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US 10,704,958 B2Granted
Method for monitoring a high-temperature region of interest in a turbine engine
AssigneeSiemens Energy, Inc.
InventorsPaul J. Zombo, Dennis H. Lemieux, Clifford Hatcher
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Abstract
A method for monitoring a high-temperature region of interest in a turbine engine (10) is provided. The method includes providing an internally-cooled stationary vane (12). The method may further include locating at least one monitoring port (14) in the stationary vane and operatively connecting a monitoring instrument (16) to the monitoring port to provide a field of view of a region of interest.
Claims13
A method for monitoring a high-temperature region of interest in a turbine engine, the method comprising:
- providing an internally-cooled stationary vane;
- locating a monitoring port in the stationary vane;
- operatively connecting a monitoring instrument to the monitoring port to provide a field of view of a region of interest, wherein the monitoring instrument has a distal end contained within the stationary vane, wherein the monitoring instrument is repositionable within the stationary vane about a longitudinal axis of the vane;
- locating further monitoring ports in the stationary vane to provide further fields of view of further regions of interest;
- acquiring data from the region of interest by way of a data acquisition device coupled to the monitoring instrument, wherein the monitoring instrument comprises a viewing instrument and the data acquisition device comprises an infrared red (IR) imaging device, and further wherein the acquiring of data from the region of interest comprises concurrently acquiring two-dimensional imaging data of the region of interest by way of the viewing instrument coupled to the infrared red (IR) imaging device;
- processing the two-dimensional imaging data from the infrared red (IR) imaging device to generate at least a two-dimensional image from the region of interest, the two-dimensional image comprising a thermal image and a spatial image of one or more turbine components having a respective thermal barrier coating (TBC), the one or more turbine components located in the high-temperature region of interest in the turbine engine;
- without interrupting operation of the turbine engine, repositioning the monitoring instrument in the stationary vane to be operatively connected to the further monitoring ports, wherein the repositioning of the monitoring instrument within the stationary vane comprises rotating the monitoring instrument, radially moving the monitoring instrument, or both rotating and radially moving the monitoring instrument within the stationary vane;
- and
- changing operational conditions of the turbine engine based on knowledge of changes in the TBC of the one or more turbine components located in the high-temperature region of interest in the turbine engine, said knowledge gathered from the generated thermal image and the spatial image of the one or more turbine components located in the high-temperature region of interest of the turbine engine.
6 more elements
A method for monitoring a high-temperature region of interest in a turbine engine, the method comprising:
- providing an internally-cooled stationary vane;
- locating a monitoring port in the stationary vane;
- operatively connecting a monitoring instrument to the monitoring port to provide a field of view of a region of interest, wherein the monitoring instrument has a distal end contained within the stationary vane, wherein the monitoring instrument is a repositionable instrument within the stationary vane about a longitudinal axis of the vane;
- locating further monitoring ports in the stationary vane to provide further fields of view of further regions of interest;
- without interrupting operation of the turbine engine, repositioning the monitoring instrument in the stationary vane to be operatively connected to the further monitoring ports, wherein the repositioning of the monitoring instrument within the stationary vane comprises rotating the monitoring instrument, radially moving the monitoring instrument, or both rotating and radially moving the monitoring instrument within the stationary vane;
- acquiring data from the region of interest by way of a data acquisition device coupled to the monitoring instrument, wherein the monitoring instrument comprises a viewing instrument and the data acquisition device comprises an infrared red (IR) imaging device, and further wherein the acquiring of data from the region of interest comprises concurrently acquiring two-dimensional imaging data from the region of interest by way of the viewing instrument coupled to the infrared red (IR) imaging device;
- processing the two-dimensional imaging data from the infrared red (IR) imaging device to generate at least a two-dimensional image from the region of interest, the two-dimensional image comprising a thermal image and a spatial image of one or more turbine components having a respective thermal barrier coating (TBC), the one or more turbine components located in the high-temperature region of interest in the turbine engine;
- and
- obtaining knowledge regarding changes in the TBC of the one or more turbine components located in the high-temperature region of interest in the turbine engine, the knowledge gathered from a synergistic combination of the thermal image and the spatial image of the one or more turbine components located in the high-temperature region of interest in the turbine engine.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.