Flexible Seal Ring for Turbine Engine Gap Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Turbine engines face gas leakage due to misalignment between components caused by disproportional thermal growth, which existing piston seals fail to effectively address.
Innovation Solution
A flexible seal ring with a v-shaped cross-sectional geometry and angularly offset legs is used to seal gaps between the case and guide vane arrangement, ensuring effective sealing despite thermal-induced movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rigid piston seal is used to seal the gap between the case and guide vane arrangement, then the seal structure is simple, but the seal effectiveness deteriorates due to misalignment from thermal growth
Solution Approach 1:
The seal ring is designed with flexible legs that can dynamically adjust their position and orientation in response to thermal-induced misalignment between the case and guide vane arrangement. The flexibility allows the seal to adapt to changing geometric relationships while maintaining sealing contact, resolving the contradiction between seal effectiveness and structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The seal ring's physical parameters (shape, orientation, position) are allowed to change in response to thermal conditions. The angular offset between legs and the flexible configuration enable the seal to accommodate parameter changes in the sealed components due to thermal growth, maintaining sealing effectiveness without requiring a complex active control system.
2Reliability
If the seal ring legs are aligned parallel to each other, then the manufacturing is simple, but the sealing performance deteriorates under thermal misalignment
Solution Approach 1:
The seal ring incorporates asymmetric features through the angular offset between its legs. This asymmetric geometry is deliberately designed to compensate for the asymmetric misalignment that occurs during thermal operation, allowing the seal to maintain contact with both sealing surfaces despite thermal growth differences. The asymmetry is built into the manufacturing process rather than requiring post-assembly adjustment.
3Reliability
If a flexible seal ring with angularly offset legs is used, then the sealing effectiveness improves under thermal misalignment, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The seal ring is constructed as a flexible structure that can deform and adapt to misalignment conditions. The flexibility is inherent in the seal ring's geometry and material properties, allowing it to conform to the actual gap between the case and guide vane arrangement during operation, thereby maintaining sealing effectiveness without requiring complex active mechanisms.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The flexible seal ring maintains a tight seal even with thermal-induced misalignment, reducing gas leakage and enhancing the operational efficiency of turbine engines.
Implementation Method 1
a flexible seal ring... The seal ring includes a first leg and a second leg that is connected to the first leg... The first leg is axially engaged with the first seal land. The second leg is axially engaged with the second seal land.
Data Source
AI summary
An assembly for a turbine engine includes a case, a guide vane arrangement and a flexible seal ring. The case extends circumferentially around an axis, and includes a first seal land. The guide vane arrangement is located radially within the case, and includes a second seal land. The seal ring at least partially seals a gap between the first seal land and the second seal land. The seal ring includes a first leg and a second leg that is connected to the first leg at a corner of the seal ring. The first leg is axially engaged with the first seal land. The second leg is axially engaged with the second seal land.