General Electric Company

Roger C Walker

Christopher Charles Glynn

Matthew Ryan Ferslew

Fernando Jorge Casanova

Richard Francis Gutta

Frederick Martin Miller

Poul D Pedersen

Richard J Fallon

Jacky S Naudet

Jean-Louis Charbonnel

Jonathan Carl Thatcher

Andrew J Lammas

John Herbert Dimmick

Pierre Debeneix

Daniel J Marey

Martin C Hemsworth

John R Hess

John David Bibler

David Allen Kastrup

Dwight Eric Davidson

Jesse Edwin Trout

Tagir Nigmatulin

Harold P Rieck, Jr

Robert E Allen

Sang Yeng Park

Philip Michael Caruso

William Andrew Parker

Sivaraman Vedhagiri

David L Joyce

Alan R Gilchrist

Yang Liu

Srinivas Ravi

Ravi Meenaksh

Matthew Paul Forcier

Narendra Are

Tushar S Desai

Thomas J Sullivan

Yann J Rigaud

Scott P Reese

Gabriel E Robledo

Paul Jeffrey Meyer

Robert Crag Akin

Jean-Pierre A Mourlan

Gerard Receveur

Clifford C May

The present application provides a self locking nut and bolt assembly for a stack of rotating wheels. The self locking nut and bolt assembly may include a tie bolt extending through the stack of rotating wheels, a locking nut positioned on a first end of the tie bolt, and a locking washer positioned on the one end of the tie bolt within the locking nut.

Self locking nut and bolt assembly

Method and system are provided for controlling a thermal differential within a turbine rotor for use with a turbine system. A thermal barrier coating is applied to a surface of the turbine rotor. The surface is proximate to a wheel rim of the turbine rotor.

Methods and systems for controlling thermal differential in turbine systems

A gas turbine engine is provided comprising a compressor with an insulated cooling circuit. The compressor comprises a compressor casing having a compression chamber and at least one stator and at least one rotor disposed in the compression chamber, the at least one stator comprising a stator body having a plurality of tubes for transporting cooling air through passages in the stator body into the compression chamber. The plurality of tubes are surrounded by an air gap for insulating the tubes from the stator body.

Gas turbine engine with insulated cooling circuit

A method facilitates assembling a turbine. The method includes coupling buckets to a turbine wheel. The method also includes coupling a first end of a cover plate to the turbine wheel such that at least one projection extending from the turbine wheel retains the cover plate in position relative to the turbine wheel and inserting a fastening mechanism through an opening defined in the turbine wheel to secure the cover plate against the turbine wheel. The cover plate facilitates reducing dovetail leakage across the buckets coupled to the turbine wheel.

Method and apparatus to facilitate increasing turbine rotor efficiency

Systems and methods for controlling the clearance in a gas turbine are provided. A temperature of a shaft of the gas turbine may be determined, and a desired temperature of an inner turbine shell of the turbine may be determined based upon the temperature of the shaft. The desired temperature of the inner turbine shell may be associated with a turbine clearance at which the gas turbine may be ignited. The temperature of the inner turbine shell may be altered by controlling the temperature of a gas that is circulated within the inner turbine shell, and a determination may be made that the temperature of the inner turbine shell exceeds the desired temperature. The gas turbine may be ignited subsequent to the determination that the temperature of the inner turbine shell exceeds the desired temperature.

Methods and systems for controlling gas turbine clearance

A cooling circuit serves to provide cooling air in a rotor having a compressor rotor and a turbine rotor. The cooling circuit includes a first cooling path through the compressor rotor in series with a second cooling path through the turbine rotor such that one amount of cooling air is used for cooling both the compressor rotor and the turbine rotor. The construction enables a reduction in cooling air requirements, thereby increasing power plant efficiency.

Rotor cooling circuit

Stacked wheels of the rotor of a rotary machine are axially coupled to one another by tie bolt assemblies. Each tie bolt assembly includes a stud having forward and aft ends. The aft end of the stud includes a self-locking nut to thereby lock the stud/nut assembly against rotation relative to the rotor.

Self-locking nut for stud shaft and stacked wheel assembly for the rotor of a rotary machine

A retention system and method for the blades of a rotary machine for preventing forward or aft axial movement of the rotor blades includes a circumferential hub slot formed about a circumference of the machine hub. The rotor blades have machined therein a blade retention slot which is aligned with the circumferential hub slot when the blades are received in correspondingly shaped openings in the hub. At least one ring segment is secured in the blade retention slots and the circumferential hub slot to retain the blades from axial movement. A key assembly is used to secure the ring segments in the aligned slots via a hook portion receiving the ring segments and a threaded portion that is driven radially outwardly by a nut. A cap may be provided to provide a redundant back-up load path for the centrifugal loads on the key. Alternatively, the key assembly may be formed in the blade dovetail.

Retention system and method for the blades of a rotary machine

In a compressor rotor assembly including a plurality of rotor disks affixed to a rotor body, and wherein at least one radially directed cooling tube is supported from a radially outer end within a rotor shaft, with an opposite, radially inner free end extending toward a longitudinal axis of the rotor, an improvement comprising a ring member loosely secured to the tube at the free end.

Cooling air tube vibration damper

One form of a retention system includes a pair of aft segments of 180.degree. in length disposed in annular grooves about a compressor spool, the segments having radial projections against which the aft end faces of the base portions of rotor blades abut. The blade base portions are shaped and are received in complementary-shaped slots of the spool. The forward retention system includes a plurality of arcuate segments approximately 30.degree. in length disposed in grooves adjacent the forward end faces of the blades. With the exception of the final pair of blades, the blade base portions thereof are located in the axial complementary slots in pairs, with each forward arcuate segment, except the final segment, being disposed in the groove at a circumferentially spaced location and displaced circumferentially to abut the forward end faces. The final arcuate segment is radially reduced and disposed in the remaining portion of the groove to lie flush with the spool. The base portions of the final blades are axially inserted over the final segments and the latter is displaced radially outwardly and pinned to abut the forward end faces of the final blade base portions. In another form, tabs project forwardly or rearwardly from the base portions of the blades. The tabs have holes in registry with corresponding holes in the blade slot for receiving pins thereby preventing axial movement of the blades relative to the spool.

Retention system for the blades of a rotary machine

An apparatus and method for minimizing compressor casing distortion due to bleed air extraction wherein the compressor casing includes an annular outer casing having at least one outlet duct, an annular inner casing disposed co-axially with the outer casing and spaced radially inwardly therefrom to define a plenum, two radial discs extending inwardly from the outer casing defining a plenum, a plurality of small area bleed openings located in the inner casing for imparting a radial velocity to the bleed air greater than the circumferential velocity entering the plenum, an air tube located over each bleed opening, and a baffle plate located on top of the air tubes and communicating with the radial discs for supporting the casings, whereby the bleed air impinges on the outer casing and controls distortion by sufficiently reducing the circumferential temperature gradient forming at the outer casing.

Compressor casing assembly

In a gas turbine engine, a system for maintaining uniform circumferential spacing between adjacent segments of a compressor liner, the liner segments being retained within an outer casing by a flanged connection. The system includes a T-shaped pin retained within the flanged connection radially and circumferentially by engagement with a slot formed in the outer casing, and axially by engagement with a notch formed in the adjacent liner segment, such that the liner segment overlaps the positioning pin. In a preferred embodiment, each liner segment is notched and held in place by a pin which, in turn, is retained within a slot in the compressor casing.

Apparatus for positioning compressor liner segments

The present invention discloses a spring clip made of a directionally solidified nickel-base superalloy for use in a high pressure compressor stator sub-assembly of a gas turbine engine. The spring clip includes a body section and a pair of arms integrally connected to opposing sides of the body section and the spring clip is used as a means for attaching circumferentially segmented flowpath liners to an annular casing. Each arm of the spring clips exerts a spring force against a flowpath liner mount lug causing the mount lug to be seated radially against an inner surface of the casing and axially against an annular seal, wherein the pair of arms of each spring clip engage mount lugs located on circumferentially adjacent ones of the flowpath liners. The spring clip material has a relatively low modulus of elasticity in a direction which is generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the spring clip, and to the base surface of the spring clip arms, and a relatively high modulus of elasticity in a direction which is parallel to the centerlines of the holes used to fixedly connect the body sections of the spring clips to the casing. Accordingly, the spring clip of the present invention has a smaller size and reduced weight, as compared to a clip made of a conventional equiax nickel-base superalloy, with no loss in preload capability of the fasteners used to attach the body sections of the clips to the casing.

Spring clip made of a directionally solidified material for use in a gas

A turboshaft engine in which the stator comprises an outer casing surrounding a ring formed by a number of ring elements each having an apertured rib which spaces the element from the casing, the ribs dividing the space between the casing and the ring into separate compartments, and each rib having a sealing element disposed alongside it to cover the apertures and seal one compartment from the next. The casing and the ring are fixed together by virtue of bolts which have their axes inclined to the radial direction so that tightening the bolts causes the casing to press radially on the sealing elements at the same time as pressing them axially against the respective ribs.

Turbomachine stator having a double skin casing including means for

A sealing device for compressor axial dovetail rotor blades for a gas turbine engine comprising a sealing member having a finger portion extending from a main body portion which engages a disk hook located on each disk post and forms a first point of contact about which the sealing member rotates. The sealing member further comprises an extended skirt portion which engages the blade platform of the rotor blades forming a second point of contact. The main body has a center of gravity positioned such that during operation of the engine the main body pivots due to centrifugal force about the disk hook such that the skirt portion engages the blade platform. A split ring is located between the disk posts and a tail portion extending from the lower portion of the sealing member and engages the disk post and tail portion during operation of the engine thereby forming a third point of contact. The combination of the skirt element contacting the blade platform and the split ring contacting the tail portion and the disk posts effectively prevents any leakage axially through the rotor blade dovetail.

Dovetail sealing device for axial dovetail rotor blades

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Middletown, OH, United States of America

Roger C Walker