Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Siemens Energy, Inc.

Blade Diagnostic Corporation

Blade Diagnostics Corporation

Roger W Heinig

Peter Douglas Hill

Robert E Clark

Dennis R Amos

Charles W Einolf, Jr

Paul F Rozelle

Jerry Howard Griffin

Drew M Feiner

Francis S McKendree

Frank A Pisz

Stephen R Reid

Jeremy P Jasikiewicz

Donald W Barnes

Arthur S Warnock

Manish Kumar

Jeremy T Marshall

Paul Vezzetti

A turbine assembly includes a rotating blade including a T-root. The T-root defines a first engagement surface that is cylindrical, a rotor including a blade groove arranged to receive the rotating blade, the blade groove including a neck portion that defines a second engagement surface and a neck surface that is normal to and intersects the second engagement surface. The second engagement surface is cylindrical, and a relief groove is formed in the neck surface and positioned adjacent the second engagement surface.

System and method for reducing blade hook stress in a turbine blade

A method of determining the location and size of a crack in a blade includes measuring a time of arrival of a tip of the blade at an angular position in a rotation, using the time of arrival to calculate a displacement of the tip of the blade, and using the displacements to calculate a first vibration condition and a second vibration condition for the blade. The method also includes comparing the first vibration condition and the second vibration condition for the blade to a predetermined baseline first vibration condition and a predetermined baseline second vibration condition for the blade to determine a change in the first vibration condition and a change in the second vibration condition, and using the magnitude of the change in the second vibration condition relative to the change in the first vibration condition to determine the likely location of the crack and using the magnitude of the change in the first vibration condition and the change in the second vibration condition to determine the size of the crack.

Turbine blade health monitoring system for identifying cracks

A method and system for establishing sets of blade frequency values for each rotating blade of a rotor assembly at two or more different points in time and determining an indication of blade health from the change in the blade frequency values is provided. Blade frequency values are determined by receiving measurements of vibratory responses from blade monitoring equipment () and processing via a processing device () vibration data as a system of rotating blades to extract a frequency of each blade. Sets of blade frequency values are compared to determine a change in the blade frequency values for each rotating blade to provide the indication of blade health.

Method and system for monitoring rotating blade health

Vibration in the blade of a turbo-machine is suppressed by the incorporation of both inner and outer restraints that inhibit deflections of the blade foils. The outer restraint comprises shroud, welded lugs or tie wires that divide the row of blades into a plurality of blade groups by connecting the blades in each group together. The number of blades in each group can be equal to the number of blades in the row divided by the harmonic of the rotor rotational frequency that is closest to the blade resonant frequency of concern. The inner restraint comprises welded lugs or tie wires disposed radially inward from the outer restraint that divide each blade group into a plurality of sub-groups, thereby further suppressing blade vibration. Since the length of the inner restraints is less than that associated with harmonic shrouds, the stresses in the inner restraint, as well as in the blades, due to radial growth of the rotor are maintained within acceptable levels.

Method and apparatus for reducing vibration in a turbo-machine blade

A system and method are provided for monitoring synchronous blade vibration in a turbo-machine. At least three sensors capable of detecting the arrival of each blade are arranged about the cylinder which surrounds the tips of the blades. The location of the sensors is selected to minimize the influence of errors in the data. To this end, and to simplify the installation of the sensors into the cylinder, the sensors may be non-uniformly spaced. The location of each sensor for purposes of constructing Fourier transforms is determined using the arrival times at the blades at each sensor, expressed as a fraction of a rotor revolution. The transform matrix is constructed for a predetermined discrete set of M harmonics, so that M harmonics are analyzed simultaneously, the number of harmonics which can be simultaneously analyzed is related to the number of sensors used. The blade arrival time data at each sensor, expressed as a fraction of a rotor revolution, is analyzed to determine the amplitude of the blade vibration at each of the harmonics selected for the set. The calculations are repeated for a variety of harmonic sets in order to accurately interpret the results in the event there is significant vibration at harmonics not included in the initial set.

System and method for monitoring synchronous blade vibration

A blade root including, in downward order and symmetrical on each side of a center line: an upper neck of width w.sub.2 ; an upper lug having an upper flat bearing surface and a fillet surface of radius R.sub.2, the upper root bearing surface contacting an upper flat groove bearing surface, the groove including a fillet surface of radius R.sub.3, the upper root bearing surface and the upper groove bearing surface contacting over a length l.sub.1 from the beginning point of the upper groove bearing surface to the terminating point of the upper root bearing surface; a lower neck of width w.sub.2 ; and a lower lug having a lower flat root bearing surface and a fillet surface of radius R.sub.6, the lower root bearing surface contacting a lower flat groove bearing surface, the groove including a fillet surface of radius r.sub.7, the lower root bearing surface and the lower groove bearing surface contacting over a length l.sub.2, with the following ratios, w.sub.2 to w.sub.1 about 0.69, R.sub.2 to w.sub.1 about 0.15, R.sub.3 to w.sub.1 about 0.15, R.sub.6 to w.sub.1 about 0.08, R.sub.7 to w.sub.1 about 0.12, l.sub.1 to w.sub.1 about 0.13, and l.sub.2 to w.sub.1 about 0.10.

Two-lug side-entry turbine blade attachment

Larger cutting tools which have inherently greater strength can be used to form mounting grooves for side-entry rotor blades when the bottom-most neck of the groove is increased in width in the machining process. The larger width leaves a gap on both sides of the bottom-most neck of the root at a location away from load bearing surfaces.

Turbomachine blade fastening

A method for modifying an original blade supporting disc (8) which is integral with a turbine rotor (2), and which has an original outline, in order to create a modified disc (8) which has an outline different from the original outline and which provides a blade-supporting region (10) of increased size, including the steps of:

Method of modifying turbine rotor discs

A structure for the root portion of a turbine blade and for the attachment grooves on a turbine rotor in conjunction with blades having integral shrouds and platforms as well as blades which are not attached to one another, blades which are joined by nonintegral shrouds and blades which do not include platforms. The invention is applicable to straight side entry blade roots and rotor grooves as well as curved side entry blades and curved rotor grooves. The invention results in reduced stress levels in the blade attachment structure by decreasing the land widths and increasing the fillet radii of curvature associated with each tang on a turbine blade root. In addition, the fillet radii of curvature are individually dimensioned to more uniformly distribute stress levels among blade root tangs. The reduction in land widths is accomplished by increasing land contact stresses for a given blade design.

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Cocoa Beach, FL, United States of America

Roger W Heinig