Adaptive compliant plate seal assemblies and methods
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsNorman Arnold Turnquist, Bernard Arthur Courture, Jr., Mark William Kowalczyk, Frederick George Baily, Mark Edward Burnett
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A steam turbine comprises a steam turbine casing, a rotor, and at least one compliant plate seal assembly situated between the casing and the rotor. The compliant plate seal assembly comprises a supporting member being stationary with respect to the casing, a plurality of plate members movably mounted to the supporting member and extending towards the rotor, each plate member being inclined with respect to a rotation direction of the rotor, and an actuator for selectively exerting a pressure to retract the plate members in a direction away from the rotor.
Claims11
A steam turbine comprising:
- a steam turbine casing;
- a rotor;
- and
- at least one compliant plate seal assembly situated between the casing and the rotor, the compliant plate seal assembly comprising:
- a supporting member being stationary with respect to the casing,
- a plurality of plate members movably mounted to the supporting member and extending towards the rotor, each plate member being inclined with respect to a rotation direction of the rotor;
- and
- an actuator for selectively exerting a pressure to retract the plate members in a direction away from the rotor, wherein the actuator comprises a carrier, a plurality of bores defined in an outer peripheral surface of the carrier, a plurality of compression members in corresponding bores, and a plurality of pistons attached to the compression members and retained in corresponding bores.
A seal assembly comprising:
- at least one compliant plate seal assembly situated between a stator and a rotor, the compliant plate seal assembly comprising:
- a supporting member being stationary with respect to the stator,
- a plate support being movably mounted to the supporting member;
- a plurality of plate members mounted to plate support and extending towards the rotor, each plate member being inclined with respect to a rotation direction of the rotor, wherein the plate support further comprises at least one supplementary sealing portion extending towards the rotor and comprising an abradable material on a rotor facing end, and wherein the rotor is provided with projections oriented substantially perpendicularly with respect to the supplementary sealing portion;
- and
- an actuator for selectively exerting a pressure to retract the plate members in a direction away from the rotor.
A seal assembly for providing sealing effect between a casing and a rotor surrounded by the casing, the sealing assembly comprising:
- at least one seal assembly situated between the casing and the rotor, the seal assembly comprising:
- a supporting member being stationary with respect to the casing,
- a plurality of sealing portions movably mounted to the supporting member and extending towards the rotor;
- and
- an actuator for selectively exerting a pressure to retract the sealing portions in a direction away from the rotor, the actuator comprising a carrier, a plurality of bores in the carrier, a plurality of compression members between the supporting member and the seal assembly, and a trigger device for selectively exerting a pressure force to lift the compression members,
- wherein the carrier comprises a plurality of carrier segments, wherein bores in a common carrier segment are in communication with each other, and wherein bores of different carrier segments are isolated from each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.