Patent Application
20090249791
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to an impingement sleeve for a gas turbine engine. Such impingement sleeves are typically fixedly attached about a transition piece. The geometry of some transition pieces necessitates that the impingement sleeve be made of two or more portions that are assembled around the transition piece and fixedly attached to one another. In such applications, it is common practice to weld the two or more portions of the impingement sleeves together. Such welding operations can be difficult to perform and can make replacing defective impingement sleeves in the field time consuming and difficult. As such, impingement sleeves that are easily assembled and disassembled may be well received in the art.
Disclosed herein is an impingement sleeve for a gas turbine combustion transition piece. The impingement sleeve includes, a housing positionable proximate a first portion of a transition piece body having at least two flanges integrally formed thereon, and a cover positionable proximate a second portion of the transition piece body having at least two lips integrally formed thereon, the at least two lips are weldlessly attachable to the at least two flanges to position the impingement sleeve radially outwardly of the transition piece body.
Further disclosed herein is a method of assembling an impingement sleeve at a transition piece body. The method includes, positioning a housing of the impingement sleeve over a first portion of the transition piece body, positioning a cover of the impingement sleeve over a second portion of the transition piece body, and weldlessly attaching at least one flange of the impingement sleeve housing to at least one lip of the impingement sleeve cover.
The following descriptions should not be considered limiting in any way. With reference to the accompanying drawings, like elements are numbered alike:
A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the disclosed apparatus and method are presented herein by way of exemplification and not limitation with reference to the Figures.
Referring to
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The housing 14 and the cover 22 are configured such that the flanges 18 and the lips 26 are substantially parallel with one another when the housing 14 and the cover 22 are positioned in an encasing configuration about the transition piece 34. When in this position, a plurality of holes 62 in the flanges 18 aligns with a plurality of holes 66 in the lips 26, through which a plurality of fasteners 30 is fastened. The fasteners 30, in this embodiment, are screws that screw into threaded holes in plates 69; however, alternate embodiments could use rivets, pins or other fasteners to attach the flanges 18 to the lips 26. In still other embodiments the flanges 18 could be attached to the lips 26 by other techniques that do not involve welding, such as by crimping of one of the flanges 18 and the lips 26 to the other of the flanges 18 and the lips 26, or by attaching the flanges 18 to the lips 26 with an adhesive, for example.
A first end 68 of each of a pair of support brackets 70 are attached by a pair of the fasteners 30 to one of the flanges 18 and one of the lips 26 on either side of the housing 14 or cover 22. A second end 74 of each of the support brackets 70 is attached to one of a pair of protrusions 78 from a first end 82 of the transition piece 34. The brackets 70 positionally support the housing 14 and the cover 22 relative to the first end 82 of the transition piece 34. Additional support between the housing 14 and the first end 82 of the transition piece 34 is provided by an edge 86 of the housing 14 that extends into a slot 90 in the first end 82. Similarly, additional support between the cover 22 and the first end 82 of the transition piece 34 is provided by an edge 94 of the cover 22 that extends into the slot 90 in the first end 82. In addition to supporting the housing 14 and the cover 22, engagement of the edges 86, 94 with the slot 90 provides a fluidic seal that blocks cooling fluid from flowing into the gaps 50, 58 through this interface.
The housing 14 and the cover 22 are supported and sealed to a conduit 98 located near a second end 102 of the transition piece 34. An edge 106 of the housing 14 forms a lap joint 110 with the conduit 98, and an edge 114 of the cover 22 forms a lap joint 118 with the conduit 98. Hoop strength generated by assembly of the housing 14 with the cover 22 maintains the edges 106 and 114 in contact with the conduit 98 to assure support thereto and sealing therebetween.
While the invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims. Also, in the drawings and the description, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms may have been employed, they are unless otherwise stated used, in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention therefore not being so limited. Moreover, the use of the terms first, second, etc. do not denote any order or importance, but rather the terms first, second, etc. are used to distinguish one element from another. Furthermore, the use of the terms a, an, etc. do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item.
