General Electric Company

Martel Alexander McCallum

Kenneth Damon Black

Ian David Wilson

Henry Grady Ballard, Jr

Christopher Paul Cox

Stephen Christopher Chieco

Weiping Wang

Charles Erklin Seeley

Hsin-Pang Wang

Gregory Allan Crum

Nicholas Francis Martin

Anthony Constantine Thermos

Jon Allen Ebacher

Ramanath Iyer Ramakrishnan

James Patrick Claeys

A casing includes an inner shell and an outer shell that surrounds the inner shell and comprises a plurality of inflection points. An annular flange is between the inner shell and the outer shell, and a plurality of joints attach the inner shell to the annular flange. A connector is between the annular flange and the outer shell at each of the plurality of inflection points. A method for assembling a casing includes joining a plurality of curved sections to one another to generally define an arcuate inner shell and surrounding the arcuate inner shell with an outer shell. The method further includes attaching the arcuate inner shell to an annular flange at first attachment points and connecting the annular flange to the outer shell at second attachment points spaced approximately equidistantly from the first attachment points.

Turbine casing

Apparatus and method for aligning a turbine casing

A compressor inlet casing comprising an inner bellmouth and a bearing housing. The bearing housing may include an integrally cast first half connected to the inner bellmouth and a cavity positioned between the inner bellmouth and the integrally cast first half of the bearing housing.

Turbine inlet casing with integral bearing housing

A gas turbine with an active clearance control system includes a plurality of actuators circumferentially spaced between an inner shroud and an outer casing. The actuators are configured to eccentrically displace the shroud relative to the outer casing. A plurality of sensors circumferentially spaced around the shroud detect a parameter that is indicative of an eccentricity between the rotor and shroud as the rotor rotates within the shroud. A control system in communication with the sensors and actuators is configured to control the actuators to eccentrically displace the shroud to compensate for eccentricities detected between the rotor and shroud.

Active casing alignment control system and method

A compressor bleed air manifold includes annular outer flanges on opposite sides of the generally annular manifold plenum. The outer and inner flange geometries may be circumferentially tailored to produce optimal case stiffness and thermal response for blade-to-case clearances. The inner flanges are secured to one another by an inner bolt circle radially adjacent the flow path thereby improving the case stiffness, out of roundness and eliminating unsupported sections of the flowpath along an outer diameter thereof. The flanges of the outer bolt circle seal the plenum. The compressor bleed air manifold and the compressor casing load path are thereby isolated from one another.

Compressor bleed air manifold for blade clearance control

A method for controlling distortion of a turbine case (&ldquo;case&rdquo;) includes measuring a temperature distribution for the case that includes thermal gradients. The method further includes modeling thermal stresses on the case induced by the thermal gradients, calculating an out of roundness index (&ldquo;index&rdquo;) resulting from the thermal stresses, and comparing the index with at least one distortion limit to determine whether the case has a satisfactory or an unsatisfactory index. The temperature distribution is controlled for an unsatisfactory index to produce the satisfactory index. A system for controlling distortion of the turbine case includes a thermal measurement system, for measuring the temperature distribution, and a computer configured for modeling the thermal stresses, calculating and comparing the index with the distortion limit, and controlling the temperature distribution for an unsatisfactory index to produce the satisfactory index.

Method and system for controlling distortion of turbine case due to thermal variations

A double wall bearing cone closes an opening between a bearing housing and an exhaust frame in a gas turbine. The bearing cone includes a conical forward plate having an inner diameter and an outer diameter and a conical aft plate nested with and spaced from the conical forward plate. A hub connects the inner diameters of the forward plate and the aft plate. The hub preferably includes holes therein that serve to meter air flow between the forward plate and the aft plate. The double wall bearing cone defines a cooling circuit that reduces wear between a third stage turbine wheel in a gas turbine and the rotor aft shaft.

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Simpsonville, SC, United States of America

Martel Alexander McCallum