Real time rotation breakaway detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9945386-B2
Application number	US-201615041347-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 11, 2016
Priority date	Feb 11, 2016
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

A system and method for detecting the rotation breakaway of a spacer from a compressor rotor disk are disclosed herein. The method includes detecting a disk sensed feature and a spacer sensed feature on the compressor rotor disk and the spacer respectively. The method also includes comparing the timing between the two to a predetermined threshold to determine whether the relative position of the spacer to the compressor rotor disk exceeds a predetermined amount. The predetermined amount may be selected to determine whether an imbalance, rubbing, or binding can occur in the gas turbine engine or to determine whether anti-rotation features have been broken.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for detecting a rotation breakaway of a spacer from a compressor rotor disk of a gas turbine engine, the method comprising:
detecting a disk sensed feature located on the compressor rotor disk and a spacer sensed feature located on the spacer;
outputting a rotor sensor output signal and a spacer sensor output signal;
receiving the rotor sensor output signal and the spacer sensor output signal, and converting the rotor output signal to a disk conditioned signal and the spacer output signal to a spacer conditioned signal including filtering noise from the rotor sensor output signal and the spacer output signal;
outputting the disk conditioned signal and the spacer conditioned signal;
receiving the disk conditioned signal and the spacer conditioned signal, determining whether the spacer is offset relative to the disk by a predetermined amount by comparing a timing of the disk conditioned signal and the spacer conditioned signal, and outputting a comparison signal;
receiving the comparison signal and storing that the offset has occurred when a change in the comparison signal is received; and
obtaining a value of whether the offset has occurred, and sending an output signal to an output device when the change has occurred; and
wherein outputting the rotor sensor output signal includes sending a first pulse each time the rotor sensed feature is detected and outputting the spacer sensor output signal includes sending a second pulse each time the spacer sensed feature is detected, wherein outputting the disk conditioned signal includes sending a first conditioned pulse each time the first pulse is received and outputting the spacer conditioned signal includes sending a second conditioned pulse each time the second pulse is received; and the method further comprises adjusting a timing of the spacer conditioned signal relative to the disk conditioned signal so that the first conditioned pulse and the second conditioned pulse are aligned when the compressor rotor disk and the spacer are in an initial state.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein comparing the timing of the disk conditioned signal and the spacer conditioned signal includes determining whether the timing between the first conditioned pulse and the second conditioned pulse exceeds a predetermined threshold.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein an anti-rotation feature extends into the compressor rotor disk and the spacer, and wherein exceeding the predetermined threshold signifies that the anti-rotation feature is broken.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the predetermined amount is half a width of the anti-rotation feature.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the predetermined threshold varies based on a rotational speed of a shaft rotating the compressor rotor disk and the spacer.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
installing the compressor rotor disk, the spacer, and a plurality of anti-rotation pins into a spin pit between a top arbor and a bottom arbor, each of the plurality of anti-rotation pins extending into the compressor rotor disk and the spacer; and
cycling the spin pit between two states to simulate multiple gas turbine engine cycles and counting a number of cycles until the predetermined threshold is exceeded.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the compressor rotor disk and the spacer are installed in a compressor rotor assembly of the gas turbine engine, wherein the method further includes monitoring relative positions of the compressor rotor disk and the spacer during operation of the gas turbine engine and wherein the predetermined amount is set to occur prior to where significant rubbing between the spacer and compressor stationary vanes can occur, a significant imbalance of the compressor rotor assembly can occur, and binding of the compressor rotor assembly within the gas turbine engine can occur.

8. A method for detecting a rotation breakaway of a spacer from a compressor rotor disk of a gas turbine engine using a rotation breakaway system including a rotor sensor, a spacer sensor, a signal conditioner, an offset determinator, a memory, and an outputter, the spacer including a spacer sensed feature detectable by the spacer sensor and the compressor rotor disk including a disk sensed feature detectable by the rotor sensor, the method comprising:
a shaft rotating the compressor rotor disk and the spacer;
the rotor sensor detecting the disk sensed feature during each revolution of the compressor rotor disk and the spacer sensor detecting the spacer sensed feature during each revolution of the spacer;
the rotor sensor outputting a rotor sensor output signal including outputting a first pulse each time the disk sensed feature is detected and the spacer sensor outputting a spacer sensor output signal including outputting a second pulse each time the spacer sensed feature is detected;
the signal conditioner receiving the rotor sensor output signal and the spacer sensor output signal;
the signal conditioner adjusting the timing of the rotor output signal and the spacer output signal so that the first pulse and the second pulse are aligned when the compressor rotor disk and the spacer are in an initial state, and converting the rotor output signal to a disk conditioned signal and the spacer output signal to a spacer conditioned signal;
the signal conditioner outputting the disk conditioned signal including a first conditioned pulse correlating to the first pulse and the spacer conditioned signal including a second conditioned pulse correlating to the second pulse;
the offset determinator receiving the disk conditioned signal and the spacer conditioned signal;
the offset determinator determining whether an offset between the spacer and the compressor rotor disk has occurred by comparing the timing between the first conditioned pulse and the second conditioned pulse to a predetermined threshold;
the offset determinator outputting a comparison signal and changing the output of the comparison signal when the timing between the first conditioned pulse and the second conditioned pulse exceeds the predetermined threshold;
the memory receiving the comparison signal and storing that the offset has occurred when a change in the comparison signal is received;
the outputter obtaining a value from the memory of whether the offset has occurred; and
the outputter sending an output signal to an output device when the change has occurred.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein conditioning the rotor output signal and the spacer output signal includes filtering noise from the rotor sensor output signal and the spacer output signal.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein an anti-rotation feature extends into the compressor rotor disk and the spacer, and wherein the timing between the first conditioned pulse and the second conditioned pulse exceeding the predetermined threshold signifies that the anti-rotation feature is broken.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the predetermined threshold correlates to a predetermined amount of circumferential rotation of the spacer relative to the compressor rotor disk from an initial position of the spacer relative to the compressor rotor disk, and wherein the predetermined amount corresponds to half the width of the anti-rotation feature.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the predetermined threshold varies based on a rotational speed of shaft rotating the compressor rotor disk and the spacer.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the shaft rotating the compressor rotor disk and the spacer includes cycling between two states to simulate multiple gas turbine engine cycles, the method further comprising:
installing the compresso

Assignees

• Solar Turbines Inc

Inventors

• Lee David Tai Wai
• Tse Kwok-Kwong Ben
• Thomas Kenneth Gregory
• Chan Ching Kai
• Hernandez-Maldonado Jorge

Classifications

• F05B2220/302

  in gas turbines · CPC title

• G01M15/14

  Testing gas-turbine engines or jet-propulsion engines · CPC title

• F04D27/001 Primary

  Testing thereof; Determination or simulation of flow characteristics; Stall or surge detection, e.g. condition monitoring · CPC title

• F05B2260/83

  Testing, e.g. methods, components or tools therefor · CPC title

• F04D29/321

  for axial flow compressors · CPC title