Brush seal having bristles tilted in the circumferential direction

US5944320A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• MTU Motoren-und Turbinen-Union München GmbH · DE

Inventors

• Klemens Werner · Munich, DE
• Alfons Gail · Friedberg, DE
• Stefan Beichl · Herrsching am Ammersee, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 19, 1998
• Grant date: Aug 31, 1999
• Expiry date: Mar 19, 2018

Classification

• Technology area (CPC F): Mechanical Engineering; Lighting; Heating
• CPC primary: F16J15/3288
• WIPO field: Mechanical elements
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

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, 1…