Split Rotor Sealing Washer for Overlap Leakage Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sealing washers in rotors, particularly in gas turbines, fail to completely seal gaps due to overlapping sections, leading to intermittent sealing and leakage, especially in regions where one section does not adequately contact the rotor components.
Innovation Solution
A sealing washer design with a bearing face oriented radially and a supporting face inclined at a specific angle, featuring a pressing section and a triangular section with overlapping regions, allowing for tolerance compensation and thermal expansion, and ensuring that both sections contact adjacent rotor components, thereby reducing leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the sealing washer is designed with overlapping sections to compensate for tolerances and thermal expansion, then adaptability is improved, but a gap remains in the overlapping region leading to incomplete sealing
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing washer is divided into multiple sections (first section, second section, pressing section, triangular section) that can independently contact rotor components. This segmentation allows each section to function as a separate sealing element, ensuring that even if one section has a gap, other sections maintain sealing integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sections of the sealing washer are given different geometric characteristics - the pressing section with its pressing face oriented at a specific angle provides localized sealing pressure, while the triangular section provides additional sealing coverage. This local differentiation ensures complete sealing across the entire gap.
2Device complexity
If the sealing washer has a small cross section relative to its diameter, then device complexity is reduced, but the overlapping sections may not provide sufficient rigidity
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing washer features asymmetric section distribution with a pressing section having a larger cross-sectional area than the triangular section. The pressing section is positioned to bear against one rotor component while the triangular section bears against the other, creating an asymmetric load distribution that optimizes rigidity where needed while maintaining overall simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The pressing face of the pressing section is oriented at an angle between 30° and 60° relative to the radial direction, introducing an angular dimension to the sealing mechanism. This angular orientation allows the pressing section to effectively transmit centrifugal forces and maintain sealing pressure despite the small cross-sectional dimensions.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the pressing section overlaps the triangular section, then tolerance compensation is improved, but leakage may occur if one section does not adequately contact rotor components
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing washer is designed to rotate with the rotor, allowing the pressing section and triangular section to dynamically adjust their contact points with the rotor components. This dynamic adjustment ensures that both sections can adequately contact their respective rotor components during rotation, preventing leakage while maintaining tolerance compensation.
Solution Approach 2:
The pressing section and triangular section are pre-positioned in overlapping arrangement before rotation begins. This preliminary positioning ensures that as the rotor rotates and centrifugal forces act on the sealing washer, both sections are already in place to bear against the rotor components, preventing any potential leakage paths from forming.
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 ensures reliable sealing by allowing both sections to bear against rotor components, reducing leakage and enhancing sealing efficacy even in overlapping regions, while accommodating thermal expansions and tolerance variations.
Implementation Method 1
the sealing washer brings about sealing with respect to further rotor components by means of the centrifugal force
Data Source
AI summary
A sealing washer for use in a rotor of a gas turbine, sealing being brought about on one side of the sealing washer by an approximately radially oriented bearing face and on the other side by way of a supporting face which is oriented in an inclined manner with respect to the rotor axis. The sealing washer is of split configuration and has at least one washer segment with a circumferential washer section. At the dividing point, a pressing section and a triangular section overlap along a dividing face. Here, the dividing face intersects the bearing face and makes sealing both with the pressing section and with the triangular section possible. In order to also make sealing on the supporting face with the pressing section and the triangular section possible, the triangular section is reduced to at most 0.3 times the cross-sectional area of the washer section.