In-situ blade-mounted optical camera inspected systems for turbine engines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9581440-B2
Application number	US-201414249395-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 10, 2014
Priority date	Oct 2, 2013
Publication date	Feb 28, 2017
Grant date	Feb 28, 2017

Abstract

Turbine engine casing interiors are visually inspected in a fully assembled turbine casing by mounting an optical camera on a turbine blade that captures optical images, such as of the casing abradable surface. Optical images are recorded as the blade circumferentially sweeps the turbine casing when the turbine is operated in turning gear mode or manually rotated. Blade rotational position data are collected by a rotational position sensor. A data processing system correlates the captured optical images and rotational position data about the turbine casing circumference. This method and apparatus provide an accurate and cost effective solution for accessing a turbine casing interior.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for in-situ visual inspection of a turbine engine casing interior, comprising:
providing a gas turbine including: a turbine casing having an inner circumferential ring segment that fully circumscribes a rotatable rotor oriented within the casing, the rotor having a row of turbine blades radially aligned with the ring segment, each blade having an airfoil that defines an airfoil surface and a radially outwardly projecting tip in opposed spaced relationship with the circumscribing turbine casing, each respective blade tip defining a radial clearance gap between itself and the circumscribing ring segment at a plurality of rotational angular positions of the blade and rotor;
directly coupling at least one optical camera having a field of view to the airfoil surface of a first one of the plurality of the turbine blades, the camera capable of capturing camera images in its field of view and generating a camera image data set during rotor rotation;
coupling on the airfoil surface of the same first one of said plurality of blades a rotor rotational position sensor that generates a rotational position data set indicative of rotational angular orientation of said first blade relative to the circumscribing ring segment;
rotating the rotor so that the blade tip of said first one of said plurality of blades sweeps at least a portion of the circumscribing ring segment, while generating the camera image data set with the camera and a rotational position data set with the rotor rotational position sensor at plural angular positions along the blade tip sweep of said first one of said plurality of blades;
acquiring the image and rotational position data sets with a data acquisition system that is coupled to the camera and the rotational position sensor; and
correlating camera image relative to angular rotational position of said first one of said plurality of blades with the image and rotational data sets, at plural angular positions along the blade tip sweep of said first one of said plurality of blades in a data analyzer system that is coupled to the data acquisition system.

2. The method of claim 1 , the rotor rotational position sensor further comprising any one of a tilt sensor or a triangulated GPS position sensor.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising coupling the data acquisition and data analyzer systems by wireless communication, cable or by physical transfer of a non-volatile data storage device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising coupling one or more of the rotational position sensor or the data acquisition system to the turbine blade airfoil with a magnet.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising coupling one or more of the rotational position sensor or the data acquisition system to the turbine blade airfoil with an adhesive composition of matter.

6. The method of claim 1 , the camera coupling to the blade airfoil further comprising inserting the camera into the turbine casing and delivering the camera to the blade airfoil location with a flexible snake arm delivered from an inlet or an exhaust of the engine or through an existing inspection port.

7. A system for in-situ visual inspection of a turbine engine casing interior, comprising:
a gas turbine including: a turbine casing having an inner circumferential ring segment that fully circumscribes a rotatable rotor oriented within the casing, the rotor having a row of turbine blades radially aligned with the ring segment, each blade having an airfoil that defines an airfoil surface and a radially outwardly projecting tip in opposed spaced relationship with the circumscribing turbine casing, each respective blade tip defining a radial clearance gap between itself and the circumscribing ring segment at a plurality of rotational angular positions of the blade and rotor;
at least one optical camera, having a field of view that is capable of capturing camera images in its field of view and generating a camera image data set during rotor rotation, directly coupled to the airfoil surface of a first one of the plurality of turbine blades;
a rotor rotational position sensor, coupled to the same airfoil surface of said first one of said plurality of turbine blades, that generates a rotational position data set indicative of rotational angular orientation of said first blade relative to the circumscribing ring segment;
a data acquisition system that is coupled to the at least one camera and the rotational position sensor, for acquiring the image and rotational position data sets during rotor rotation as the turbine blade tip sweeps at least a portion of the circumscribing turbine casing; and
a data analyzer system, coupled to the data acquisition system, for correlating, with the camera image and rotational position data sets, camera image relative to angular rotational position of said first one of said plurality of blades, at plural angular positions along said first blade's blade tip sweep.

8. The system of claim 7 , further comprising the rotational sensor and data acquisition system being coupled to one or more turbine blades.

9. The system of claim 7 , further comprising the camera, rotational sensor and data acquisition system being coupled to a common substrate that is in turn coupled to the same airfoil surface of said first one of said plurality of turbine blades.

10. The system of claim 7 , the rotational position sensor further comprising any one of a tilt sensor or a triangulated GPS position sensor.

11. The system of claim 7 , further comprising the data acquisition and data analyzer systems communicatively coupled by wireless communication, cable or by physical transfer of a non-volatile data storage device.

Assignees

• Siemens Energy Inc

Inventors

• Ruhge Forrest R
• Hatcher Jr Clifford

Classifications

• G01B21/16 Primary

  for measuring distance of clearance between spaced objects · CPC title

• G01N21/8803

  Visual inspection (measuring projectors G01B9/08) · CPC title

• G01M15/02

  Details or accessories of testing apparatus · CPC title

• F01D21/003

  Arrangements for testing or measuring (for measuring vibrations G01H) · CPC title

• F05D2270/80

  Devices generating input signals, e.g. transducers, sensors, cameras or strain gauges · CPC title