Steam Turbine Guide Device Recessed Vane Attachment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing steam turbine guide devices face challenges in achieving precise installation, reducing gap losses, and managing vibration due to complex and costly riveting methods, which limit production efficiency and safety, and restrict the ability to create diverging contours for optimal flow guidance.
Innovation Solution
The guide vanes are inserted into recesses in the inner guide ring, allowing for a non-cylindrical outer contour and stable fixation, enabling a continuously expanding bevel for improved flow guidance and reducing vibration risks, with options for material bonding or form-fitting connections like retaining strips for secure attachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If guide vanes are riveted to the inner guide ring using traditional methods, then secure attachment is achieved, but production complexity increases and manufacturing precision is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the riveting process entirely by replacing it with a press-fit insertion system. Guide vanes are inserted into corresponding recesses in the inner guide ring without rivets, eliminating the complex riveting operation while maintaining secure attachment through precise geometric interlocking and frictional engagement.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical riveting system is replaced with a simpler insertion and friction-based retention system. The guide vanes are attached through direct insertion into recesses, where friction and geometric constraints provide the necessary holding force without requiring additional fastening components or complex assembly procedures.
2Reliability
If traditional riveting methods are used to attach guide vanes, then secure fixation is achieved, but manufacturing precision and production efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The inner guide ring is pre-formed with precise recesses that match the geometry of the guide vanes before assembly. These recesses are manufactured with high precision to ensure proper fit and alignment, eliminating the need for complex riveting operations and ensuring consistent installation precision across all guide vanes.
Solution Approach 2:
The riveting process is replaced with a precision insertion system where guide vanes are pressed into pre-formed recesses. This substitution eliminates the variability and complexity of riveting while achieving secure fixation through friction and geometric interlocking, thereby improving both manufacturing precision and production efficiency.
3Ease of manufacture
If the outer contour of the inner guide ring is kept cylindrical for riveting, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but flow guidance performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The inner guide ring's outer contour is changed from a fixed cylindrical shape to a dynamic profile that varies along its length. The contour transitions from cylindrical near the attachment region to a diverging expansion profile in the flow guidance region, allowing optimal steam flow expansion while maintaining simple rivet attachment geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the inner guide ring are given different geometric qualities: the attachment region maintains a cylindrical contour suitable for simple riveting, while the flow guidance region features a diverging expansion profile for optimal steam flow. This local differentiation allows each region to fulfill its specific function without compromising the other.
4Reliability
If manual riveting is performed blade by blade, then secure attachment is achieved, but production time increases
Solution Approach 1:
All guide vanes are pre-prepared with insertion-ready geometries and the inner guide ring is pre-formed with matching recesses. This preliminary preparation allows all guide vanes to be inserted simultaneously or in rapid succession without requiring time-consuming individual riveting operations, dramatically reducing production time while maintaining secure attachment.
Solution Approach 2:
The time-consuming manual riveting process is replaced with a rapid insertion system where guide vanes are pressed into pre-formed recesses. This substitution eliminates the need for repeated riveting operations for each blade, reducing production time significantly while maintaining attachment security through friction and geometric interlocking.
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 simplifies production and maintenance, enhances flow guidance by avoiding step-like discontinuities, reduces vibration, and ensures reliable attachment, improving the overall performance and safety of steam turbines.
Implementation Method 1
in which the guide blade is accommodated with a blade end section, with an outer contour of the inner guide ring changing steadily in diameter across the guide blades. By inserting the guide vanes into vane recesses in the inner ring, the outer contour of the inner guide ring no longer necessarily has to be cylindrical
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5
AI summary
The invention relates generally to turbines such as steam turbines. In particular, the invention relates to a guide device for such a turbine, comprising guide blades that are arranged in a guide channel between an inner guide ring and an outer guide ring, wherein the guide blades are connected to the inner and outer guide rings. According to the invention, the inner guide ring has blade recesses which are adapted in shape to the cross-sectional contours and in which end sections of the guide blades are received, wherein an external contour of the inner guide ring can change continuously in diameter over the guide blades.