The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 31, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 19, 1998
MTU Motoren- und Turbinen-Union Muenchen GmbH, Munich, DE;
Abstract
A brush seal (1, 101) seals a circumferential gap (S.sub.1) between two relatively rotatable machine components (2, 102; 3, 103), such as the rotor or a shaft and a stator of a fluid flow machine, such as a gas turbine engine. A plurality of seal bristles (4, 104) are fixed in a bristle holder (5) in an annular shape, and are mounted on the stator (3, 103) so that the free bristle ends (7, 107) extend toward and provide a seal against a seal surface (9, 109) of the rotor (2, 102). Each bristle includes a middle body portion (4A) that is tilted at a first tilt angle (.alpha..sub.1) in the circumferential direction following the rotation direction, and the free bristle end (7, 107) is bent or angled relative to the tilted body portion (4A) so as to extend at a second tilt angle (.alpha..sub.2) which is smaller than the first tilt angle (.alpha..sub.1). Preferably, the first tilt angle (.alpha..sub.1) is in the range from 30.degree. to 60.degree., while the second tilt angle (.alpha..sub.2) is in the range from 0.degree. to 15.degree.. The bristles may further be tilted in an axial direction at an angle (.beta.) relative to a radially extending plane. Since the free bristle ends (7, 107) extend substantially perpendicularly to the seal surface (9, 109), the seal effectiveness and the elastic resiliency of the brush seal are maintained, and the bristles are not damaged, independent of the rotation direction of the rotor.