General Electric Company

General Electric Deutschland Holding Gmbh

The United States of America As Represented by the Department of Energy

Ge Vernova Technology Gmbh

Rahul Anil Bidkar

Deepak Trivedi

Azam Mihir Thatte

Steven Douglas Johnson

Christopher Edward Wolfe

Xiaoqing Zheng

Nathan Evan McCurdy Gibson

Ravindra Shankar Ganiger

Narendra Anand Hardikar

Prateek Jalan

Uttara Vijay Kumar

Bugra Han Ertas

Rodrigo Rodriguez Erdmenger

David Raju Yamarthi

Neelesh Nandkumar Sarawate

Grant Robert Portune

Scott Alan Schimmels

Antonio Guijarro Valencia

Karimulla Shaik Sha

Christopher Walter Falcone

Norman Arnold Turnquist

Ronald James Chila

Andrew Paul Giametta

Edip Sevincer

Quang Tue Nguyen Tran

Jifeng Wang

Joseph Herbert Fields

Matthew James Misch

Nora Marie Molino

Kevin Randall McManus

Andrew Kevin Winn

Darren Lee Hallman

Biao Fang

Jonathan Russell Ratzlaff

Eric Richard Westervelt

Michael Dennis Mack

Eric John Ruggiero

Hrishikesh Vishvas Deo

Kristopher John Frutschy

Adolfo Delgado Marquez

Nageswar Rao Ganji

Julius John Montgomery

Pei-Hsin Kuo

Randy Thomas Antelo

Pratish Patil

Jose Maria Rey Villazon

Chandrashekhar Kandukuri

Hariharan Manickavasagam Sarojini

Massimiliano Cirri, Ii

Narayana Shastry

Mark Bowen

Kevin Randall Mcmanus

Mallikarjun Metri

Ajith Jogi

Tran Quang Tue Nguyen

Keith William Gary

Matthew Michael Langenderfer

John Robert Williams

Nicolas Joseph Cleveland

Vivek Raja Raj Mohan

Kevin Weston Mcmahan

A seal monitoring apparatus is provided. The seal monitoring apparatus includes a temperature sensor and a controller in communication with the temperature sensor. The temperature sensor is mounted at a seal of a device. The controller is configured to receive measured temperature data from the temperature sensor and calculate expected temperature data for the seal based at least in part on operating conditions of the device. The controller is configured to determine a condition of the seal based at least in part on a temperature difference of the measured temperature data from the expected temperature data.

Seal monitoring apparatus

A gas turbine engine includes a compressor section and a turbine section in axial flow arrangement defining an axially extending, longitudinal centerline, and arranged as a rotor and a stator. A floating seal assembly is disposed at an interface of the rotor and the stator to seals at least portions of the rotor and the stator relative to each other. The floating seal assembly includes one or more inertial damping elements tuned to one or more frequencies.

Gas turbine engine with inertially damped seals

A turbine engine having a stator, a rotor, and a seal assembly. The rotor being rotatable about a rotational axis. The seal assembly having a carriage assembly, a seal body and a biasing element. The carriage assembly being carried by the stator. The carriage assembly defining a seal cavity. The seal body being provided within the seal cavity.

Turbine engine with a rotor seal assembly

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 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. The rotary machine also includes a seal assembly at the rotor-stator interface. The seal assembly includes a seal rotor, a seal stator, a seal slider, and a seal defined by a rotor face of the seal rotor and a slider face of the seal slider. Further, the seal assembly includes a flexible joint connected between the slider face and a primary seal body of the seal slider. The flexible joint is configured to locally decouple movement of the slider face from the seal slider to allow the slider face to track movement of the rotor apart from the primary seal body.

Seal assembly for a rotary machine having a flexible joint

A seal assembly includes a plurality of seal segments for sealing between a rotor and a stator, wherein, when arranged together, the rotor, the stator, and the plurality of seal segments define a high pressure region and a low pressure region. The seal assembly further includes a biasing member engaged with the plurality of seal segments and at least one feature formed in the stator. As such pressurized fluid engaging with the at least one feature provides an aft-to-forward axial force that reduces friction between interfacing aft surfaces of the plurality of seal segments and the stator.

Seal assembly for a turbine engine

A rotary machine seal assembly () includes seal segments () configured to circumferentially extend around a rotor () between a stator () and the rotor () of a rotary machine. One or more seal segments include a shoe plate (), a seal base (), and at least one intermediate member (). The shoe plate is disposed along the rotor. The seal base is disposed radially outward of the shoe plate. At least one intermediate member is coupled to and disposed between the seal base and the shoe plate. The at least one intermediate member includes an actuator portion () having first coefficient of thermal expansion and a constrictor portion () having a different, second coefficient of thermal expansion. The at least one intermediate member is configured to move the shoe plate from a radially outward position to a radially inward position with respect to the rotor responsive to the at least one intermediate member undergoing a temperature change.

Seal assembly for a rotary machine

A turbine engine comprising an engine core having a rotor and a stator, and a floating seal assembly sealing at least portions of the rotor and the stator relative to a higher-pressure area and a lower-pressure area. The floating seal assembly can comprise a carriage assembly at least partially defining a seal cavity and a seal body floating within the seal cavity. The floating seal assembly can further include at least one of a seal located between the seal body and the carriage assembly, and a seal face located between the seal body and the carriage assembly.

Turbine engine with a floating seal assembly

A seal monitoring apparatus is provided. The seal monitoring apparatus includes one or more pressure sensors and a controller in communication with the one or more pressure sensors. The one or more pressure sensors is mounted at a seal of a turbine to measure pressure on a first side of the seal and/or a second side of the seal. The controller is configured to receive pressure data from the one or more pressure sensors and determine a condition of the seal based at least in part on the pressure data. The controller is configured to output a signal upon determining a change in the condition of the seal.

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.

Seal support assembly for a turbine engine

A turbine engine includes a rotor, a stator having an aft wall, and a seal assembly having a plurality of seal segments disposed between the rotor and the stator. The rotor, the stator, and the seal assembly are arranged together to define a high pressure region and a low pressure region. The turbine engine also includes at least one biasing member engaged with one or more of the plurality of seal segments. The plurality of seal segments include a primary seal segment and a secondary seal segment connected together via a flexible joint. As such, the flexible joint allows for angular misalignment between the primary seal segment and the secondary seal segment, thereby allowing the primary seal segment to move with the rotor while the secondary seal segment maintains contact with the aft wall of the stator.

A seal assembly for an aeronautical turbine engine includes a passive flow regulator. The passive flow regulator includes a seal body defining an aspiration conduit, and a flow constrictor disposed within and/or adjacently upstream of the aspiration conduit. The aspiration conduit provides fluid communication across the seal body from a relatively higher-pressure fluid volume to a relatively lower-pressure fluid volume. The flow constrictor includes one or more flexure elements that move in one or more degrees of freedom as a result of changes in a pressure differential across the flow constrictor. The movement of the one or more flexure elements changes a hydraulic resistance of fluid flow past the flow constrictor based at least in part on a position of the flow constrictor in relation to the aspiration conduit.

Seal assemblies for turbine engines and related methods

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 one or more seal segments that respectively include a seal housing defining a seal chamber and one or more fluid supply apertures that pass through the seal housing, and a seal body defining a seal face and one or more fluid conduits that pass through the seal body to the seal face. The seal chamber may receive at least a portion of the seal body, and the seal body may move within the seal chamber along a radial axis of a rotor of the rotary engine. The fluid supply apertures may fluidly communicate with the fluid conduits, and the fluid conduits may fluidly communicate with a fluid-bearing gap defined between the seal face and a rotor face of the rotor.

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Niskayuna, NY, United States of America

Rahul Anil Bidkar