Systems and methods for reducing airflow imbalances in turbines
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsChad Ernest Findlay, Ampili Kishore Kumar, Sal Albert Leone
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A turbine system may include several air lines that extend from a compressor to a turbine, and the air lines may have valves. Additionally, the turbine system may also include several sensors that are coupled to the valves, several actuators that are coupled to the valves, and a controller that can send a command to set a valve position of one of the valves based at least partially on a valve position of another valve.
Claims20
A turbine system comprising:
- a plurality of air lines extending from a compressor to a turbine, wherein the plurality of air lines comprises a plurality of valves, wherein the plurality of valves comprises a first valve and a second valve configured to control airflow via a first air line and a second air line of the plurality of air lines, respectively;
- a plurality of sensors configured to couple to the plurality of valves;
- a plurality of actuators configured to control the plurality of valves;
- and
- a controller configured to send a command to the plurality of actuators, wherein the command is configured to set a first valve position of the first valve based at least partially on a second valve position of the second valve.
A non-transitory machine readable medium, comprising computer executable instructions configured to cause a processor to:
- determine a first target valve position of a first valve based at least partially on a second valve position of a second valve, wherein the first valve and the second valve are coupled to a first air line and a second air line, respectively, wherein the first air line and the second air line are configured to couple a compressor to a turbine;
- and
- send a command to an actuator associated with the first valve to set a first valve position of the first valve to the first target valve position.
A method, comprising:
- determining, via a processor, a first target valve position of a first valve of a plurality of valves associated with a plurality of air lines and a second target valve position of a second valve of the plurality of valves, wherein the plurality of air lines is configured to couple a compressor section to a turbine section;
- sending, via the processor, a first command to a first actuator associated with the first valve to set the first valve to the first target valve position;
- sending, via the processor, a second command to a second actuator associated with the second valve to set the second valve to the second target valve position;
- receiving, via the processor, a first set of data from a plurality of sensors associated with the first valve and the second valve regarding a first valve position of the first valve and a second valve position of the second valve;
- determining, via the processor, whether the first valve position is within a first threshold and the second valve position is within a second threshold based on the first set of data;
- and
- sending, via the processor, a third command to the second actuator to set the second valve position to a third target valve position, wherein the third valve position is based at least partially on the first valve position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.