Gas turbine with a radial-to-axial intake, variable-angle inlet guide vane therefore, and method of operation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10677078-B2
Application number	US-201715605341-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 25, 2017
Priority date	May 25, 2017
Publication date	Jun 9, 2020
Grant date	Jun 9, 2020

Abstract

The gas turbine has a plurality of inlet guide vanes each having a blade having a leading edge, a trailing edge, a span extending along the leading edge, and pivot members at opposite ends of the leading edge, and being pivotally mounted across the radial-to-axial intake via the pivot members, the pivot axis extending axially across a radial portion of the radial-to-axial intake. The plurality of inlet guide vanes include a plurality of first inlet guide vanes, and a plurality of second inlet guide vanes, the second inlet guide vanes having a trailing edge recess differing from the corresponding portion of the first inlet guide vanes. During operation, when the inlet guide vanes are pivoted past a given angle toward the tangential orientation, a radial flow of gas is allowed through the trailing edge recesses to avoid or impede vortex whistle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A gas turbine comprising a radial-to-axial intake extending between a hub and a shroud, a plurality of inlet guide vanes being interspaced from one another around a circumference of the radial-to-axial intake, the plurality of inlet guide vanes each having a blade having a leading edge, a trailing edge, a span extending along the leading edge, and pivot members at opposite ends of the blade to pivotally mount the blade about a pivot axis across the radial-to-axial intake via the pivot members, the pivot axis extending axially across a radial portion of the radial-to-axial intake, the plurality of inlet guide vanes including a plurality of first inlet guide vanes and a plurality of second inlet guide vanes, said plurality of second inlet guide vanes having a trailing edge shape defined by a chord length variation along the span of the plurality of second inlet guide vanes differing from a trailing edge shape of the first inlet guide vanes, the plurality of second inlet guide vanes forming a trailing edge recess.

2. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 wherein the plurality of second inlet guide vanes include a group of at least two adjacent second inlet guide vanes.

3. The gas turbine engine of claim 2 wherein the plurality of second inlet guide vanes include a group of three or four adjacent second inlet guide vanes.

4. The gas turbine engine of claim 2 wherein the plurality of second inlet guide vanes further includes at least one second inlet guide vane separated from all other second inlet guide vanes by the plurality of first inlet guide vanes.

5. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 wherein the trailing edge recess is located adjacent to the hub of the radial-to-axial intake.

6. The gas turbine engine of claim 5 wherein the trailing edge recess of the second inlet guide vanes is provided in the form of a chamfer extending along at least a portion of the span of the corresponding second inlet guide vanes.

7. The gas turbine engine of claim 6 wherein the chamfer extends along at least half of the span of the corresponding second inlet guide vanes.

8. The gas turbine engine of claim 6 wherein the chamfer extends along the entire span of the corresponding second inlet guide vanes.

9. The gas turbine engine of claim 5 wherein the trailing edge recess is rectangular and extends along a given span and a given depth of the blade.

10. The gas turbine engine of claim 5 wherein the second inlet guide vanes further comprise a supplemental trailing edge recess located adjacent to the shroud of the radial-to-axial intake.

11. The gas turbine engine of claim 5 wherein the trailing edge recess is rectangular and extends along a given span of the blade.

12. A method of operating a gas turbine having a radial-to-axial intake extending between a hub and a shroud, a plurality of inlet guide vanes being interspaced from one another around a circumference of the radial-to-axial intake, the method comprising:
collectively orienting each one of the plurality of inlet guide vanes in an oblique orientation, between a radial orientation and a tangential orientation;
aspiring a tangential flow of gas between corresponding adjacent ones of said inlet guide vanes; and
aspiring a radial flow of gas across a trailing edge recess formed in at least one of said plurality of inlet guide vanes.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said aspiring a radial flow of gas includes aspiring a radial flow of gas across the trailing edge recess formed in at least two adjacent ones of said plurality of inlet guide vanes.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said aspiring a radial flow of gas includes aspiring a radial flow of gas across three or four adjacent ones of said plurality of inlet guide vanes.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein said aspiring a radial flow of gas includes aspiring a plurality of radial flows of gas across a corresponding plurality of circumferentially interspaced trailing edge recesses.

16. An inlet guide vane extending through a fluid passage defined between a hub and a shroud, comprising a blade having a leading edge, a trailing edge and a span extending along the leading edge; a hub pivot engagement member pivotally mounted to the hub and a shroud pivot engagement member pivotally mounted to the shroud, the hub pivot engagement member and the shroud pivot engagement member positioned at opposite ends of the blade, adjacent the leading edge; and a trailing edge recess fluidly connected to the fluid passage to allow a fluid circulating in the fluid passage to pass through the trailing edge recess, a length of the trailing edge recess in a spanwise direction being at least about 10% of a span of the blade.

17. The inlet guide vane of claim 16 wherein the trailing edge recess of the inlet guide vane is located adjacent to the hub pivot engagement member.

18. The inlet guide vane of claim 17 wherein the trailing edge recess of the inlet guide vane is delimited by a portion of the trailing edge which extends obliquely relative to the leading edge.

19. The inlet guide vane of claim 17 , wherein the inlet guide vane further comprises a supplemental trailing edge recess located adjacent to the shroud pivot engagement member.

20. The inlet guide vane of claim 16 wherein the trailing edge recess is rectangular.

Assignees

• Pratt & Whitney Canada

Inventors

• Tse Man-Chun
• Meslioui Sid-Ali

Classifications

• F02C7/042

  having variable geometry · CPC title

• F05D2250/51

  Inlet · CPC title

• F04D19/02

  Multi-stage pumps · CPC title

• F01D17/165

  for radial flow, i.e. the vanes turning around axes which are essentially parallel to the rotor centre line (F01D17/167 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F02C3/145

  the combustion chamber being in the reverse flow-type · CPC title