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US 2010/0303604 A1Published application
System and method to reduce acoustic signature using profiled stage design
AssigneeDresser-Rand Company
InventorsJoseph A. Tecza, Stephen S. Rashid
Life of this patent
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Abstract
To reduce noise and thereby increase turbine efficiency, the end walls and airfoils of a turbine are designed to reduce or eliminate radial pressure gradients on rotor blades and their incipient secondary flow vortices which may noisily excite downstream blade and vane rows. Instead of generating inefficient noise, the fluid energy may be properly directed into the shaft as efficient work.
Claims19
A turbine, comprising:
- at least one set of rotor blades mounted radially symmetrically about a rotating shaft, wherein each rotor blade has a hub and a tip;
- and
- at least one stator axially-spaced from the at least one set of rotor blades and mounted radially symmetrically about the rotating shaft, wherein the at least one stator defines a plurality of radially-spaced vanes having inner and outer end walls that define end wall passages, wherein the end wall passages have a profile shaped to direct a working fluid to a plane substantially tangent to the inner and outer end walls.
A stator for a turbine, comprising,
- an inlet and an outlet, wherein the outlet is adjacent to at least one rotor blade having a hub and a tip;
- and
- a plurality of inner and outer end walls extending from the inlet to the outlet and defining a plurality of end wall passages having inner and outer radial limits, wherein the end wall passages have a profile configured to direct a working fluid to a plane substantially tangent to the inner and outer radial limits, wherein the plurality of inner and outer end walls are configured to substantially eliminate the radial pressure gradients incident between the hub and the tip of the at least one rotor blade, thereby attenuating resultant acoustic signature.
A method of reducing turbine acoustic signature, comprising:
- introducing a working fluid into a turbine having at least one stator adjacent to and axially-spaced from at least one rotor blade, wherein the stator comprises a plurality of radially-spaced vanes, each vane having an inlet and an outlet and defining a profile of an end wall passage including an inner and outer end wall;
- receiving the working fluid through the inlet of the end wall passage;
- channeling the working fluid through the profile of the end wall passage;
- and
- directing the working fluid out the outlet of the vane and substantially tangent to the inner and outer end walls, thereby substantially decreasing the radial pressure gradient incident between a hub and a tip of the at least one rotor blade, and thereby attenuating resultant acoustic signature.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.