Active clearance control system and method for gas turbine
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorMalath Ibrahim Arar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method to provide clearance control for a gas turbine having a multi-stage compressor and a turbine having turbine buckets rotating within a turbine shell, the method includes: selecting a first compressor stage from which to extract compressed air; ducting the compressed air from the first compressor stage to the turbine shell; passing the compressed air from the first compressor stage to thermally contract the turbine shell; selecting a second compressor stage from which to extract compressed air and deselecting the first compressor stage; ducting the compressed air from the second compressor stage to the turbine shell, and passing the compressed air from the second compressor stage to thermal expand the turbine shell.
Claims17
A clearance control system for a gas turbine having a multi-stage compressor and a turbine, the system comprising:
- a first compressed gas passage coupled to extract compressed gas from a stage of the compressor;
- a second compressed gas passage coupled to extract compressed gas from another stage of the compressor;
- a valve assembly regulating the flow of the compressed gas through the first and second compressed gas passages, wherein the valve assembly is actuated to selectively pass extracted compressed gas from a selected one of the first and second compressed gas passages
- a third compressed gas passage transporting the extracted compressed gas from the valve to a casing of the turbine, and
- a heat exchanger coupled to at least one of the first and second compressed gas passages, wherein the heat exchanger adds heat energy to the compressed gas.
A method to provide clearance control for a gas turbine having a multi-stage compressor and a turbine having turbine buckets rotating within a turbine shell, the method comprising:
- selecting a first compressor stage from which to extract compressed air;
- ducting the compressed air from the first compressor stage to the turbine shell;
- passing the compressed air from the first compressor stage to thermally contract the turbine shell;
- selecting a second compressor stage from which to extract compressed air and deselecting the first compressor stage;
- ducting the compressed air from the second compressor stage to the turbine shell, and
- passing the compressed air from the second compressor stage to thermally expand the turbine shell.
A method to provide clearance control for a gas turbine having a multi-stage compressor and a turbine having turbine buckets rotating within a turbine shell, the method comprising:
- during a startup or shutdown mode of the gas turbine, selecting a first compressor stage from which to extract compressed air, ducting the compressed air from the first compressor stage to the turbine shell, and passing the compressed air from the first compressor stage to thermally expand the turbine shell;
- during a load or a base load mode of the gas turbine, selecting a first compressor stage from which to extract compressed air, selecting a second compressor stage from which to extract compressed air and deselecting the first compressor stage, ducting the compressed air from the second compressor stage to the turbine shell, and passing the compressed air from the second compressor stage to thermally contract the turbine shell, and
- performing the selection of the first compressor stage or the second compressor stage by actuating a valve assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.