Systems and apparatus relating to compressor operation in turbine engines
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsYa-Tien Chiu, Venkata S. P. Chaluvadi, Peter S. King
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A compressor of a turbine engine, the compressor including stator blades with shrouds, the shrouds being surrounded, at least in part, by rotating structure and forming a shroud cavity therebetween, the compressor including: a plurality of tangential flow inducers disposed within the shroud cavity; wherein each tangential flow inducer comprises a surface disposed on the rotating structure that is configured such that, when rotated, induces a tangential directional component to and/or increases the velocity of a flow of leakage exiting the shroud cavity.
Claims19
A compressor of a turbine engine, the compressor including stator blades with shrouds, the shrouds being surrounded, at least in part, by a rotating structure and forming a shroud cavity therebetween, the compressor comprising:
- a plurality of tangential flow inducers disposed within the shroud cavity;
- wherein each of the tangential flow inducers comprises a surface disposed on the rotating structure that is configured such that, when rotated, induces a tangential directional component to a flow of leakage exiting the shroud cavity via an upstream gap to reenter a main flow path of the compressor.
In a compressor of a turbine engine, the compressor including stator blades with shrouds, the shrouds being surrounded, at least in part, by a rotating structure and forming a shroud cavity therebetween, a plurality of flow inducers disposed at regular intervals on the rotating structure in the shroud cavity, each of the flow inducers comprising:
- a fin that includes a face;
- wherein:
- the fin is configured such that the face faces toward the direction of rotation;
- and
- the fin is configured such that, when rotated, induces a tangential directional component to a flow of leakage exiting the shroud cavity flow;
- wherein the shroud cavity comprises:
- an upstream cavity portion that includes an axial gap maintained between a leading face of the shroud and a surface of the rotating structure that opposes the leading face of the shroud;
- an intermediate cavity portion that comprises a radial gap between an inboard face of the shroud and a surface of the rotating structure that opposes the inboard face of the shroud;
- a downstream cavity portion that comprises an axial gap between a trailing face of the shroud and a surface of the rotating structure that opposes the trailing face of the shroud;
- wherein the upstream cavity portion, the intermediate cavity portion, and the downstream cavity portion are in fluid communication;
- wherein during an operating condition of the compressor, the flow of leakage comprises leakage that enters the shroud cavity via a downstream gap, then flows radially inward through the downstream cavity portion, then flows in an axial upstream direction through the intermediate cavity portion, then flows radially outward through the upstream cavity portion, then exits the shroud cavity via the upstream gap;
- and
- wherein the tangential flow inducers are disposed within the upstream cavity portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.