Turbomachine wheel position control
AssigneeCalnetix Technologies, LLC
InventorLawrence A. Hawkins
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A machine includes a rotor supported to rotate about a rotational axis and an actuator arranged to act on the rotor and control a position of the rotor about the rotational axis. A bladed turbomachine wheel is coupled to the rotor and has blade tips that pass closely to an adjacent, non-rotating surface. A sensor is adjacent to the turbomachine wheel and arranged to sense the blade tips and output a position signal representative of the position of blade tips relative to the sensor. A controller is coupled to the sensor and the actuator and is adapted to receive the position signal from the sensor and generate and send a control signal to the actuator to control the position of the rotor based on the position signal from the sensor.
Claims20
A machine, comprising:
- a rotor supported to rotate about a rotational axis;
- an actuator arranged to act on the rotor and control a position of the rotor relative to the rotational axis;
- a bladed turbomachine wheel coupled to the rotor and having blade tips that pass closely to an adjacent, non-rotating surface;
- a sensor adjacent to the turbomachine wheel and arranged to sense the blade tips and output a position signal representative of the position of blade tips relative to the sensor;
- and
- a controller coupled to the sensor and the actuator and adapted to receive the position signal from the sensor and generate and send a control signal to the actuator to control the position of the rotor based on the position signal from the sensor.
A method, comprising:
- sensing passage of blade tips of a rotating bladed turbomachine wheel by a sensor and outputting a signal representative of the position of the blade tips relative to the sensor;
- and
- generating an actuator control signal to control a position of the bladed turbomachine wheel based on the signal.
A turbomachine, comprising:
- a magnetic bearing system comprising magnetic actuators that support a rotor to rotate about a rotational axis;
- a bladed turbomachine wheel coupled to the rotor and having blade tips that pass closely to an adjacent shroud surface;
- an axial position sensor arranged to sense the rotor and output an axial position signal representative of the axial position of the rotor;
- a sensor affixed at the shroud surface and arranged to sense the blade tips and output a position signal representative of the axial position of blade tips relative to the shroud surface;
- and
- a controller coupled to the axial position sensor, the sensor affixed at the shroud surface, and the magnetic actuators, the controller is adapted to control the axial position of the rotor based on the output from the axial position sensor and the sensor affixed at the shroud surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.