Skirted seal apparatus
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsJames Shealy, Donald M. Corsmeier
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatuses are provided herein useful to sealing a gap between a movable flap and a stationary structure, such as a gap between a gas turbine engine nozzle flap and a corresponding sidewall. An apparatus for sealing such a gap may be a dynamic skirted leaf seal which may include a flap arm, a wall arm opposite the flap arm, and a support arm disposed between the flap and wall arms. A distal end portion of the flap arm may comprise a first skirt and a distal end portion of the support arm may comprise a second skirt that engages the first skirt. When positioned in a gap, the skirted leaf seal may exert a force to urge the first flap arm towards the flap and to urge the wall arm and the support arm towards the structure to seal the gap.
Claims19
A seal apparatus, comprising:
- a first seal having a first proximal end portion, a first distal end portion with a first bend, and a first skirt extending away from the first bend;
- a second seal opposite the first seal and defining an interior space therebetween, the second seal having a second proximal end portion coupled to the first proximal end portion and a second distal end portion, the first skirt extending into the interior space;
- and
- a support associated with the second seal, the support being disposed in the interior space and including a second skirt,
- wherein the first seal biases away from the second seal to seal a gap between a movable flap and a stationary structure, and wherein the first skirt and the second skirt overlap to seal the interior space.
A gas turbine nozzle, comprising:
- a sidewall;
- a movable flap adjacent the sidewall;
- and
- a seal apparatus disposed between the sidewall and the movable flap to seal a gap between the sidewall and the movable flap, the seal apparatus operably coupled to the movable flap and comprising:
- a first seal having a first proximal end portion, a first distal end portion with a first bend, and a first skirt extending away from the first bend;
- a second seal opposite the first seal and defining an interior space therebetween, the second seal having a second proximal end portion coupled to the first proximal end portion of the first seal, the first skirt extending into the interior space;
- and
- a support associated with the second seal and including a second skirt, the support being disposed in the interior space,
- wherein the first seal biases away from the second seal to seal the gap, and wherein the first skirt and the second skirt overlap to seal the interior space.
A method of sealing a gap using a seal apparatus, the seal apparatus comprising:
- a first seal having a first proximal end portion, a first distal end portion with a first bend, and a first skirt extending away from the first bend;
- a second seal opposite the first seal and defining an interior space therebetween, the second seal having a second distal end portion and a second proximal end portion coupled to the first proximal end portion, the first skirt extending into the interior space;
- and a support associated with the second seal, the support being disposed in the interior space, wherein the first seal biases away from the second seal, the method comprising:
- contacting at least two surfaces with the first distal end portion and the second distal end portion;
- moving automatically at least the second distal end portion relative to one of the at least two surfaces in response to the gap changing size;
- and
- moving automatically the support in response to a movement in the second seal, and integrally relating the motion of the support and the second seal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.