General Electric Company

Sabic Global Technologies B.v.

General Electric Deutschland Holding Gmbh

Narendra Anand Hardikar

Ravindra Shankar Ganiger

David Raju Yamarthi

Prateek Jalan

Deepak Trivedi

Rahul Anil Bidkar

Harindranath K Sharma

Steven Douglas Johnson

Grant Robert Portune

Scott Alan Schimmels

Nathan Evan McCurdy Gibson

Bryan Jung Woo Hong

Ashok Kumar Kancharla

Sanjay Bedi

Brandon Wayne Miller

Jeffrey Douglas Rambo

Bugra Han Ertas

Neelesh Nandkumar Sarawate

Rodrigo Rodriguez Erdmenger

Rajesh Kumar

Richard Alan Wesling

Kudum Shinde

Vidyashankar Ramasastry Buravalla

Duane Howard Anstead

Kevin Richard Graziano

Mohan Kannaiah Raju

Michael Joseph Murray

Chandrashekhar Kandukuri

Poovanna Theethira Kushalappa

Nageswar Rao Ganji

Antonio Guijarro Valencia

Anil Tiwari

Julius John Montgomery

Shalini Thimmegowda

Amit Goyal

Ryan T Roehm

Srinivasan Swaminathan

Pratish Patil

Brian Joseph Prenger

Jose Maria Rey Villazon

Guru Venkata Dattu Jonnalagadda

Tajinder Singh

Yugandhara Singh

Kevin Randall McManus

Himanshu Gupta

Pravin Ganpati Patil

Anand Aravindrao Kulkarni

Ajith Jogi

Mallikarjun Metri

Shalabh Saxena

Andrew Gumpert

Jamie Tebay

A turbine engine is provided. The gas turbine engine defines a radial direction, and includes: a rotor; a stator comprising a carrier; a seal assembly disposed between the rotor and the stator, the seal assembly comprising a seal segment having a seal face forming a fluid bearing with the rotor; and a seal support assembly comprising a torsional spring extension extending from the carrier, from the seal segment, or both, to bias the seal segment along the radial direction.

Seal support assembly for a turbine engine

This disclosure is directed to seal assemblies for a turbomachine. The seal assemblies include one or more paired rotors and stators and at least one interface between the rotors and the stators. The components of the stator may be axially and radially movable by vibrations and other mechanical interference. The stators comprise a sealing element, a seal housing, and a stator interface connected to the engine housing. In some examples, seal assembly includes a damping element to isolate one or more of the rotating components from vibrations mechanical interference that might misalign the rotating components from the stationary components while the turbomachine is operational. In some examples, the damping element is positioned between the seal housing and the stator interface. In other examples, the damping element is positioned between the stator interface and the engine housing.

Seal assembly for a turbomachine

A turbine engine includes a first gearbox, lubricated by oil. A first sump, located below the first gearbox, collects the oil. A first scavenge element pumps the oil from the first sump in an operational state and does not pump the oil in a failure state. A second gearbox is also lubricated by oil. A second sump, located below the second gearbox, collects the oil. A second scavenge element pumps the oil from the second sump in both the operational state and in the failure state. A conduit connects the first sump to the second sump to transfer overflow oil from the first sump to the second sump in the failure state, the overflow oil combining with the oil in the second sump, upon the oil in the first sump reaching a threshold level.

Turbine engine including a lubrication system

A turbine engine includes a rotor, a stator having a carrier, and a seal assembly that is disposed between the rotor and the stator. The seal assembly includes a plurality of seal segments. The plurality of seal segments includes a seal segment having a seal face forming a fluid bearing with the rotor, a body, and an aft bearing extending from the body. The turbine engine further includes a roller assembly having one or more rolling elements coupled to one of the aft bearing or the carrier. The one or more rolling elements in rolling contact with the other of the aft bearing or the carrier.

Seal assembly for a gas turbine engine

A seal assembly for a gas turbine includes a seal case, and a seal shoe arranged within the seal case. The seal shoe includes a main seal portion that is configured to engage with a radial bearing engagement portion of a rotor shaft, a radial bearing surface that engages with the radial bearing engagement portion of the rotor shaft, at least one hydrodynamic lift cavity extending through the radial bearing surface, and at least one airflow passage extending from a first side of the seal shoe through the at least one hydrodynamic lift cavity and providing airflow communication between the first side of the seal shoe and the at least one hydrodynamic lift cavity.

Seal assembly for a rotor shaft of a gas turbine

A turbine engine is provided. The turbine engine defines an axial direction and a radial direction, and includes: a rotor; a stator comprising a carrier; a seal assembly disposed between the rotor and the stator, the seal assembly defining a high-pressure side and a low-pressure side and comprising a plurality of seal segments, the plurality of seal segments including a seal segment having a seal face forming a fluid bearing with the rotor, a lip, and a body, the lip extending from the body along the axial direction of the turbine engine on the high-pressure side and including an outer pressurization surface along the radial direction of the turbine engine; and a seal support assembly, the seal support assembly comprising a spring arrangement extending between the carrier and the first seal segment to counter a pressure on the outer pressurization surface during operation of the turbine engine.

A turbine engine includes a rotor, a stator, and a seal assembly disposed between the rotor and the stator. The seal assembly includes seal segment. The seal segment includes a seal face that is configured to form a fluid bearing with the rotor. A lift channel extends within the seal segment from an opening on the seal face. The turbine engine further includes a spring assembly disposed within the lift channel. The spring assembly including a biasing element and a piston element coupled to the biasing element. The lift channel includes a lift volume portion extending is between the opening and the piston element. The piston element is movable within the lift channel based on a pressure within the fluid bearing to adjust a size of the lift volume portion.

A turbine engine is provided. The turbine engine defines a radial direction and includes: a rotor; a stator comprising a carrier; a seal assembly disposed between the rotor and the stator, the seal assembly comprising a first seal segment, the seal segment having a seal face configured to form a fluid bearing with the rotor; and a seal support assembly, the seal support assembly comprising a prestressed spring assembly extending from the seal segment for biasing the seal segment along the radial direction.

A seal assembly at a rotor-stator interface includes at least one non-contacting seal interface and at least one rub detection feature. The rub detection feature(s) is configured to generate a signal upon the rotor and the stator making contact at the rotor-stator interface and causing wear above a certain threshold at the rotor-stator interface. The seal assembly also includes at least one sensor arranged at the rotor-stator interface. The sensor is configured to sense the signal. The seal assembly further includes a controller communicatively coupled with the sensor(s). The controller is configured to receive the signal and estimate at least one of an amount and a location of the wear at the rotor-stator interface based on the signal.

Seal assemblies for turbine engines having wear detection features

A turbine engine is provided. The gas turbine engine defines a radial direction and includes: a rotor; a stator comprising a carrier; a seal assembly disposed between the rotor and the stator, the seal assembly comprising a plurality of seal segments, the plurality of seal segments having a seal segment, the seal segment having a seal face configured to form a fluid bearing with the rotor; and a seal support assembly, the seal support assembly comprises a pneumatic engagement assembly operable to bias the seal segment along the radial direction during operation of the turbine engine.

A turbomachine includes a rotor shaft having an outer surface, a seal carrier forming an annulus about the rotor shaft, and a seal member. The seal carrier at least partially defines a pressure chamber. The turbomachine further includes a seal member support system including a flex body having a contact portion in contact with the seal carrier, and a flex portion extending from the contact portion towards the outer surface of the rotor shaft. The flex portion is coupled to the seal member and is configured to hold the seal member at a radial distance away from the outer surface of the rotor shaft when a pressure inside the pressure chamber is equal to or below a minimum pressure threshold value, and to flex and move the seal member towards the outer surface of the rotor when the pressure inside the pressure chamber exceeds the minimum pressure threshold value.

Seal member support system for a gas turbine engine

A seal assembly for a rotary machine, such as a turbine engine, may include a seal rotor comprising a rotor face, a seal slider comprising a slider face, a seal stator, wherein the seal slider is slidably coupled to the seal stator, and wherein the slider face and the rotor face define a primary seal. The seal slider may be configured to slidably engage and retract the slider face with respect to the rotor face. The seal assembly may further include a secondary seal disposed between the seal slider and the seal stator. The secondary seal may be configured to compress and rebound and/or to expand and rebound, over at least a portion of a range of motion of the seal slider.

Seal assemblies for turbine engines and related methods

A rotary machine includes a stator and a rotor configured to rotate with respect to the stator. The rotor is arranged with the stator at a rotor-stator interface and defines a rotor face. Further, the rotary machine includes a seal assembly at the rotor-stator interface. The seal assembly includes at least one seal and a groove formed into the rotor at the rotor-stator interface. In addition, the seal assembly includes a removable insert positioned within the groove of the seal assembly and defining at least a portion of the rotor face. As such, during operation of the rotary machine, if the rotor and the stator make undesirable contact at the rotor-stator interface, the removable insert becomes damaged to prevent damage from occurring to the rotor and the stator.

Seal assemblies for turbine engines

An aspirating face seal between high and low pressure regions of a turbomachine at a juncture between rotatable and non-rotatable members of turbomachine includes gas bearing rotatable and non-rotatable face surfaces. A starter seal tooth and optional deflector seal tooth are mounted on a seal teeth carrier on the rotatable member. The primary seal tooth and non-rotatable face surface are mounted on an annular slider on the non-rotatable member. A pull-off biasing means urges the annular slider away from the rotatable member and the non-rotatable face surface away from the rotatable surface. A secondary seal is in sealing engagement with the annular slider in the low-pressure region and the pull-off biasing means is located radially outwardly of the annular slider in the high pressure region.

Aspirating face seal tooth configuration

Aspirating face seal between high and low pressure regions of turbomachine between rotatable and non-rotatable members of turbomachine includes gas bearing rotatable and non-rotatable face surfaces, non-rotatable face surface mounted on annular slider on non-rotatable member. Retracting means retracts annular slider away from rotatable member and non-rotatable face surface away from rotatable surface and includes circumferentially spaced apart non-coiled springs axially disposed between slider and non-rotatable engine member. Leaf springs may include first and second ends mounted or attached to first and second mounting lugs or tabs attached to non-rotatable member and slider respectively and middle portion between ends. Springs oriented for retracting slider if slider contacts rotatable member. Primary and starter seal teeth may be mounted on carrier on rotatable member. Primary seal tooth may be on non-rotatable member and starter seal tooth on rotatable member.

Aspirating face seal with non-coiled retraction springs

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Bengaluru, India

Narendra Anand Hardikar