud.

Cooling circuit for a gas turbine bucket and tip shroud

A method of operating a gas turbine having inner and outer shells, with the inner shell being radially movable relative to rotor bucket tip passage in the inner shell for flowing a thermal medium. A pair of passage portions are formed in each of the aft and forward inner shell sections with axially communicating passageways between the passage portions. A thermal medium, preferably from an off-turbine site, is provided for flow through the second-stage aft inner shell section, along axial passageways along the mid-line of the inner shell to a first passage portion of the forward inner shell section. Cross-over paths flow the thermal medium from the first passage portions to second circumferentially extending passage portions of the forward inner shell section, in turn, in communication with axial passageways extending from the forward section to the aft section. A second pair of passage portions flow the thermal medium to an outlet in the aft section. By controlling the temperature of the thermal medium for flow through the aft and forward sections of the inner shell, the clearance between the shrouds and the tips of the buckets for at least the first and second stages of the turbine is controllably adjusted.

Turbine inner shell heating and cooling flow circuit

A turbine nozzle assembly includes a plurality of nozzle segments and a nozzle support for supporting the nozzle segments. Each nozzle segment includes an outer band, an inner band and at least two vanes disposed between the outer and inner bands. A retention flange extends radially inwardly from the inner band and has a first hole formed therein. The nozzle support includes a recess formed therein and a mounting flange extending therefrom. The mounting flange is disposed in contact with the retention flange and has a second hole formed therein. A pin is disposed in the first and second holes to position the flanges with respect to one another. A pin retainer is disposed in the recess and has a holding flange for retaining the pin in place. The nozzle support includes a substantially conical portion and an air seal integrally formed thereto.

Turbine nozzle assembly

In a gas turbine including a compressor having a bore and a rotor comprised of multiple stages extending between a first stage at a forward end of the compressor and a last stage at an aft end of the compressor, each stage including a rotor disk having a peripheral rim and multiple blades secured to the peripheral rim, a combustion system comprising a plurality of combustors utilizing discharge air from the compressor for combustion, and multiple turbine stages driven by combustion gases from the combustion system, the improvement comprising means for supplying cooling air at least to a peripheral rim of the last stage of the compressor.

Compressor rotor cooling system for a gas turbine

A shroud panel for a turbine shroud includes forward and aft hooks which are used to support the panel radially above a plurality of turbine rotor blades. The panel forward hook has radially outer and inner lands, with the outer land being defined by a plurality of pads circumferentially spaced apart from each other by a respective recess. The panel forward hook is sized to engage the complementary forward slot of the turbine shroud substantially concentrically therein. The pads and recess restrict flow leakage around the panel forward hook for maintaining backflow margin and improving clearance control.

Controlled leakage shroud panel

A turbine shroud includes an annular outer casing having first and second radial flanges between which are suspended an adjoining annular shroud support and an annular shroud hanger. A plurality of shroud panels are joined to the shroud hanger and are positionable radially above turbine rotor blades to define a tip clearance therebetween. The four flanges are disposed in abutting contact with each other, and respective pluralities of circumferentially spaced apart first, second, and third recesses are disposed respectively between the casing first flange and the shroud flange, between the shroud flange and the hanger flange, and between the hanger flange and the casing second flange for providing radial flowpaths therebetween. The support flange and the hanger flange have respective pluralities of circumferentially spaced apart first and second metering holes extending axially therethrough for providing flow communication between the first, second, and third recesses for channeling compressor bleed air therethrough for controlling the tip clearance.

Smart turbine shroud

A turbine shroud hanger is supported from an annular outer casing and includes an annular radial flange and integral forward and aft legs at a radially inner end thereof. The legs extend axially oppositely to each other and include respective distal ends configured for supporting a plurality of arcuate shroud panels radially above a plurality of turbine rotor blades to define a tip clearance therebetween. The legs include circumferentially spaced apart forward and aft slots extending axially from the distal ends thereof toward the radial flange, and completely radially therethrough to bifurcate the legs into circumferential segments for reducing transient thermal expansion of the hanger to reduce in turn expansion of the tip clearance.

Turbine shroud hanger

A turbine shroud includes an annular shroud support joined to an annular outer casing and spaced radially inwardly therefrom to define an annular flow duct for receiving compressor bleed air. A plurality of shroud panels are joined to the shroud support and have a radially inner surface positionable radially above turbine rotor blades to define a tip clearance therebetween. An isolation shield is joined to the shroud support radially above the panels and includes a plurality of open-ended cells facing radially outwardly in the duct toward the outer casing for inducing drag in the bleed air flowable axially through the duct to thermally isolate the shroud support from the bleed air for controlling the tip clearance.

Isolated turbine shroud

A turbine cooling supply circuit for a gas turbine engine is disclosed in which the flow of coolant through the engine is directed to minimize temperature rise prior to discharge into the turbine. Bleed air from an impeller stage of a compressor is channeled along a backwall thereof into a cavity disposed radially inwardly of a combustor casing. The cavity is divided by a lightweight tubular member having a circumferentially uniform contour into a non-flow zone proximate the casing and a flow zone proximate a rotor. Maintenance of a high tangential flow component in the bleed flow in the flow zone facilitates discharge of the flow through apertures in a rotor into a bore portion thereof, minimizing work input and temperature rise of the coolant. Further, the coolant is isolated from the hot casing wall and nonuniform structures disposed thereon, thereby reducing heat flux and temperature rise associated with aerodynamic drag caused by increased surface area, nonuniform interruptions in the stationary surface or any combination thereof. Features are incorporated in the tubular member to provide margin against buckling.

Gas turbine engine cooling supply circuit

A turbine shroud hanger includes forward and aft radially outer hooks for mounting the hanger to an annular shroud support, and forward and aft radially inner hooks for supporting a shroud panel radially above a plurality of turbine rotor blades for controlling tip clearance therebetween. The hanger forward outer hook has a radially outer land defined by a pair of pads at distal ends of the hook, with a ridge extending circumferentially therebetween. The outer land is interrupted by a central recess extending between the pads and aft from the ridge to a distal edge of the hook. The forward outer hook has a predetermined radial height which is predeterminedly larger than the radial height of the corresponding forward slot in the shroud support for effecting an interference fit at least in part at the pair of pads to provide a seal against leakage of bleed air.

Sealable turbine shroud hanger

A turbine disk cooling system for a gas turbine engine of a type having a compressor section including first and second disks connected by a seal and defining a compressor interstage volume, a turbine section including first and second stage disks connected by a seal and defining a turbine inner stage volume, and a compressor shaft interconnecting the compressor disks with the turbine disks including orifices located in the compressor seal for allowing air in the compressor section to enter the compressor interstage volume, and a radial inflow impeller for guiding the compressor air towards the compressor shaft. The impeller including a plurality of radially-extending conduits suspended in the compressor interstage volume, the conduits having a plurality of interior, radially-extending passages for conveying the compressor air from the orifice to the compressor shaft. The cooling system further including ducts concentric with the engine centerline for conveying air from the compressor interstage volume to the turbine section, wherein the first stage turbine disk includes an aft shaft having a plurality of openings therethrough allowing the flow of air from the ducts into the turbine interstage volume. The tubular conduit elements having a radially outer portion divided into a plurality of spaced longitudinal segments and a radially inner portion protruding from the conduit element and including a peripheral flange shaped to engage the peripheral flange of the conduit elements.

Turbine disk cooling system

A coated article comprises a base article having a substrate made of a material selected from the group consisting of a nickel-base alloy and a cobalt-base alloy, an intermediate metallic coating structure, and a thermal barrier coating. The intermediate metallic coating structure may be a protective layer of platinum, rhodium, or palladium on the base article, with no bond coat. The intermediate metallic coating may also be a bond coat, either oxidized or unoxidized, with a protective layer of platinum, rhodium, or palladium thereon. The protective layer typically partially interdiffuses with the underlying metallic structure.

Platinum, rhodium, or palladium protective coatings in thermal barrier

Cooling of a workpiece is conducted at selected workpiece locations in accordance with predetermined heat flux, at the locations, required to result in a desired workpiece cooling rate for workpiece integrity, microstructure and mechanical properties. A cooling fluid is controlled to follow the workpiece surface according to preselected cooling fluid convective cooling parameters including, but not limited to, cooling fluid direction, mass flow rate, and velocity at the selected locations.

Method and apparatus for cooling a workpiece

There is provided by the present invention method and apparatus for damping vibrations or other unwanted motions of a brush seal, the apparatus including a damper having a plurality of individual plates that are bonded directly to the inlet rows of bristles of the seal. Methods for producing a damped brush seal in accord with the present invention contemplate brazing damping plates to the bristles, absorbing a melting point suppressor into the surface of the damping plates and then heating the damping plates until the treated surface melts and bonds with the bristles, or sintering a braze alloy to the bristles such that the braze alloy functions as a damping plate.

Method and apparatus for damping a brush seal

A rotor disk assembly includes rotor disks and structural spacer arms adapted to transmit axial loads and bending moments between adjacent disks. The spacer arms include cooling fins for convective cooling of the spacer arms. The spacer arm is preferably a self supporting wheel structure. The cooling fins are preferably circumferentially continuous and extend radially into a relatively cooler rotor bore cavity in which the disk hubs are supported. The cooling fins can be positioned on the spacer arms to reduce thermal distortion of the spacer arms, and thereby reduce bending stresses transmitted to the disks. The spacer arm includes a body section adjacent a relatively higher temperature seal cavity, which can be purged by cooling air from the relatively lower temperature rotor bore cavity. The temperature differential between the body section and the cooler fin tips results in transfer of centrifugal hoop loads to the cooling fins, thereby reducing the loads in the spacer arm body section and the amount of cooling air required to purge the higher temperature seal cavity.

Finned structural disk spacer arm

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Fairfield, OH, United States of America

Larry W Plemmons