Seal Wear Indicator Tab for Early Turbine Seal Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engines face premature failure due to excessive wear of sealing members, leading to unscheduled replacements and significant maintenance costs when the nose of the sealing member becomes completely worn, causing the seal to malfunction.
Innovation Solution
A system with a rotatable seal runner and a stationary sealing member supported by a carrier, which includes a tab that extends towards the seal runner, serving as a sacrificial wear member. A sensor detects when a portion of the tab is liberated, indicating wear beyond a threshold, allowing for early maintenance scheduling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the nose of the sealing member is allowed to wear during operation, then the seal maintains its sealing function, but the nose becomes completely worn leading to carrier wear and unscheduled maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The tab extends toward the seal runner before wear occurs, establishing a predetermined wear threshold. When the nose wears to this threshold, the tab contacts the seal runner and generates detectable debris, providing advance warning before complete nose failure. This preliminary positioning enables proactive maintenance scheduling.
Solution Approach 2:
The tab acts as an intermediary sacrificial element between the nose and the carrier. Instead of allowing direct contact between the worn nose and carrier (which causes carrier wear), the tab contacts the seal runner first, absorbing the wear and providing a detectable warning signal before the nose is completely depleted.
2Loss of substance
If the nose is completely worn before maintenance, then material is saved by not replacing prematurely, but the carrier begins to wear and requires unscheduled replacement
Solution Approach 1:
The tab is designed as a disposable sacrificial element that wears away before the carrier. It is positioned to contact the seal runner when the nose has worn to a safe threshold, generating detectable debris that signals maintenance is needed. This prevents further wear to the expensive carrier while maximizing nose material utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The detection device monitors for tab material debris in the lubricating oil, providing feedback about nose wear status. When tab debris is detected, it indicates the nose has worn to the threshold and maintenance should be scheduled, preventing carrier wear while maximizing sealing member utilization.
3Measurement precision
If a detection device monitors carrier material, then complete nose wear is detected, but maintenance must occur within a very short time window
Solution Approach 1:
The tab is positioned to contact the seal runner in advance, before the nose is completely worn. This creates an extended warning period where tab debris is detected, giving maintenance teams weeks or months to schedule service rather than hours, while still maintaining precise wear monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The tab serves as an intermediary warning mechanism that provides advance notice of nose wear. Its contact with the seal runner occurs before carrier contact, generating detectable debris that extends the maintenance scheduling window while maintaining accurate wear detection capability.
4Measurement precision
If the tab is made of different material than the carrier, then wear detection is more accurate, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Only the tab requires different material composition (e.g., iron or nickel) to enable detection device differentiation, while the carrier can remain standard material. This localized material differentiation provides accurate wear detection without requiring complete system redesign or complex multi-material manufacturing processes.
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 system provides an early warning of wear, enabling scheduled maintenance before complete failure, reducing unexpected replacements and associated costs, and ensuring stable engine operation.
Implementation Method 1
the sensor detects when a portion of the tab is liberated from a remainder of the tab in an amount that is greater than a threshold. In some embodiments, the sensor detects when the portion of the tab is liberated from the remainder of the tab based on a material of the tab.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the disclosure are directed to a system comprising: a rotatable seal runner, a stationary sealing member that includes a base and a nose that extends from the base in an axial direction and interfaces with the seal runner, a carrier that supports the sealing member, and a tab coupled to the carrier, where the tab extends from the carrier in the axial direction towards the seal runner.