Multiple ventilated rails for sealing of combustor heat shields

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10041675-B2
Application number	US-201414295687-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 4, 2014
Priority date	Jun 4, 2014
Publication date	Aug 7, 2018
Grant date	Aug 7, 2018

Abstract

A seal for sealing a combustor heat shield against an interior surface of a combustor shell, the seal comprising: an upstream rail and an downstream rail defining an intermediate groove therebetween, each rail having a sealing surface with a plurality of slots extending between an upstream wall surface and a downstream wall surface, the sealing surface conforming to the interior surface of the combustor shell and defining a leakage gap therebetween.

First claim

We claim:

1. A seal configured to provide sealing between a combustor heat shield and an interior surface of a combustor shell, the seal comprising:
a projection extending integrally from a back face of the combustor heat shield, the projection having a distal end surface configured to face the interior surface of the combustor shell;
an upstream rail and a downstream rail relative to a flow of cooling air between the combustor heat shield and the combustor shell, the upstream rail and the downstream rail being integrally formed on said distal end surface of the projection, the upstream rail and the downstream rail restricting air cooling leakage in series and defining an intermediate groove therebetween in said distal end surface of the projection, each of the upstream rail and the downstream rail having a sealing surface with a plurality of slots extending between an upstream wall surface and a downstream wall surface, the slots in the downstream rail being connected in flow communication with the slots in the upstream rail via the intermediate groove, the sealing surface of each of the upstream rail and the downstream rail configured for conforming to the interior surface of the combustor shell and for defining a leakage gap between the sealing surface of each of the upstream rail and the downstream rail and the interior surface of the combustor shell.

2. The seal according to claim 1 , wherein the upstream rail and the downstream rail are circular and configured to be concentrically disposed about a periphery of an igniter opening defined in the heat shield, the upstream rail surrounding the downstream rail.

3. The seal according to claim 1 , wherein the upstream rail and the downstream rail are configured to be disposed on an outer edge of the heat shield.

4. The seal according to claim 1 comprising an air flow bore defined in a wall of the intermediate groove, the wall located between the upstream wall surface of the downstream rail and the downstream wall surface of the upstream rail.

5. The seal according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of slots are equidistantly spaced apart.

6. The seal according to claim 5 , wherein the slots in the upstream rail are disposed in staggered relation between slots in the downstream rail.

7. The seal according to claim 1 , wherein the slots have rounded edges.

8. The seal according to claim 1 , wherein slots in the upstream rail are disposed a selected distance from slots in the downstream rail whereby cooling air flow is directed the selected distance along the intermediate groove between the rails.

9. A combustor heat shield for a gas turbine engine, comprising a heat shield panel adapted to be mounted to a combustor shell with a back face of the heat shield panel in spaced-apart facing relationship with an interior surface of the combustor shell to define an air gap between the back face of the heat shield panel and the interior surface of the combustor shell, a projection extending form the back face of the heat shield, the projection configured to extend across the air gap, an upstream rail and a downstream rail relative to a flow of cooling air through the air gap, the upstream and downstream rails being integrally formed on a distal end surface of the projection for sealing engagement with the combustor shell, the upstream rail and the downstream rail defining an intermediate groove therebetween, the intermediate groove being defined in the distal end surface of the projection and having a depth which is smaller than that of the air gap, each of the upstream rail and the downstream rail having a sealing surface with a plurality of slots extending between an upstream wall surface and a downstream wall surface, the sealing surface of each of the upstream rail and the downstream rail conforming to the interior surface of the combustor shell and defining a leakage gap between the sealing surface of each of the upstream rail and the downstream rail and the interior surface of the combustor shell.

10. The heat shield according to claim 9 , wherein the upstream rail and the downstream rail are disposed about a periphery of an opening within the heat shield panel.

11. The heat shield according to claim 9 , wherein the upstream rail and the downstream rail are disposed on an outer edge of the heat shield panel.

12. The heat shield according to claim 9 , comprising an air flow bore extending between the intermediate groove and a front face of the heat shield panel.

13. The heat shield according to claim 9 , wherein the plurality of slots are equidistantly spaced apart.

14. The heat shield according to claim 9 , wherein the slots in the upstream rail are disposed in staggered relation between slots in the downstream rail.

15. The heat shield according to claim 9 , wherein the slots have rounded edges.

16. The heat shield according to claim 9 , wherein slots in the upstream rail are disposed a selected distance from slots in the downstream rail whereby cooling air flow is directed the selected distance along the intermediate groove between the rails.

Assignees

• Pratt & Whitney Canada

Inventors

• Lebel Larry
• Papple Michael

Classifications

• F23R3/002 Primary

  Wall structures (F23R3/02 and F23R3/007 take precedence) · CPC title

• F23M2900/05005

  Sealing means between wall tiles or panels · CPC title

• F23R3/60

  Support structures; Attaching or mounting means · CPC title

• F23R2900/03044

  Impingement cooled combustion chamber walls or subassemblies · CPC title

• F23R2900/00012

  Details of sealing devices · CPC title