Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Lloyd W Smith

Wilmott G Brown

Bernard L LaCoste

Ralph R Barber

Gary S Van Heusden

Albert F Le Breton

Phillip R Ratliff

Robert M Lloyd

Thomas A Brown

Thomas J Finnimore

David A Lutz

A turbine blade assembly composed of a rotor which is rotatable about a turbine axis of rotation and a plurality of turbine blades supported by the rotor, each blade having a root and the rotor being provided with a groove shaped for holding each root in a manner such that the root and groove have mutually contacting surfaces which apply a radially inwardly directed restraining force to the root, the root further having a bottom facing the turbine axis and the groove having a base which is located radially inwardly of, and faces, the root bottom. The mutually contacting surfaces of the root and the groove are pressed together by means of at least one disc spring compressed between the root bottom and the groove base.

Turbine blade assembly

A valve apparatus for controlling fluid flow therethrough. A valve support body attached to an elongated stem is housed in an internal opening of a valve body which is externally mateable with a valve seat. Mateable surfaces on the valve body and valve seat are spherical so as to ensure complete engagement therebetween for misalignments between the stem-supported valve body and the valve seat. An antivibration or stabilizing ring situated between the support body and the valve body within the internal opening permits rotation of the valve body about the support body during valve closure to compensate for large stem-valve seat misalignments while restricting relative oscillatory, vibrating motion between the support body and valve body when the valve is in the open, unengaged configuration. Maximum vibration resistance and free rotatability of the valve body is obtained by disposing the stabilizing ring to occupy a position in the plane formed by the contact line between the valve body and seat. A portion of the support body is spherical in shape so as to promote its mateability with a spherical surface which partially bounds the internal valve body opening. In the open, unengaged configuration, the valve body and valve support body are held in intimate contact at these spherical surfaces, by weight and pressure drop forces.

Vibration resistant valve

Growing community of inventors

Charlotte, NC, United States of America

Lloyd W Smith