General Electric Company

Robert Clayton Von Der Esch

David William Crall

Jason Francis Pepi

Peter Andrew Simeone

Benjamin Vincent Rawe

Compliant bellow seal may be axially disposed between first and second cooling plates bounding first and second cooling passages between cooling plates and first and second stage disks in turbine. Bellow seal includes two or more convolutions with oppositely facing forward and aft sealing surfaces, which may be flat, on forward and aft annular sealing walls and cylindrical annular outer and inner contact and sealing surfaces on and facing radially outwardly or inwardly from one of the convolutions. A snake bellow seal embodiment may have at least two of the convolutions being full convolutions of unequal width and a forwardmost partial convolution including the sealing wall. Bellow seal may allow turbine cooling flow from an inter-stage radial face spline to flow through inner openings of second cooling passage and block first stage disk cooling air from flowing through inner openings of first cooling passage.

Compliant rotatable inter-stage turbine seal

According to some embodiments, a tie-bolt support assembly is provided which includes a support spring for engagement with both the tie-bolt and a rotor assembly to maintain a load path between the tie-bolt and the rotor assembly while also allowing for axial movement of the tie-bolt.

Growing community of inventors

Ipswich, MA, United States of America

Robert Clayton Von Der Esch