Flushing system for removing lubricant coking in gas turbine bearings
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army
InventorsRobert F. Handschuh, Gary L. Farley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A flushing system for flushing away any coking material which may have built up in the bearing of a gas turbine. Three fluid tanks respectively contain a solvent for dissolving the coked material, a cleaner and a lubricant. By means of a three-way valve, one of the fluids is provided to a supply pump for delivery to the bearing housing via a quick disconnect coupling. Fluid is returned to the appropriate tank by means of a return pump, via a quick disconnect coupling and another three-way valve between the return pump and the tanks. The system includes respective filters for filtering the return fluids and the entire system may be carried on a wheeled cart for servicing the gas turbine.
Claims11
A flushing system for removing lubricant coking in a turbine bearing, within a bearing housing having a fluid inlet and fluid outlet, comprising:
- a plurality of fluid containing tanks, at least a first of which contains a coking solvent, a second of which contains a cleaner and a third of which contains a lubricant;
- first and second couplings, said first coupling being connected to said fluid inlet and said second coupling being connected to said fluid outlet, of said bearing housing;
- a supply pump having an inlet, and having an outlet connected to said first coupling;
- a return pump having an outlet, and having an inlet connected to said second coupling;
- a first valving arrangement connected between said plurality of tanks and said inlet of said supply pump and operable to provide fluid from a selected one of said tanks to said supply pump for delivery to said bearing housing;
- a second valving arrangement connected between said outlet of said return pump and said tanks to supply return fluid from said bearing housing to said tank selected by said first valving arrangement.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.