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US 6,273,671 B1Granted
Blade clearance control for turbomachinery
AssigneeAllison Advanced Development Company
InventorRobert A. Ress, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system includes a gas turbine engine having a shroud and a rotor with one or more blades. The rotor rotates within the shroud to pressurize a fluid during operation of the engine. An electromagnetic actuator is also included that is operable to move the shroud relative to the rotor to adjust clearance between the shroud and blades. In addition, a controller is included in this system to determine a desired amount of clearance in accordance with an operating mode of the engine. The controller generates an actuation signal to change the clearance in correspondence with the desired amount. The electromagnetic actuator responds to the actuation signal to provide the desired amount of clearance.
Claims68
A method, comprising:
- providing a gas turbine engine including a shroud and an impeller;
- rotating the impeller within the shroud to provide a pressurized fluid to operate the engine;
- and
- moving the shroud relative to the impeller by electromagnetic actuation to adjust clearance between the shroud and the impeller.
1 more element
A system, comprising:
- a gas turbine engine including a shroud and a rotor with one or more blades, said rotor being rotatable within said shroud to pressurize a fluid during operation of said engine;
- an electromagnetic actuator operable to move said shroud relative to said rotor to adjust clearance between said shroud and said one or more blades;
- a controller operable to determine a desired amount of clearance in accordance with an operating mode of said gas turbine engine and generate an actuation signal to change the clearance in correspondence with the desired amount;
- and
- wherein said electromagnetic actuator responds to said actuation signal to provide the desired amount of clearance.
2 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a gas turbine engine including a shroud and a rotor with one or more blades, said rotor being rotatable within said shroud to pressurize a fluid during operation of said engine;
- an electromagnetic actuator operable to move said shroud relative to said rotor to adjust clearance between said shroud and said one or more blades, said electromagnetic actuator providing a range of the clearance in accordance with a level of electrical power supplied to said electromagnetic actuator;
- a controller operable to determine a desired amount of the clearance and regulate the level of electrical power supplied to said electromagnetic actuator in correspondence with the desired amount of the clearance;
- and
- at least one biasing member to provide a maximum extreme of said range when no electrical power is supplied to said electromagnetic actuator.
2 more elements
A method, comprising:
- operating a gas turbine engine including a shroud and an impeller, and an electromagnetic actuator to adjust clearance between the shroud and the impeller;
- reducing the clearance between the shroud and the impeller during said operating by increasing electrical power supplied to the actuator;
- and
- increasing the clearance between the shroud and the impeller during said operating in response to reducing the electrical power supplied to the actuator.
1 more element
An apparatus, comprising:
- a gas turbine engine, said gas turbine engine including:
- a shroud and an impeller rotatable within said shroud;
- and
- an electromagnetic actuator operable to move said shroud relative to said impeller to adjust clearance between said shroud and said impeller.
1 more element
An apparatus, comprising:
- a gas turbine engine, said gas turbine engine including:
- a casing, a shroud, and an impeller, said impeller being disposed within said shroud to rotate about an axis;
- an electromagnetic actuator operable to adjust clearance between said shroud and said impeller;
- and
- one or more springs disposed between said casing and said shroud to impart a bias to yieldingly position said shroud about said axis.
2 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a gas turbine engine, said gas turbine engine including:
- a casing, a shroud, and an impeller, said shroud and said impeller being disposed within said casing, said impeller being disposed within said shroud to rotate about an axis;
- an electromagnetic actuator including a first member connected to said casing, said electromagnetic actuator being operable to control clearance between said shroud and said impeller by generating a magnetic field with said first member;
- and
- wherein an amount of rotational motion of said shroud in response to generation of the magnetic field is limited by a bearing relationship formed between said shroud and at least one of said first member and said casing.
2 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a gas turbine engine, said gas turbine engine including:
- a shroud and an impeller disposed within said shroud to rotate about an axis;
- an electromagnetic actuator including a first member, said electromagnetic actuator being operable to adjust clearance between said shroud and said impeller;
- and
- wherein said shroud includes a first margin positioned a first distance from said axis and a second margin positioned a second distance from said axis, said second distance is greater than said first distance, and said first member is at least partially positioned in a cavity formed between said first margin and said second margin.
2 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a gas turbine engine, said gas turbine engine including:
- a casing, a shroud, and an impeller, said impeller being disposed within said shroud to rotate about an axis;
- an electromagnetic actuator operable to adjust clearance between said shroud and said impeller by movement along said axis;
- and
- one or more biasing members disposed between said casing and said shroud to impart an inwardly directed radial force on said shroud to yieldingly locate said shroud in a generally centered position about said axis.
2 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a gas turbine engine, said gas turbine engine including:
- a casing, a shroud, and an impeller, said impeller being disposed within said shroud to rotate about an axis;
- an actuator operable to selectively move one of said shroud and said impeller relative to another of said shroud and said impeller along said axis to adjust clearance between said shroud and said impeller;
- and
- one or more springs radially disposed about said axis between said casing and said shroud, said one or more springs being operable to provide a radial bias with respect to said axis to position said shroud thereabout.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.