Folded Metal Strip Seal Assembly for Lower-Cost Turbine Sealing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Brush seals in gas turbine engines are costly due to expensive materials and time-consuming manual assembly processes, leading to high manufacturing costs and variability.
Innovation Solution
A seal assembly comprising a support ring and a seal with alternating internal and external folds of flat metal strips, secured to the ring in an annular configuration, reducing material waste and manual operations through automated folding and welding processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If brush seals are used to achieve low leakage rate and high temperature resistance, then sealing performance is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces expensive brush seals with a simpler, cheaper folded metal strip seal that can be manufactured more economically through automated processes while maintaining adequate sealing performance for the application
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the material parameter from expensive brush materials to conventional metal strip material, and changes the structural parameter from complex bristle configuration to simple folded geometry, achieving cost reduction while maintaining functional performance
2Reliability
If manual assembly processes are used for seal manufacturing, then sealing performance can be maintained, but manufacturing time and variability increase
Solution Approach 1:
The seal is designed as a continuous folded strip that can be manufactured in long segments and then installed as complete units, enabling automated manufacturing while maintaining consistent sealing performance through standardized folding patterns
Solution Approach 2:
The folded strip structure is designed to be self-containing and self-supporting, eliminating the need for complex manual assembly operations to maintain structural integrity and sealing function, thereby enabling automated installation processes
3Ease of manufacture
If material waste is reduced through optimized design, then manufacturing cost decreases, but design complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The seal transitions from a two-dimensional flat strip to a three-dimensional folded structure that creates radial protrusions, achieving effective sealing geometry while using minimal material and enabling straightforward manufacturing from simple flat strip stock
Data Source
AI summary
The seal assembly can have a support ring having an annular shape defined around a seal axis, and a plurality of strips of a metal material, each strip of the plurality of strips being folded along a length of the strip forming a fold and a pair of segments extending radially inwardly from the fold, relative the seal axis, the fold secured at the support ring, the fold having a bending radius defined around a bending axis, the bending axis oriented parallel to the seal axis, the plurality of strips being arranged circumferentially relative one another, around the seal axis.