General Electric Company

Rudolf Matthias Markytan

Norman Arnold Turnquist

Christopher Edward Wolfe

Bharat S Bagepalli

Osman Saim Dinc

Robert Harold Cromer

Anthony Holmes Furman

David Robert Skinner

Gregory Allan Crum

Paul Thomas Marks

R Paul Chiu

To remove moisture from the steam flow path of steam turbines, one or more grooves are located on the pressure or concave side of the steam turbine stationary and/or rotating airfoils. The grooves are oriented predominantly radially and are disposed close to the airfoil trailing or exit edge. Moisture deposited on the surface of the airfoil flows into the groove and, due to pressure and/or centrifugal forces, the moisture flows to the turbine inner or outer sidewall and, thus, is available for removal from the steam path in the same blade row in which it was first deposited. An advantage of removing moisture in the blade row in which it was first deposited is that it reduces efficiency losses associated with the chronology of the moisture downstream of the airfoil trailing edge.

Airfoil configured for moisture removal from steam turbine flow path

Brush seals are retrofitted into existing turbine labyrinth seal rings to create a fail-safe seal design at locations wherever labyrinth seals are currently used, including interstage shaft seals, rotor end seals, bucket (or blade) tip seals and spill strips. Brush seals, per se, when used in place of labyrinth seals, can result in considerable span reductions of steam turbines, or machines with more turbine stages for a given span. Application to end packings results in the potential elimination of gland sealing/exhauster systems. Brush seal life can be improved by retrofitting brush segments to labyrinth seal segments that are either spring-backed, or use pressure loads to obtain design clearances only after steady state operating conditions are achieved. The brush seals are provided with backing plates shaped like labyrinth teeth, resulting in a fail-safe design. Also, the use of existing labyrinth teeth as bristle backing plates results in a brush seal with diminished susceptibility to hysteresis when compared to conventional brush seal designs. Low friction coatings can also be used to reduce brush seal hysteresis. Incorporation of brush seals in labyrinth seal rings that are either spring-backed or held in place by pressure forces results in extremely low brush seal wear.

Brush seals and combined labyrinth and brush seals for rotary machines

Growing community of inventors

Niskayuna, NY, United States of America

Rudolf Matthias Markytan