Gas Turbine Guide Blade Sealing Element Pressure Channel
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing guide blades for gas turbines suffer from flow losses due to gaps between blade leaves and housing components, and the use of movable sealing elements in hollow blades leads to high wear due to high pressure cooling air.
Innovation Solution
A guide blade design where the fluid channel connects the receptacle to the pressure-side surface of the blade leaf, allowing for adjustable sealing elements that reduce wear and improve sealing efficiency, enabling both internally cooled and non-cooled blades to be equipped with movable sealing elements, and allowing for retrofitting of existing blades.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cooling air is used to move the sealing element into the sealing setting, then the sealing efficiency is improved, but the wear on the sealing element increases due to high pressure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the pressure parameter by using a fluid channel that connects to a lower pressure zone (non-cooling air side) rather than the high pressure cooling air side. This reduces the press-on force on the sealing element while maintaining sealing effectiveness, thereby reducing wear and extending service life.
2Reliability
If movable sealing elements are installed in hollow guide blades, then sealing efficiency is improved, but the device complexity increases and retrofitting becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the sealing element universal by designing it to work with both hollow and non-hollow guide blades. The fluid channel can be connected to either cooling air or non-cooling air depending on the blade type, allowing the same sealing element design to be applied across different blade configurations, including retrofitting scenarios.
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
This design reduces wear on the sealing element and enhances sealing efficiency, increasing gas turbine performance by minimizing flow losses and allowing for adjustable guide blades that optimize absorption capacity across different operating points, reducing fuel consumption.
Implementation Method 1
a flow of fluid is driven out within the receptacle of the blade leaf, and this fluid also works against the force of gravity from the receptacle to move the sealing element into the sealing setting
Implementation Method 2
the sealing element is moved out of the receptacle, at least in certain areas, to reduce flow leaks between the blade leaf and an adjacent housing part
Data Source
AI summary
A guide blade for a gas turbine is disclosed. The guide blade includes a blade leaf having a receptacle in which at least one sealing element is arranged, where the sealing element is movable relative to the blade leaf between a sealing setting, in which the sealing element is at least partially moved out of the receptacle, and a storage setting, in which the sealing element is moved back into the receptacle. The guide blade further includes at least one fluid channel by which fluid under pressure can be routed into the receptacle in order to move the sealing element from the storage setting into the sealing setting. An inlet opening of the fluid channel is formed on a pressure-side surface of the blade leaf. A housing as well as a gas turbine having at least one guide blade is also disclosed.