Radial Turbine Wheel with Hub Sub-Path for Multi-Pressure Fluids
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Solution Overview
Problem
Systems using multiple radial turbines require high production costs and installation space due to the complexity and number of components, especially when handling fluids with varying pressures.
Innovation Solution
A radial turbine design featuring a single turbine wheel with a main path that gradually increases in blade height from radial to axial direction, incorporating a sub-path branching from the hub surface, allowing fluids with different pressures to be efficiently mixed and converted into rotational motive force, reducing the number of components and production costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple radial turbines are used to handle fluids with different pressures, then the turbine can process multiple pressure sources, but the production cost and installation space increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple inlet channels for different pressure sources into a single turbine wheel structure. The first inlet channel receives high-pressure fluid and the second inlet channel receives low-pressure fluid, both feeding into the same turbine wheel with appropriate blade sections, thereby merging multiple turbine functions into one integrated device.
Solution Approach 2:
The turbine wheel is designed with universal functionality to handle both high-pressure and low-pressure fluids simultaneously. Different sections of the turbine wheel blades are optimized for different pressure ranges, allowing a single turbine to perform multiple pressure-processing functions that would traditionally require separate turbines.
2Adaptability or versatility
If two turbine wheels are provided coaxially to handle different pressures, then multiple pressure sources can be processed, but the number of components increases and the structure becomes complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The turbine wheel is segmented into different blade sections, each optimized for specific pressure ranges. The first turbine wheel blades handle high-pressure fluid from the first inlet channel, while the second turbine wheel blades handle low-pressure fluid from the second inlet channel, all within a single integrated wheel structure rather than requiring two separate coaxial wheels.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the functionality of two separate turbine wheels into one integrated turbine wheel structure. The high-pressure and low-pressure fluid paths are combined within the same rotational component, reducing the total number of moving parts while maintaining the ability to process multiple pressure sources.
3Device complexity
If inlet channels are simply partitioned by a dividing wall, then the structure is simple, but high-pressure fluid flows toward low-pressure fluid decreasing turbine efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
A partition wall with a specific opening configuration acts as an intermediary structure between the high-pressure and low-pressure inlet channels. The opening is positioned and sized to allow controlled interaction between the two fluid streams, enabling the high-pressure fluid to assist in driving the turbine blades while preventing uncontrolled mixing that would reduce efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The partition wall structure provides localized quality control by having different properties in different regions. The wall is solid in most areas to maintain separation, but includes a specifically designed opening region that allows beneficial fluid interaction. This localized modification enables efficiency improvement without compromising the overall simple structure.
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 design enables the extraction of rotational motive force from fluids with multiple pressures using a single turbine wheel, decreasing production costs and simplifying the structure while maintaining efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
A radial turbine is equipped with a single turbine wheel that converts swirling energy of the flow of a swirling fluid having a radial flow component as a main component and flowing into a turbine wheel to a rotational motive force
Implementation Method 2
the fluid introduced through the main inlet passes through the main path that gradually increases in blade height while curving from a radial direction to an axial direction, where the pressure is gradually decreased
Data Source
AI summary
An expansion turbine with a radial turbine wheel has a main path that gradually increases in height and axially discharges fluid while swirling from a main inlet located at the outer circumferential side into the main path, with a radial flow as a main component, the radial turbine wheel has a sub-path branching off from the side of a hub of the main path at a position radially inward of the main inlet and extending rearward from the main path, the sub-path has, at an outer circumferential end, a sub-inlet located at a position in the radial direction different from the main inlet and supplied with a fluid having a pressure different from the pressure of the fluid supplied through the main inlet, the main inlet and the sub-inlet are partitioned by a back plate portion, in which the gap between it and the main path or the sub-path is adjusted.