Turbine Casing Impingement Cooling Manifold Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Heavy-duty gas turbines face challenges in achieving uniform heat transfer coefficients across non-uniform casing surfaces, leading to inefficient cooling and increased pressure drops due to small impingement holes and varying casing geometries, which negatively impact efficiency and clearance control.
Innovation Solution
An impingement cooling system with a plurality of manifolds designed to match the contours of the turbine casing, featuring adjustable impingement holes and gap distances to ensure uniform heat transfer and minimize pressure variations, utilizing a blower and flow control components to deliver air effectively across the casing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If small impingement holes are used to achieve higher heat transfer coefficients, then cooling effectiveness is improved, but pressure drop increases and net efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the impingement holes from small diameter to large diameter, and adjusts the nozzle-to-surface distance from short to optimized longer distances. This parameter transformation allows achieving adequate heat transfer coefficients while reducing pressure drop and improving net efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different impingement hole configurations to different regions of the casing based on local thermal conditions. The system provides locally optimized cooling where needed rather than uniform cooling, reducing overall pressure drop while maintaining effectiveness at critical hot spots.
2Temperature
If small impingement holes and short nozzle to surface distances are applied, then heat transfer coefficient is improved, but differential pressure drop increases requiring high cooling air supply pressures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the hole size parameter from small to large, and optimizes the nozzle-to-surface distance. This parameter change reduces flow resistance and differential pressure drop while maintaining adequate heat transfer coefficients through improved flow distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling system is divided into multiple manifolds with multiple impingement holes distributed across the casing surface. This segmentation allows better flow distribution and reduces pressure drop compared to a single concentrated cooling system.
3Area of stationary object
If impingement cooling is applied to heavy-duty turbines with large non-uniform casing surfaces, then cooling coverage is improved, but uniformity of heat transfer coefficient becomes difficult to achieve
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the large casing surface into multiple zones served by separate manifolds, each with multiple impingement holes. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each zone to account for local geometric variations and thermal conditions, achieving more uniform overall heat transfer distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies locally adapted impingement cooling configurations to different regions of the non-uniform casing. Each manifold is designed to match local surface geometry and thermal requirements, ensuring uniform heat transfer coefficients across the entire large casing surface despite geometric variations.
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 achieves uniform heat transfer coefficients and effective clearance control, reducing air leakage and maintaining optimal performance by compensating for non-uniform casing geometries and thermal growth variations, thereby enhancing the efficiency and reliability of heavy-duty gas turbines.
Implementation Method 1
Air impingement cooling has been used to manage the casing temperature of small gas turbines
Implementation Method 2
achieve a uniform heat transfer coefficient across large non-uniform non-standard casing surfaces
Implementation Method 3
manage the casing temperature of small gas turbines and to reduce and maintain the clearances between rotating blades and accompanying interior casing surfaces
Data Source
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AI summary
A impingement cooling system (200) for heavy duty turbines that includes a manifold (140) affixed to a casing of the heavy-duty turbine (110), wherein the manifold includes a plurality of impingement holes (148) in the surface of the manifold and a blower that provides air flow across the plurality of impingement holes of the manifold (140) to cool the casing of the heavy-duty turbine to control the clearance between a tip (123) of a turbine blade and a shroud (126) of the heavy-duty turbine.