General Electric Company

Victor H Correia

Daniel Ross Predmore

Theresa A Brown

Sanjay Chopra

Robert Francis Manning

Richard William Albrecht, Jr

Francisco J Cunha

David Anthony DeAngelis

Steven Sebastian Burdgick

Gary Michael Itzel

Christopher Edward Wolfe

Bharat S Bagepalli

Mahmut Faruk Aksit

Osman Saim Dinc

Jason David Shapiro

Nesim Abuaf

Aaron Michael Dziech

John Howard Starkweather

Dean Thomas Lenahan

Iain Robertson Kellock

Robert Alan Frederick

Roger Lee Doughty

Elias Harry Lampes

Brian Kenneth Corsetti

Kevin G McAllister

R Paul Chiu

Robert Carella

A turbine shroud apparatus is provided for a gas turbine engine having a central axis. The apparatus includes: (a) an annular support member; (b) a turbine shroud disposed in the support member, the shroud being a continuous ring comprising a low-ductility material and having opposed flowpath and back surfaces, and opposed forward and aft ends; and (c) a spring mounted between the support member and the shroud and arranged to resiliently urge the shroud to a concentric position within the structural member.

Mounting apparatus for low-ductility turbine shroud

The invention comprises a metering plate which is assembled to an impingement insert for use in the nozzle of a gas turbine. The metering plate can have one or more metering holes and is used to balance the cooling flow within the nozzle. A metering plate with multiple holes reduces static pressure variations which result from the cooling airflow through the metering plate. The metering plate can be assembled to the insert before or after the insert is inserted into the nozzle.

Insert metering plates for gas turbine nozzles

A turbine blade includes a hollow airfoil having a squealer tip rib extending outboard from a tip cap enclosing the airfoil. An impingement baffle is spaced inboard from the tip cap to define a tip plenum therebetween. Impingement holes extend through the baffle and are directed at the junction of the rib and cap for impinging a coolant jet thereagainst.

Cool tip blade

A turbine airfoil includes a squealer rib extending outwardly from a tip cap to define a tip cavity thereatop. A thermal insulator is disposed in the tip cavity atop the tip cap.

Tip insulated airfoil

A seal joint including a sealing member for sealing segmented components of a gas turbine engine is spaced from the gas path to provide more effective cooling. The segments include radial extension flanges spacing the seal joint from the gas path. Various cooling arrangements are adaptable to the modified segments to provide for open or closed circuit impingement or convection cooling plus film cooling. Excessive thermal gradients are avoided as the entire corner of the segment is evenly cooled. Moreover, air usage at the joint is bounded by seal leakage with no extra dedicated cooling air.

Cooling joint connection for abutting segments in a gas turbine engine

Turbine stator vane segments have inner and outer walls with vanes extending therebetween. The inner and outer walls are compartmentalized and have impingement plates. Steam flowing into the outer wall passes through the impingement plate for impingement cooling of the outer wall surface. The spent impingement steam flows into cavities of the vane having inserts for impingement cooling the walls of the vane. The steam passes into the inner wall and through the impingement plate for impingement cooling of the inner wall surface and for return through return cavities having inserts for impingement cooling of the vane surfaces. The trailing edge is air-cooled.

Turbine stator vane segments having combined air and steam cooling

In a method of investment casting a turbine nozzle which includes an outer band, an inner band and an airfoil section extending between the inner and outer bands, an improvement including shaping a temporary wax form, and external shell and internal core components used in casting such that during pouring of molten metal into a space created by removal of the wax form, shell material lies on opposite sides of an outer fillet connecting the outer band to the airfoil section. The resulting gas turbine nozzle includes first and second horizontally oriented ribs extending about interior peripheries of the airfoil section vertically adjacent the outer and inner band fillets.

Turbine nozzle and related casting method for optimal fillet wall

A gas-path leakage seal for generally sealing a gas-path leakage-gap between spaced-apart first and second members of a gas turbine (such as combustor casing segments). The seal includes a generally imperforate foil-layer assemblage which is generally impervious to gas and is located in the leakage-gap. The seal also includes a cloth-layer assemblage generally enclosingly contacting the foil-layer assemblage. In one seal, the first edge of the foil-layer assemblage is left exposed, and the foil-layer assemblage resiliently contacts the first member near the first edge to reduce leakage in the 'plane' of the cloth-layer assemblage under conditions which include differential thermal growth of the two members. In another seal, such leakage is reduced by having a first weld-bead which permeates the cloth-layer assemblage, is attached to the metal-foil-layer assemblage near the first edge, and unattachedly contacts the first member.

Gas-path leakage seal for a gas turbine

A turbine shroud includes a plurality of cavities for receiving cooling steam for flow through the cavities in series counterflow to the direction of the hot gases of combustion. In the first cavity, a projection forms a nozzle to increase the velocity of the cooling steam to increase the convection coefficient for cooling the wall of the shroud. The steam flow in the second cavity passes through an impingement plate for impingement cooling of the wall of the shroud. Likewise, steam passes from the second cavity into the third cavity for flow through an impingement plate for further impingement cooling of the wall of the shroud. In the second and third cavities, the impingement plates include a plurality of ducts affording increased flow area in the direction of travel of the post-impingement steam flow to reduce cross-flow effects.

Impingement cooling apparatus for turbine shrouds having ducts of

The steam impingement cooling and retrieval system for turbine shrouds includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced housings about a turbine shroud, each housing being divided by an impingement plate defining first and second chambers on opposite sides of the housing. Steam supplied into a first chamber passes through a plurality of apertures formed in the impingement plate into the second chamber for impingement cooling of the shroud surface forming the opposite wall of the housing. Post-impingement steam passes from the compartment into a manifold for flow through and exhaust passage. In one form, a plurality of compartments are formed in the impingement plate. A first set of the plurality of compartments include through apertures for delivering steam from the first chamber into the second chamber. The second set of compartments communicates only with the second chamber and an exhaust passage whereby post-impingement steam passes from the second chamber through apertures of the impingement plate into the second set of compartments for flow to a manifold at the end wall of the housing for delivery to the exhaust passage.

Impingement cooling and cooling medium retrieval system for turbine

A turbine nozzle includes a vane integrally joined between outer and inner bands, with the inner band having a purge hole for discharging a portion of cooling air channeled through the vane. A checkvalve is provided in the purge hole for preventing backflow therethrough into the vane. In an exemplary embodiment, the checkvalve allows a reduction in cooling air through the vane at low power operation for increasing efficiency while preventing backflow of combustion gases into the purge hole.

Turbine nozzle backflow inhibitor

A gas turbine engine stator vane includes a groove extending laterally in an outer surface at one end thereof between leading and trailing edges for receiving a brazing material. The vane may be joined to an arcuate band having a complementary groove extending colinearly with the airfoil groove to collectively define therebetween an enlarged crevice for receiving the brazing material to form a reinforcing pin therein.

Growing community of inventors

Scotia, NY, United States of America

Victor H Correia