The subject-matter disclosed herein relates to stator aerodynamic components with nozzles and methods for cleaning a turbomachine, and also turbomachines comprising one or more such components and/or cleaned through such methods.
Turbomachines, for example rotary compressors and rotary turbines, are machines designed to process a working fluid that flows inside a flow path during operation of the machine. A turbine transfers energy from the working fluid to a rotor of the machine. A compressor transfers energy from a rotor of the machine to the working fluid. The flow path is defined partially by surfaces of a rotor of the machine and partially by surfaces of a stator of the machine.
During operation, a turbomachine, in particular the surfaces delimiting its flow path, gets dirty; this is particularly true for turbomachines used in the “Oil & Gas” industry. Dirt may derive from the composition of the working fluid and/or from substances or droplets or particles carried by the working fluid. Dirt may stick even firmly to the surfaces delimiting the flow path; typical surfaces that get dirty are the airfoil surfaces of (rotary) blades and (stationary) vanes of a turbomachine.
A solution for cleaning a gas turbine compressor is known from US patent application published as “US 2007/0028947 A1”. According to this solution, a washing assembly is located at the bellmouth of the compressor upstream of its struts, and includes a number of nozzles ejecting water droplets.
A washing assembly located at the bellmouth of the compressor upstream of its struts is easy to be installed as the bellmouth is quite big and is easily accessible being at the inlet of the machine.
However, a washing assembly located at the bellmouth of the compressor upstream of its struts is fully effective only in cleaning the struts.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a cleaning system and method effective in cleaning (stationary) vanes and/or (rotary) blades of a turbomachine, preferably also (stationary) vanes and/or (rotary) blades far from the inlet of the turbomachine.
According to one aspect, the subject-matter disclosed herein relates to a stator aerodynamic component to be placed inside a flow path of a working fluid of a turbomachine; the component comprises: a duct arranged to receive a liquid from a pipe, and one or more nozzles fluidly connected to said duct and arranged to eject liquid into the flow path; the component further comprises a removable part, and the one or more nozzles are located in the removable part.
According to another aspect, the subject-matter disclosed herein relates to a stator aerodynamic component to be placed inside a flow path of a working fluid of a turbomachine; the component comprises: a duct arranged to receive a liquid from a pipe, and one or more nozzles fluidly connected to said duct and arranged to eject liquid into the flow path; the one or more nozzles are located internally to poles projecting from airfoil surfaces of the stator aerodynamic component.
The stator aerodynamic components as disclosed herein may be used to eject a washing liquid being for example water, in particular demineralized water, and possibly a detergent; however, it may be used to eject other liquids useful for specific applications in a turbomachine.
According to another aspect, the subject-matter disclosed herein relates to a method for cleaning a turbomachine; the method comprises the step of washing blades and/or vanes of the turbomachine by ejecting a washing liquid from at least one stator aerodynamic component placed inside a flow path of a working fluid of the turbomachine.
According to another aspect, the subject-matter disclosed herein relates to a turbomachine comprising at least one stator aerodynamic component; the stator aerodynamic component is placed inside a flow path of a working fluid of the turbomachine; the component comprises: a duct arranged to receive a liquid from a pipe, and one or more nozzles fluidly connected to said duct and arranged to eject liquid into the flow path.
A more complete appreciation of the disclosed embodiments of the invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
In order to clean a dirty surface, a washing liquid, for example water, may be sprayed onto the surface from one or more nozzles. Cleaning is very effective if the nozzle is very close to the surface to be cleaned. Dirt deposits on blades disturb aerodynamic flow around them leading to loss of entire turbine efficiency; furthermore, uneven dirt deposits on blades may cause vibrations; thus effective washing of blades is advantageous.
In a turbomachine, a strut or a (stationary) vane is positioned near an array of (rotary) blades that are immediately downstream of the strut or vane. During rotation of the rotor, the distance between a blade of the array and the strut or vane first decreases, reaches a minimum and then increases. To be more precise, during rotation of the rotor, the distance between a leading edge region of the blade of the array and a trailing edge region of the strut or vane first decreases, reaches a minimum and then increases.
As disclosed herein, it has been discovered that a specially configured stator aerodynamic component, for example a strut or a (stationary) vane, equipped with at least one nozzle, may advantageously be used for ejecting a washing liquid from the at least one nozzle that washes (rotary) blades and/or (stationary) vanes downstream, preferably immediately downstream, of the strut or vane. Nozzles for ejecting the washing liquid may advantageously be located at the trailing edge region of the stator aerodynamic component.
As the strut or vane is stationary, the washing liquid may be easily fed to the strut or vane in a continuous manner through e.g. a pipe from a supply system that may be external to the turbomachine.
Use of embodiments of the new stator aerodynamic component is contrary traditional approaches for washing turbomachines, which wash from the exterior of the turbomachine. Advantageously, embodiments of the new stator aerodynamic component and turbomachine “interior” washing method may be used for any (rotary) blades and/or (stationary) vanes even if they are far from the inlet and outlet of the turbomachine, because the cleaning system (e.g., at least a stator aerodynamic component equipped with at least one wash nozzle) is integrated into what are considered to be normal components of the turbomachine, and/or fits within the interior dimensions/spatial volume of the turbomachine to clean from the inside (or interior) of the turbomachine.
Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the disclosure, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the disclosure, not limitation of the disclosure. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. Reference throughout the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” or “some embodiments” means that the particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the subject matter disclosed. Thus, the appearance of the phrase “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” or “in some embodiments” in various places throughout the specification is not necessarily referring to the same embodiment(s). Further, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
When introducing elements of various embodiments the articles “a”, “an”, “the”, and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising”, “including”, and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements.
Referring now to the drawings,
Compressor 1000 is divided into a bellmouth section 100 and a compression section 200. Section 100 is enclosed in a bellmouth section casing 110 that is part of the stator of the compressor. Section 200 is enclosed in a compression section casing 210 that is part of the stator of the compressor. Casings 110 and 210 are joined together and may be in a single piece or in multiple pieces fixed between each other. A flow path 500 stretches inside compressor 1000. A rotation axis of the compressor 1000 is indicated as XX.
Bellmouth section 100 includes an array of struts 130 that are parts of the stator of the compressor.
Compression section 200 includes stator vanes and rotor blades. In particular, moving from the inlet to the outlet, i.e. from a low-pressure side of the compressor (on the left of
Flow path 500 is partially defined by the airfoil surfaces of struts 130, vanes 230 and 250, blades 240 and 260; in other words, these aerodynamic components are placed inside flow path 500 of a working fluid of turbomachine 1000.
According to the embodiment of
The first cleaning assembly in
As can be appreciated from e.g.
Washing liquid ejected from nozzles 135 is very effective in cleaning vanes 230 of turbomachine 1000 being immediately downstream of struts 130 of turbomachine 1000. Washing liquid ejected from nozzles 135 is still effective in cleaning blades 240 of turbomachine 1000 being in turn immediately downstream of vanes 230 of turbomachine 1000.
The second cleaning assembly in
As can be appreciated, compressor 1000 has a number of vanes 250. In the embodiment of
Washing liquid ejected from nozzles 255 is very effective in cleaning blades 260 of turbomachine 1000 being immediately downstream of vanes 250 of turbomachine 1000.
From the above, it is apparent that the stator aerodynamic component comprising a cleaning assembly may be a bellmouth strut (for example strut 130) or an inlet guide vane (for example vane 230) or intermediate guide vane (for example vane 250).
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
It is to be noted that a nozzle may be designed to eject liquid in different directions, i.e. its ejection looks like a wide cone; alternatively, a cone-shaped ejection from a component may derive from the combination of the ejections from a set of nozzles mounted to the component.
It is further to be noted that nozzles of the same component may be arranged to eject liquid in different directions. For example, with reference to
Referring to
It is to be noted that, even if this is not shown in any figure, nozzles may be located on an inner and/or an outer wall delimiting flow path 500 at positions different from bellmouth. In this case, they may be located between a first stage (for example blades 240) of compressor 1000 and a last stage (for example blades 260) of compressor 1000, for example close to vanes (for example vanes 250).
Referring to
Nozzles 135-6, 135-7, 135-8 eject washing liquid so to reach blades 260; in particular, ejection form one nozzle reach only one blade at a time (or a limited number of vane at a time, for example two or three or four). According to these embodiments, nozzles 135-6, 135-7, 135-8 eject washing liquid so to reach both the pressure side and the suction side of blades 260; in
As it is apparent from the above description, the cleaning methods disclosed herein provide that blades and/or vanes of a turbomachine are washed by ejecting a washing liquid from at least one stator aerodynamic component placed inside a flow path of a working fluid of the turbomachine; in particular, the washing liquid is ejected from one or more nozzles at least one stator aerodynamic component. The blades may be blades of a first stage of the turbomachine and/or blades of an intermediate stage of the turbomachine and/or blades of a last stage of the turbomachine. The vanes may be vanes of a first vanes array of the turbomachine and/or vanes of an intermediate vanes array of the turbomachine and/or vanes of a last vanes array of the turbomachine.
The stator aerodynamic components as disclosed herein may be used to eject a washing liquid being for example water, in particular demineralized water, and possibly a detergent. The composition of the washing liquid may depend on when (for example in operating mode or in non-operating mode) and/or where cleaning is carried out. However, the stator aerodynamic components as disclosed herein may be used to eject other liquids useful for specific applications in a turbomachine.
The cleaning method as disclosed herein may be carried out online and/or offline. In other words, the nozzles in the stator aerodynamic components may be activated when the turbomachine is operative, when the turbomachine is non-operative (but rotating) and both in operating mode and in non-operating mode.
The washing liquid may be ejected for example in continuous manner or in pulsating manner.
During cleaning as disclosed herein, at least one parameter may be set or controlled when the blades and/or the vanes are washed. Such parameter may be for example temperature of the washing liquid, pressure of the washing liquid, composition of the washing liquid, ejection velocity of the washing liquid, ejection direction of the washing liquid.
In
In
step 1104: setting or controlling at least one parameter when the blades and/or the vanes are washed.
The at least one parameter is selected from the group comprising temperature of the washing liquid, pressure of the washing liquid, composition of the washing liquid, ejection velocity of the washing liquid, ejection direction of the washing liquid. It is to be noted that these two steps can be performed in any suitable order and/or repeated one or more times, although in
It is to be noted that according to the embodiments just described and shown, the stator aerodynamic component is a component that is already a part of an existing turbomachine. However, according to other embodiments, a turbomachine may comprise stator aerodynamic components specifically designed and mounted inside its flow path for washing purposes. In this case, the (longitudinal and/or transversal) size of one or more components may be small and/or the shape of one or more components may such as to provide low pressure drop and/or the position and/or orientation of one or more components may be such as to provide good washing.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102018000021067 | Dec 2018 | IT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2019/025489 | 12/26/2019 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2020/135931 | 7/2/2020 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20070028947 | Erickson et al. | Feb 2007 | A1 |
20140144151 | Bifulco | May 2014 | A1 |
20150233263 | Battaglioli et al. | Aug 2015 | A1 |
20160031261 | Yamagishi et al. | Mar 2016 | A1 |
20170204739 | Rawson et al. | Jul 2017 | A1 |
20180291931 | Metz | Oct 2018 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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102015006080 | Nov 2016 | DE |
1388656 | Feb 2004 | EP |
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2002130197 | May 2002 | JP |
2004068774 | Mar 2004 | JP |
2016196839 | Nov 2016 | JP |
2020135931 | Jul 2020 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20220065128 A1 | Mar 2022 | US |