The present invention relates to a seal carrier for a turbomachine, in particular a gas turbine, comprising a carrier base and at least one seal body, wherein the at least one seal body is connected to the carrier base, and wherein the at least one seal body is formed by a plurality of cavities arranged next to one another, in particular uniformly, in the peripheral direction and in the axial direction, wherein the cavities extend out from the carrier base in the radial direction and are delimited by a cavity wall.
Directional indications such as “axial” or “axially”, “radial” or “radially”, and “peripheral” are basically to be understood as referred to the machine axis of the turbomachine or gas turbine, as long as nothing is indicated to the contrary explicitly or implicitly from the context.
A seal carrier is known from EP 3 375 980 A1, which is formed from a plurality of carrier segments having a respective honeycomb-shaped seal body. At the transitions from one carrier segment to an adjacent carrier segment, a parting line is provided, which extends over the entire axial length of the seal carrier. Such a parting line makes possible a compensation for deformations of the seal carrier and of the honeycomb-shaped seal body due to temperature gradients during operation of the gas turbine. Of course, a parting line that extends over the entire axial length has the disadvantage that the sealing effect is not very good in this region.
The object that is viewed as the basis of the invention is to present a seal carrier, in which deformations based on temperature gradients are reduced while essentially retaining the same sealing effect.
This object is achieved by the present invention. Advantageous embodiments with appropriate enhancements are discussed in detail below.
Thus, a seal carrier is proposed for a turbomachine, in particular a gas turbine, the seal carrier comprising a carrier base and at least one seal body, wherein the at least one seal body is connected to the carrier base, and wherein the at least one seal body is formed by a plurality of cavities arranged next to one another, in particular uniformly, in the peripheral direction and in the axial direction, wherein the cavities extend out from the carrier base in the radial direction and are delimited by a cavity wall. It is therefore provided that the seal body has a plurality of damping portions that are designed for the purpose of locally damping or disrupting the flow of force in the seal body, wherein the carrier base is designed as continuous in the region of the damping portions.
Due to the provision of damping portions in the seal body, a flow of force that occurs particularly in the peripheral direction can be damped or reduced, so that a deformation of the entire seal carrier can be counteracted during operation of the gas turbine. By the provision of damping portions in the seal body, a disruption or weakening of the carrier base can be avoided, an issue that is known, for example, from the above-mentioned prior art having the parting line.
The damping portions can be designed as slot-like openings that are provided for at every two adjacent cavities in such a way that these two adjacent cavities stand together in fluid connection over the relevant opening.
By providing slot-shaped openings in the seal body, the flow of force can be influenced inside the seal body, particularly in the peripheral direction, so that deformations due to thermal gradients can be prevented or reduced. The slot-shaped openings, however, in each case, can be designed or dimensioned such that the fluid connection that is formed thereby between the cavities has little or no influence on the sealing effect of the seal carrier that is to be achieved.
The slot-shaped opening can be provided in a wall segment of the cavity wall that forms a common partition wall between the two adjacent cavities. The slot-shaped opening can extend radially outward proceeding from a radially inner-lying edge of the wall segment. In this case, in the radial direction, the slot-shaped opening can have a slot length that is shorter than the radial height of the wall segment, particularly approximately 70% to 99% of the radial height, or is of the same size as the radial height. Such a slot-shaped opening can be produced, for example, by means of spark erosion processing (also known as electrical discharge machining (EDM)), e.g., by means of a correspondingly dimensioned wire. The slot-shaped openings in this case can have a width in the range of a few hundredths of a millimeter, so that the slot-shaped openings have almost no influence on the sealing effect of the seal body.
The openings can be arranged distributed on the seal body in such a way that a cavity stands in fluid connection with only a single adjacent cavity.
Alternatively, the openings can be arranged distributed on the seal body in such a way that a cavity stands in fluid connection with at least two adjacent cavities.
Further, the openings can be arranged distributed on the seal body in such a way that there is a plurality of adjacent cavities, between which a continuous wall segment is formed, so that these adjacent cavities do not stand in fluid connection with one another.
The arrangement or distribution of the slot-shaped openings can be produced in this way with respect to the entire seal body, particularly from the viewpoint of the above-mentioned reduction in deformations based on temperature gradients.
According to an alternative embodiment, the damping portions can be formed by two parallelly arranged and overlapping wall segments of two adjacent cavities. In other words, a type of opening or slot also can be designed between the overlapping wall segments, so that even in this case, the adjacent cavities stand in fluid connection with one another.
It is also conceivable to configure the damping portions so that the seal body has a greater elasticity in the region of the damping portions, so that the flow of force occurring in the seal body due to elastic expansion of the damping portions can be reduced or damped. In such a case, the flow of force is thus not disrupted locally in the region of the damping portions, but is at least partially absorbed by the more elastic design of the damping portions.
The carrier base and the seal body can be designed as semicircular-shaped sealing segments, wherein two sealing segments form a circumferential seal.
The production or preparation of an above-described seal carrier or/and a seal body can also be achieved by means of additive manufacturing methods. In this case, in particular, the slot-shaped openings in the seal body can also be manufactured in a simple way by additive manufacturing methods.
A gas turbine, particularly an aircraft gas turbine having at least one rotating blade ring, can comprise at least one above-described seal carrier that is arranged around the rotating blade ring.
The invention will be described below with reference to the attached figures by way of example and not in any limiting manner.
In the illustrated example of an aircraft gas turbine 10, a turbine midframe 34 is arranged between the high-pressure turbine 24 and the low-pressure turbine 26, and this midframe is arranged around the shafts 28, 30. In its radially outer region 36, hot exhaust gases from the high-pressure turbine 24 flow through the turbine midframe 34. The hot exhaust gas then reaches into an annular space 38 of the low-pressure turbine 26. By way of example, rotating blade rings 27 from compressors 29; 32 and turbines 24, 26 are illustrated. Guide vane rings 31 that are usually present are indicated only in the compressor 32 by way of example, for reasons of an overview.
The following description of an embodiment of the invention relates, in particular, to the high-pressure turbine 24 or the low-pressure turbine 26, in which the rotating blade rings 27 can be surrounded by the seal carriers described in the following.
The seal body 54 is shown by way of example and as an excerpt in
In order to prevent deformations of the seal carrier during operation of the turbomachine or the gas turbine, several of the wall segments 60 are designed with damping portions 62, in the form here of slot-shaped openings 62 by way of example. The slot-shaped openings 62 in this case are designed in a respective wall segment 60 that forms a common partition wall between two adjacent cavities 56. Due to the slot-shaped opening 62, the two adjacent cavities 56 stand in fluid connection with one another through the opening 62. As is visible from the illustration, the carrier base 52, which is arranged radially outside with respect to the damping portions 62 or the openings 62, is designed as continuous. In other words, no corresponding weakening or segmenting or separation by means of a parting line is provided in the carrier base 52 in the regions having damping portions 62 or slot-shaped openings 62.
By providing slot-shaped openings 62 in the seal body 54, the flow of force can be influenced inside the seal body 54, particularly in the peripheral direction UR, so that deformations due to thermal gradients can be prevented or reduced. The slot-shaped openings 62 can be designed or dimensioned in such a way that the fluid connection that forms thereby between the cavities 56 has little or no influence on the intended sealing effect of the seal carrier 52.
The slot-shaped openings 62 can extend radially outward proceeding from a radially inner-lying edge 64 of the wall segment 60. In this case, in the radial direction RR, the slot-shaped opening 62 can have a slot length SL that is shorter than the radial height RH of the wall segment 60, particularly approximately 70% to 99% of the radial height RH. However, slot lengths SL that are the same size as the radial height RH are also conceivable.
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Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2019 219 090.1 | Dec 2019 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/DE2020/000298 | 12/1/2020 | WO |