Modular Turbomachine Inlet Transition Section Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing turbomachinery inlet assemblies are specific to particular supply conduits or turbomachine models, leading to a large number of designs and increased costs due to the need for multiple inlet assembly designs to minimize aerodynamic and other losses during fluid flow transitions.
Innovation Solution
A modular turbomachine inlet assembly system with a transition section that changes from a circular to a polygonal cross section, maintaining a constant cross-sectional area, and featuring a prismoidal portion with scalable dimensions to accommodate various supply conduit diameters, allowing a single design to fit multiple sizes of inlet bowls and transition sections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If a traditional inlet assembly is designed for a specific supply conduit or turbomachine model, then aerodynamic losses are minimized for that specific application, but the number of different inlet assembly designs increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The inlet assembly is designed with a modular structure where the inlet transition section can be adapted to different supply conduit sizes while maintaining compatibility with a standardized inlet bowl. This allows a single inlet bowl design to serve multiple applications with different inlet sizes, reducing the total number of unique inlet assembly designs while preserving aerodynamic efficiency through proper flow transition
2Reliability
If multiple inlet assembly designs are created for different applications, then each design can be optimized for its specific use, but design time and inventory burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
The inlet assembly is segmented into distinct functional sections: a supply conduit connection section, an inlet transition section with constant cross-sectional area, and a standardized inlet bowl section. This segmentation allows the transition section to be adapted for different applications while the inlet bowl remains standardized, reducing design time for new applications and simplifying inventory management
3Ease of operation
If the inlet transition section changes from circular to polygonal cross section, then flow is efficiently redirected to the inlet bowl, but the connection geometry becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The inlet transition section maintains a constant cross-sectional area while changing from a circular inlet to a polygonal outlet that matches the inlet bowl geometry. By preserving the cross-sectional area constant, the flow velocity and pressure characteristics are maintained, ensuring efficient flow redirection without excessive geometric complexity in the connection
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 solution reduces design time and inventory burdens by enabling a single inlet bowl design to connect with multiple sizes of inlet transition sections, minimizing flow losses and accommodating various turbomachine installations while maintaining efficient fluid redirection.
Implementation Method 1
The inlet transition section can reshape and direct the flow from the circular cross section pipe to the polygonal or substantially polygonal opening to minimize aerodynamic and/or other losses through the transition
Implementation Method 2
The inlet bowl can redirect the flow, such as by turning it through an angle to be received by the rotor
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A turbomachine inlet transition section (110) comprising: a substantially circular entry (102); a reshaping portion (112) beginning at the substantially circular entry (102) and ending at an intermediate region (120) having a first substantially polygonal cross section, a cross section of the reshaping portion (112) changing from substantially circular at the entry (102) to the first substantially polygonal cross section at the intermediate region (120) while maintaining substantially constant cross sectional area throughout the reshaping portion (112); and a prismoidal portion (114) beginning at the intermediate region (120) and ending at an inlet transition section exit (126) having a second substantially polygonal cross section, a cross section of the prismoidal portion (114) changing from the first substantially polygonal cross section to the second substantially polygonal cross section, the first and second substantially polygonal cross sections being of the same type of polygon while being of substantially different dimension.