Labyrinth Seal Lip Cavities for Turbine Engine Clearance Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current labyrinth seals in turbine engines, while effective, require multiple lips to achieve optimal sealing, which can increase complexity and weight, and do not efficiently manage radial clearances, making integration and control challenging.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of a labyrinth seal design featuring annular lips with concave rounded cavities on both inner and outer peripheral bodies, which amplify gas flow disturbances, allowing for improved sealing performance with reduced size, weight, and increased radial clearances, by generating additional turbulence and pressure drops.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple lips are used to achieve optimal sealing, then sealing performance is improved, but device complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces concave rounded cavities on the inner and outer peripheral body portions of the lip. These curved cavity structures amplify gas flow disturbances and generate additional turbulence, enabling a single lip to achieve sealing performance that would traditionally require multiple lips, thereby reducing device complexity and weight
Solution Approach 2:
The invention modifies the geometric parameters of the lip by adding cavities with specific dimensions and shapes. The concave rounded cavities create controlled flow disturbances that change the gas flow parameters, increasing turbulence and pressure drops to enhance sealing effectiveness without adding more lips
2Reliability
If multiple lips are used to achieve optimal sealing, then sealing performance is improved, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The concave rounded cavities create amplified flow disturbances that generate sufficient turbulence and pressure drops to improve sealing. This allows the use of fewer lips, directly reducing the weight of the rotating seal component while maintaining or improving sealing performance
3Reliability
If radial clearances are reduced to improve sealing, then sealing performance is improved, but integration and control become more challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The concave rounded cavities amplify flow disturbances within the existing radial clearance space, allowing improved sealing performance without reducing the clearance dimensions. This maintains ease of integration and control while achieving better sealing
4Device complexity
If the number of lips is reduced to simplify the seal, then device complexity is reduced, but sealing performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
By changing the geometric parameters of the lip to include concave rounded cavities, the invention compensates for the reduction in the number of lips. The cavities create additional flow disturbances that maintain the turbulence and pressure drops necessary for effective sealing, preventing performance deterioration despite fewer lips
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 enhances sealing efficiency, reduces the number of lips required or increases radial clearances, simplifying integration and control, while maintaining or improving sealing performance, thus reducing the overall size and weight of the seal.
Implementation Method 1
The second annular cavity at the top of the lip has the purpose of increasing the turbulences in the flow of gas passing over the lips during operation
Data Source
AI summary
Labyrinth seal for a turbine engine, in particular of an aircraft, including a rotor element rotating about an axis of rotation, and a stator element extending around the rotor element The rotor element includes a series of annular lips extending radially outwards and surrounded by at least one abradable element carried by the stator element. Each lip includes an inner peripheral body portion, an outer peripheral body portion and an upstream annular face for impact of an air flow during operation. At least one lip has, looking from the upstream annular face, a first annular cavity with a concave rounded cross-section on its inner peripheral body portion and a second annular cavity with a concave rounded cross-section on its outer peripheral body portion.