U.S. patent application number 13/012317 was filed with the patent office on 2011-08-04 for turbine guide vane.
Invention is credited to Georgeta-Ileana Panaite, Andre Saxer, Igor Tsypkaykin, Beat Von Arx.
Application Number | 20110189002 13/012317 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42235861 |
Filed Date | 2011-08-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110189002 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Panaite; Georgeta-Ileana ;
et al. |
August 4, 2011 |
TURBINE GUIDE VANE
Abstract
A turbine guide vane (10) has a platform (12) from which at
least a guide vane blade (13) extends. The platform (12) has a
front rail (18) and a rear rail (20) arranged to be housed in guide
vane carrier seats (19, 21). The front and rear rails (18, 20) have
projecting pads (23, 24) arranged to rest against the guide vane
carrier seats (19, 21). The front and rear rails (18, 20) have at
least two pads (23) extending from one side of the front and rear
rails (18, 20) and at least two further pads (24) extending from an
opposite side of the front and rear rails (18, 20). The pads (23,
24) extend from opposite circumferential portions (26) of the front
and rear rails (18, 20). The pads (23, 24) extending from the same
circumferential portion (26) of the front and rear rails (18, 20)
are at least partly staggered with respect to one another.
Inventors: |
Panaite; Georgeta-Ileana;
(Aarburg, CH) ; Tsypkaykin; Igor; (Turgi, CH)
; Von Arx; Beat; (Trimbach, CH) ; Saxer;
Andre; (Mellingen, CH) |
Family ID: |
42235861 |
Appl. No.: |
13/012317 |
Filed: |
January 24, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
415/191 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F05D 2230/64 20130101;
F01D 9/042 20130101; F05D 2240/80 20130101; F01D 25/246
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
415/191 |
International
Class: |
F01D 9/04 20060101
F01D009/04 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Feb 3, 2010 |
EP |
10152535.0 |
Claims
1. A guide vane of a gas turbine, the gas turbine including guide
vane carrier seats, the guide vane comprising: a platform; and at
least one guide vane blade extending from the platform; wherein
said platform has a front rail and a rear rail configured and
arranged to be housed in the guide vane carrier seats, said front
and rear rails having projecting pads configured and arranged to
rest against the guide vane carrier seats, said front and rear
rails having at least two first pads extending from one side of the
front and rear rails and at least two second pads extending from an
opposite side of the front and rear rails, said pads extending from
opposite circumferential portions of the front and rear rails, and
said pads extending from the same circumferential portion of the
front and rear rails being at least partly staggered with respect
to one another.
2. A guide vane as claimed in claim 1, wherein said pads extend
from opposite radial sides of said front and rear rails.
3. A guide vane as claimed in claim 2, wherein said pads extend
from a side of the front and rear rails facing the guide vane
blade, and from a side opposite the guide vane blades.
4. A guide vane as claimed in claim 1, wherein: one of each of the
first and second pads form a pair; each pair of pads is located at
the same circumferential portion of each front and rear rail; and
the pads extending from the side of the front and rear rails facing
the guide vane blades are farther from the respective rail end than
those opposite the guide vanes blades.
5. A guide vane as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the guide vane
defines an axis; and said pads are symmetrically disposed with
respect to the guide vane axis.
6. A guide vane as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the guide vane
defines an axis; and said pads are not symmetrically disposed with
respect to the guide vane axis.
7. A guide vane as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one
guide vane blade comprises a plurality of guide vane blades.
8. A guide vane as claimed in claim 7, wherein said plurality of
guide vane blades comprises at least three guide vane blades.
9. A guide vane as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rails and the
pads are configured and arranged so that, when the rails are housed
in the guide vane carrier seats, a gap is formed between the pads
and the guide vane carrier seats.
Description
[0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119
to European application no. No. 10152535.0, filed 3 Feb. 2010, the
entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 1. Field of Endeavor
[0003] The present invention relates to a turbine guide vane.
[0004] In particular the present invention refers to a supporting
system for turbine guide vanes.
[0005] 2. Brief Description of the Related Art
[0006] Gas turbine guide vanes are known to have a platform from
which one or more guide vane blades extend.
[0007] For example, in guide vanes of the third or fourth stage,
from each platform two or three guide vane blades extend.
[0008] The platforms have a front rail and a rear rail arranged to
be inserted into guide vane carrier seats having a slot shape.
[0009] When in operation, mechanical forces and thermally induced
deformations highly stress the guide vane rails and the guide vane
carriers.
[0010] For this reason, the shape of the rails must allow free
deformations in order to avoid stress concentration and breakage
risk.
[0011] FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a traditional rail 1
inserted into a guide vane carrier seat 2 (in this figure the
dimensions are exaggerated for sake of clarity, particularly radial
dimensions are exaggerated); moreover, FIG. 1 also shows in dashed
line a portion of a guide vane blade 3.
[0012] The rail 1 has a pad 4, extending from its side towards the
guide vane blades 3, resting against the guide vane carrier seat 2;
a second pad 5 extends from the side of the rail 1 opposite the
guide vane blade 3 and rests against the guide vane carrier seat
2.
[0013] The guide vane in this traditional embodiment proved to have
good deformation properties and also ease of assembly (i.e.,
sliding of the rail 1 into the guide vane carrier seat 2 proved to
be easy); nevertheless, this structure can only be implemented in
lighter guide vanes, i.e., typically in guide vanes having only one
or two guide vane blades 3.
[0014] FIG. 2 shows a different embodiment of traditional
rails.
[0015] This rail 1 is provided with pads 6 extending from the same
side, that being the side of the rail 1 towards the guide vane
blade 3; the opposite side of the rail 1 has no pads and rests
directly against the guide vane carrier seat 2.
[0016] The guide vanes with these rails can be much heavier than
those with the rails of FIG. 1, for example these guide vanes can
have three or more guide vane blades.
[0017] Nevertheless these guide vanes have limited freedom of
deformation; this could cause, during operation, stress and force
concentration and consequently the possibility of structural
breakages.
[0018] In addition, assembling (sliding the rails of these guide
vanes into the corresponding guide vane carrier seats 2) and
disassembling (sliding the rails out of the guide vane carrier
seats 2) proved to be very difficult, because of the weight of
these guide vanes and the large surfaces of the rails and guide
vane carrier seats that are directly in contact with one
another.
[0019] U.S. Pat. No. 7,458,772 discloses guides vanes with four
pads (two upper and two lower pads); the pads are not
staggered.
[0020] DE 1 476 928 discloses a blade with a platform and pads,
which are not staggered.
[0021] U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,708 discloses a rail of a high pressure
turbine blade having two pads at one side and one single pad at the
opposite side; when inserted into the housing the rail generates a
spring effect.
SUMMARY
[0022] One of numerous aspects of the present invention includes a
guide vane by which the aforementioned problems of the known art
are addressed.
[0023] Another aspect of the present invention includes a guide
vane that can have a substantial weight and, in this respect, can
also have three or more guide vane blades.
[0024] Another aspect includes a guide vane with rails having large
deformation possibilities, such that during operation stress and
force concentrations are avoided or limited and the lifetime of the
guide vanes is increased.
[0025] A further aspect includes a guide vane that can be easily
and quickly assembled and disassembled.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0026] Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will
be more apparent from the description of a preferred but
non-exclusive embodiment of the guide vane according to principles
of the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the
accompanying drawings, in which:
[0027] FIGS. 1 and 2 are two different embodiments of rails of a
guide vane of the prior art;
[0028] FIG. 3 is a side view of a guide vane in an embodiment of
the invention; and
[0029] FIGS. 4 and 5 are views respectively of a front rail and
rear rail of the guide vanes; in these figures the dimensions (in
particular radial dimensions) are exaggerated for clarity.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS
[0030] With reference to FIGS. 3-5, a turbine guide vane 10 is
illustrated.
[0031] The guide vane 10 has a platform 12 from which guide vane
blades 13 extend; in particular FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a
guide vane 10 with three guide vane blades 13, it is anyhow clear
that in different embodiments their number can also be
different.
[0032] The guide vane 10 is also provided with a support located at
the front side and rear side of the platform 12 (with reference to
the hot gas flow direction indicated by arrow F in FIG. 3).
[0033] In particular, the front side of the platform 12 has a seat
15 for the stator heat shield and, correspondingly, the rear side
of the platform 12 has a seat 16 for a further stator heat shield
(the stator heat shields are not shown).
[0034] In addition, the front side of the platform 12 has a rail 18
arranged to be housed in a guide vane carrier seat 19; the guide
vane carrier seat 19 is of traditional type and has the shape of a
circumferential slot.
[0035] Similarly, the rear side of the platform 12 has a rail 20
arranged to be housed in a guide vane carrier seat 21; also the
guide vane carrier seat 21 is of traditional type and has the shape
of a circumferential slot.
[0036] The rails 18 and 20 have projecting pads arranged to rest
against the guide vane carrier seats 19, 21.
[0037] Advantageously, each rail 18, 20 has two pads 23 extending
from one side of the rail and two further pads 24 extending from an
opposite side of the rail 18, 20.
[0038] In particular, as shown in the figures, the pads 23 and 24
extend from opposite radial sides of each rail 18, 20; the pads 23
extend from a side of the rails 18, 20 facing the guide vane blades
13, and the other pads 24 extend from the opposite side, i.e., from
the side opposite the guide vane blades 13.
[0039] In addition, the pads 23 and 24 extend from opposite
circumferential portions 26 of the rails 18, 20, i.e., they are
located close to the circumferentially opposite ends of the rails
18, 20.
[0040] The pads 23, 24 that extend from the same circumferential
portion 26 of the rails 18, 20 are advantageously at least partly
staggered with respect to one another.
[0041] In this respect FIG. 4 (referring to the front rail 18)
shows the pads 23 and 24 that are staggered but are
circumferentially very close one to the other.
[0042] FIG. 5 (referring to the rear rail 20) shows that the pads
23 and 24 that are staggered are also circumferentially distant one
from the other.
[0043] In addition, in each pair of pads 23, 24 extending from the
same circumferential portion 26 of each rail 18, 20, the pads 23
extending from the side of the rail facing the guide vane blades 13
are farther from the respective rail end 27 than those opposite the
guide vanes blades 13 (i.e., the pads 24).
[0044] In a particular embodiment the pads 23 and 24 are
symmetrically disposed with respect to the vane axis 28; it is
anyhow clear that in different embodiments the pads 23 and 24 are
not symmetrically disposed with respect to the vane axis 28.
[0045] Assembling of the guide vanes embodying principles of the
present invention is quite easy and fast, because the rails 18 and
20 are inserted into the guide vane carriers seats 19, 21 and are
made to slide into the seats.
[0046] Since the contact occurs only between the pads 23, 24 and
the guide vane carrier seat 19, 21, and since, when the rails 18,
20 are housed in the guide vane carrier seats 19, 21 preferably a
certain gap between the pads 24 and the same guide vane carrier
seats 19, 21 is provided, rails slide with limited friction. In
addition, pads staggering makes rail introduction into the seats
19, 21 very easy.
[0047] Also, disassembling is easy and quick; in fact, since there
are no large contact surfaces between the rails 18, 20 and the
guide vane carrier seats 19, 21, there is little or no risk that
dust or deformations due to mechanical forces and thermal stress
block the rails 18, 20 inside of the guide vane carrier seats 19,
21.
[0048] In addition, the guide vanes of the invention may also have
a heavy structure (such as for example guide vanes having three or
more guide vane blades 13), since assembling/disassembling is easy
and the degree of allowable deformations is very large.
[0049] In fact, when the guide vanes 18, 20 are assembled within
the guide vane carrier seats 19, 21, deformations can freely occur
in a large extent, because space and support are always
available.
[0050] Naturally the features described may be independently
provided from one another.
[0051] In practice the materials used and the dimensions are chosen
according to requirements and to the state of the art.
Reference Numbers
[0052] 1 rail
[0053] 2 guide vane carrier seat
[0054] 3 guide vane blade
[0055] 4 pad
[0056] 5 pad
[0057] 6 pad
[0058] 10 guide vane
[0059] 12 platform
[0060] 13 guide vane blades
[0061] 15, 16 seat for the stator heat shield
[0062] 18 front rail
[0063] 19 guide vane carrier seat of 18
[0064] 20 rear rail
[0065] 21 guide vane carrier seat of 20
[0066] 23 pad
[0067] 24 pad
[0068] 26 portion of 18, 20
[0069] 27 rail end
[0070] 28 guide vane axis
[0071] F flow gas direction
[0072] While the invention has been described in detail with
reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to
one skilled in the art that various changes can be made, and
equivalents employed, without departing from the scope of the
invention. The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments
of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration
and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit
the invention to the precise form disclosed, and modifications and
variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be
acquired from practice of the invention. The embodiments were
chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the
invention and its practical application to enable one skilled in
the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments as are
suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the
scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto,
and their equivalents. The entirety of each of the aforementioned
documents is incorporated by reference herein.
* * * * *