Shroud assembly for a gas turbine engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9988936-B2
Application number	US-201514884152-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 15, 2015
Priority date	Oct 15, 2015
Publication date	Jun 5, 2018
Grant date	Jun 5, 2018

Abstract

A shroud assembly for a gas turbine engine includes a shroud, hanger, and a hanger support mounted adjacent to a plurality of blades. The hanger can have an interior chamber defining a cooling circuit with a particle separator located within the interior chamber. The particle separator can have an inlet for accepting a flow of cooling fluid, such that a the flow of cooling fluid separates into a major flow and a minor flow carrying particles or particulate matter along the minor flow into a particle collector comprising at least a portion of the particle separator. Particles become constrained to the minor flow and pass into the particle collector, while the major flow is separated into the remaining area of the interior chamber to remove the particles from the flow of cooling fluid passing into the interior chamber.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A shroud assembly for a turbine engine having a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine within a casing, with the turbine having a plurality of annularly-arranged fixed vanes defining a nozzle and a plurality of annularly-arranged rotating blades paired with the fixed vanes to define one stage of the turbine, the shroud assembly comprising:
a shroud having a front side confronting the blades and a back side opposite the front side;
a hanger configured to couple the shroud with the casing and defining an interior chamber, and having a fore face with an inlet passage extending through the fore face and fluidly coupled to the chamber, and an aft face with an outlet passage extending through the aft face and fluidly coupled to the chamber;
a cooling circuit having a first portion fluidly coupled to the inlet passage and supplying a cooling fluid stream to the chamber through the inlet passage and a second portion fluidly coupled to the outlet passage and defining a scavenge flow passage; and
at least one particle separator located within the chamber and having a scavenge flow inlet spaced from and confronting the inlet passage to define a gap between the scavenge flow inlet and the inlet passage, a scavenge conduit fluidly coupled to the scavenge flow passage, and a choke fluidly coupling the scavenge flow inlet to the scavenge conduit;
wherein the gap is sized such that a first portion of the cooling fluid stream flows out through the gap, and the inlet passage is aligned with the scavenge inlet such that a second portion of the cooling fluid stream flows directly from the inlet passage, across the gap, and into the scavenge inlet, with particles entrained in the cooling fluid stream are primarily constrained by momentum in the second portion of the cooling fluid stream to define a scavenge fluid stream.

2. The shroud assembly of claim 1 wherein the scavenge flow inlet comprises a reduced cross-sectional area portion to accelerate the first portion of the cooling fluid stream prior to reaching the choke.

3. The shroud assembly of claim 2 wherein the reduced cross-sectional area portion comprises a continuously reducing cross-sectional area in a direction toward the choke.

4. The shroud assembly of claim 1 wherein the scavenge flow inlet comprises a first tapered portion, which reduces in cross-sectional area toward the choke.

5. The shroud assembly of claim 4 wherein the scavenge flow inlet comprises a lip defined by a second tapered portion that increases in cross-sectional area toward the choke.

6. The shroud assembly of claim 5 wherein the second tapered portion extends from the first tapered portion.

7. The shroud assembly of claim 6 wherein the choke comprises a minimum cross-sectional area, which is less than or equal to the smallest cross-sectional area of the scavenge flow inlet and the scavenge conduit.

8. The shroud assembly of claim 7 wherein the scavenge conduit has a constant cross sectional area downstream of the choke.

9. The shroud assembly of claim 1 wherein the hanger further comprises an impingement baffle in fluid communication with the first portion of the cooling fluid stream.

10. The shroud assembly of claim 9 wherein the impingement baffle comprises multiple through openings.

11. The shroud assembly of claim 10 wherein the cooling circuit further comprises a third portion fluidly coupled to the chamber and defining a cooling fluid outlet.

12. The shroud assembly of claim 1 wherein the particle separator comprises a virtual impactor.

13. A component for a turbine engine having a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine within a casing, with the turbine having a plurality of annularly-arranged fixed vanes defining a nozzle and a plurality of annularly-arranged rotating blades paired with the fixed vanes to define one stage of the turbine, the component comprising:
a body defining an interior chamber, and having a first face with an inlet passage extending through the first face and fluidly coupled to the chamber, and a second face with an outlet passage extending through the second face and fluidly coupled to the chamber;
a cooling circuit having a first portion fluidly coupled to the inlet passage and supplying a cooling fluid stream to the chamber through the inlet passage and a second portion fluidly coupled to the outlet passage and defining a scavenge flow passage; and
at least one particle separator located within the chamber and having a scavenge flow inlet spaced from and confronting the inlet passage to define a gap between the scavenge flow inlet and the inlet passage, a scavenge conduit fluidly coupled to the scavenge flow passage, and a choke fluidly coupling the scavenge flow inlet to the scavenge conduit;
wherein the gap is sized such that a first portion of the cooling fluid stream flows out through the gap, and the inlet passage is aligned with the scavenge inlet such that a second portion of the cooling fluid stream flows directly from the inlet passage, across the gap, and into the scavenge inlet, with particles entrained in the cooling fluid stream are primarily constrained by momentum in the second portion of the cooling fluid stream to define a scavenge fluid stream.

14. The nozzle assembly of claim 13 wherein a ratio of the length of the gap to the diameter of the choke is between 1:1 and 1:4.

15. The nozzle assembly of claim 14 wherein the ratio of the length of the gap to the diameter of the choke is between 1:1 and 1:2.

16. The component of claim 13 wherein the scavenge flow inlet comprises a reduced cross-sectional area portion to accelerate the first portion of the cooling fluid stream prior to reaching the choke.

17. The component of claim 16 wherein the reduced cross-sectional area comprises a continuously reducing cross-sectional area in a direction toward the choke.

18. The component of claim 13 wherein the scavenge flow inlet comprises a first tapered portion, which reduces in cross-sectional area toward the choke.

19. The component of claim 18 wherein the scavenge flow inlet comprises a lip defined by a second tapered portion that increases in cross-sectional area toward the choke.

20. The component of claim 19 wherein the choke comprises a minimum cross-sectional area, which is less than or equal to the smallest cross-sectional area of the scavenge flow inlet and the scavenge conduit.

21. The component of claim 20 wherein the scavenge conduit has a constant cross sectional area downstream of the choke.

22. The component of claim 13 wherein the component comprises at least one of a hanger bracket, shroud, and blade.

23. A shroud assembly for a turbine engine having a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine comprising:
a shroud confronting a plurality of annularly-rotating blades;
a hanger coupled to the shroud defining an interior chamber having an inlet and a scavenge flow outlet; and
a virtual impactor located within the interior chamber;
wherein a cooling fluid stream is introduced into the interior chamber through the inlet and the virtual impactor separates the cooling fluid stream into a scavenge particle fluid stream flowing through the virtual impactor and exhausted out through the scavenge flow outlet, and a reduced particle fluid stream flowing exteriorly of the virtual impactor within the interior chamber.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Nasr Hojjat
• Laskowski Gregory Michael
• Stover Curtis Walton
• Vining William Collins

Classifications

• Y02T50/675

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F01D25/14 Primary

  Casings modified therefor (double casings F01D25/26) · CPC title

• F05D2260/607

  Preventing clogging or obstruction of flow paths by dirt, dust, or foreign particles · CPC title

• F01D25/32

  Collecting of condensation water; Drainage {; Removing solid particles} · CPC title

• F02C7/12

  Cooling of plants (of component parts, see the relevant subclasses, e.g. F01D; cooling of engines in general F01P) · CPC title