Patent · US Expired

Passive clearance control system for a gas turbine

US6126390A · kind A · utility

32Cited by
33References
25Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateNov 23, 1998
Grant dateOct 3, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 23, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC F)Mechanical Engineering; Lighting; Heating
  • CPC primaryF01D11/18
  • WIPO fieldEngines, pumps, turbines
  • WIPO sectorMechanical engineering

Abstract

A passive clearance control system is provided in the turbine section of a gas turbine engine in which turbine casing nozzle vanes and rotor blades are provided. The rotor blades are arranged on a rotor and preferably fitted with a shroud. The tips of the blades or shroud are surrounded by shroud segments suspended in the turbine casing, and a clearance between the tips and the shroud segments is formed and has a width which is controlled by a heating-cooling channel system. The channel system is supplied with a stream of air from the compressor section of the gas turbine and bypasses the combustion chamber to reach, via a plurality of metering holes, an annulus bounded by a stator ring. In a preferred aspect of the present invention, a ring-shaped orifice plate interacting with the metering holes is provided within the annulus which closes these metering holes to a varying degree depending on the temperature of the air stream reaching the heating-cooling channel system. A fraction of the hot gas flowing across the nozzle vanes and rotor blades is allowed to reach the annulus via a clearance between the stator ring and the stator shroud segments at least at a low turbine load.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.