Gas turbine seals
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsGary Michael Itzel, Ibrahim Sezer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A seal in a gas turbine for sealing a radial gap defined between rotating and stationary structure. The rotating structure may include a row of rotor blades. The seal may include a pad attached to the stationary structure. The pad may include an abradable structure. The pad may further include a liner attached to and covering an outer surface of the abradable structure. The stationary structure to which the pad is attached may define an axial section of the outer radial boundary of the annular flowpath, the axial section coinciding axially with an axial position of the row of rotor blades.
Claims19
A seal in a gas turbine for sealing a radial gap defined between a rotating structure and a stationary structure, wherein the rotating structure comprises a row of rotor blades, the seal comprising:
- a pad attached to the stationary structure;
- wherein the pad comprises:
- an abradable structure comprising an inboard outer surface;
- and
- a liner attached to and covering a portion of the inboard outer surface of the abradable structure,
- wherein the liner comprises a first portion spaced from a second portion to define a coverage window therebetween on the inboard outer surface of the abradable structure;
- and
- wherein a center of the coverage window is substantially axially aligned with at least a portion of the rotor blades.
A seal in a gas turbine for sealing a radial gap defined between a rotating structure and a stationary structure, wherein the rotating structure comprises circumferentially arranged rotor blades that each have a tip shroud supported at an outboard tip of an airfoil, the seal comprising:
- seal rails protruding from the outboard surface of the tip shroud, the seal rails including a forward seal rail that is positioned forward of and oriented substantially parallel to an aftward seal rail;
- a forward pad attached to the stationary structure so to align axially with the forward seal rail;
- an aftward pad attached to the stationary structure so to align axially with the aftward seal rail;
- wherein the forward pad comprises:
- an abradable structure;
- and
- a liner that attaches to and covers a portion of an outer surface of the abradable structure of the forward pad;
- wherein the aftward pad comprises:
- an abradable structure;
- and
- a liner that attaches to and covers a portion of an outer surface of the abradable structure of the aftward pad.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.