Turbine Bucket Installation Fixture for Spacer Wheel Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The assembly of complex blade geometry turbine buckets in turbomachines is hindered by interlocking shrouds and tied-in edges, which impede the mounting process on rotor wheels, necessitating a more efficient method for installing these buckets while minimizing aerodynamic and thermodynamic losses.
Innovation Solution
A fixture system comprising turbine bucket holders with dovetail slots and retention devices that allow axial transfer of buckets from a spacer wheel to a rotor wheel, enabling secure mounting without direct contact with the spacer wheel, and a method for installing multiple buckets using these holders to align and secure them in dovetail slots.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If interlocking shrouds and tied-in edges are used to connect adjacent turbine buckets, then the rigidity and fluid path definition are improved, but the assembly difficulty and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The fixture is designed with pre-configured alignment features and positioning elements that prepare the assembly environment before the actual bucket installation. The fixture holds multiple buckets in precise alignment, allowing workers to install buckets sequentially without complex real-time alignment operations, thus reducing assembly difficulty while maintaining the rigidity provided by interlocking shrouds
Solution Approach 2:
The fixture acts as an intermediary tool between the buckets and the rotor wheel during assembly. It provides a stable reference framework that mediates the complex interaction between interlocking shrouds and tied-in edges, enabling precise positioning and reducing the operational complexity of assembling these rigid connection elements
2Loss of energy
If complex blade geometries are applied to improve aerodynamic performance, then the thermodynamic efficiency increases, but the assembly precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The fixture replaces complex manual alignment operations with a predetermined mechanical reference system. Precise positioning features, guide surfaces, and alignment pins built into the fixture ensure that buckets with complex blade geometries are installed with high precision, maintaining aerodynamic performance without requiring complex real-time measurement and adjustment operations
Solution Approach 2:
The fixture is designed with adjustable and configurable parameters such as positioning tolerances, alignment angles, and spacing dimensions that can be optimized for specific bucket geometries. This allows the assembly system to adapt to different complex blade designs while maintaining precise assembly requirements for aerodynamic efficiency
3Power
If larger and more articulated turbine buckets are installed to increase turbine output, then the power generation capacity increases, but the assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fixture is designed as a modular system that can accommodate multiple buckets of varying sizes and configurations. Each bucket can be positioned and secured independently within the fixture framework, allowing large and articulated buckets to be assembled systematically rather than as a monolithic complex structure, thus managing assembly complexity while maintaining high power output capability
Data Source
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AI summary
A fixture (400) and method for installing turbine buckets (300) is disclosed. The fixture (400) is adapted for mounting a plurality of turbine buckets with dovetails (112) to a rotor wheel of a turbomachine that is separated from an adjacent rotor wheel by a spacer wheel (200), the rotor wheel and the spacer wheel (200) each having a plurality of circumferentially aligned dovetail slots (202), the fixture (100, 400) includes: a turbine bucket (300) holder having a dovetail (112) that is configured to engage with one of the dovetail slots (202) of the spacer wheel (200). The profile of a bucket holder dovetail slot (202) substantially aligns the dovetail (112) of the turbine bucket (300) with a dovetail slot (202) of the rotor wheel for at least partial transfer of a turbine bucket (300) thereto.