PATENTS

Patents
Seal carrier for a rotary machine and method
of retrofitting
Applicant: General Electric Co, USA
This patent is concerned with segmented clearance seals for steam
turbines that are designed to be displaced in the event of shaft movements. It is intended to reduce the
wear during potential shaft rub
conditions. The seal may be a
labyrinth, brush, honeycomb or
abradable seal. A seal carrier (100)
has a packing ring (120) coupled to
a seal (110). In the channel (130)

there is s displacement apparatus

(150) for radially positioning the
seal. A controlled pressure is provided in the fluid channel (F) to
position the packing ring. The control pressure may be varied to control the leakage flow depending on
the operating conditions.
Patent number: WO 2005/031197
Inventors: B. Fang et al.
Publication date: 7 April 2005

High-temperature seal for gas turbine applications

Applicant: Alstom Technology Ltd, Switzerland
This invention relates to a hightemperature seal with high wear
resistance for application in the
combustor or between blade platforms in a gas turbine. The spring
load provides a seal when there
are vibrations in the combustion
chamber, and the seal life is
increased by the materials which
are optimally chosen for the functions of high thermal and wear
resistance and spring load. The
materials detailed include for the
outer component (7) a cobaltnickel alloy that exhibits oxide
dispersion strengthening characteristics; examples include Rene
41, Haynes 188, Haynes 214,

Haynes 230 and Ultime. The

spring component (9) is manufactured from a material with high
spring load maintenance. Because
of the level of forming required to
achieve the spring load, a precipitation-hardened nickel-chromium
alloy is most suitable. Examples
include Alloy 718, Inconel 718,
Waspaloy or Rene 41 TU. The
spring component may have one
or more convolutions produced
by rolling. It may also be an
overextended U, or be rolled with
several curves.
Patent number: WO 2005/033558
Inventors: P.G. Amos et al.
Publication date: 14 April 2005

The high-temperature gas

turbine combustor seal
from WO 2005/033558.

Cross-section of the steam turbine seal described in WO 2005/031197,

showing the fluid channel used to control the seal clearance.

Rotary actuator with integrated vane seal

Applicant: Honeywell International Inc, USA

Seal structure of a fuel cell

Applicant: Toyota Jidosha, Japan
This primary aim here is to provide
a seal structure for a fuel cell where
the sealing characteristics and seal
stability are assured even in gas and
coolant connecting passages between the gas and coolant manifolds
and the gas and coolant passages of
a central part of the fuel cell. It is
also intended to continue to ensure
a seal when the widths of the gas
and coolant manifolds are different
to each other. The seal includes an
interrupted back-up at a connecting gas passage and a connecting
coolant passage. The back-up located on one side of the separator and
a portion of a seal line located on
the other side of the separator are
disposed such that the back-up and
the portion of the seal line overlap
with each other in the fuel cell
stacking direction. The interrupted
back-up may be formed in the seal
or in the separator.
12

Patent number: WO 2005/036685

Inventors: T. Hayashi, M. Wada
and I. Myojin
Publication date: 21 April 2005

View of the fuel cell seal

described in WO 2005/036685,
showing overlap of seal and
back-up at a fluid passage.

This patent is intended to alleviate

some of the problems and shortcomings associated with sealing
high-pressure vane actuators. The
intention is to use a high pressure
from within the actuator to energize a corner seal between the rotor
vanes and the end plate of a rotary
actuator. The seal blocks the leak
path from high pressure on one
side of the rotary vanes to lower
pressure on the opposite side. The
seal should also be relatively easy
to machine, in order to reduce production time while reducing costs.
The actuator comprises rotor vanes
(40), an endplate (60), a corner
seal (30) between the rotor vanes
and end plate, a vane seal (20), a
high-pressure chamber and a low
pressure chamber. A single channel
(22) passes from a lower portion of
the vane seal groove (25) to a common channel (28) beneath the
vane seal to provide high pressure
to the corner seal. The common

channel may be formed in the

rotor vane or in a separate rotor
vane flow sleeve (21).
Patent number: WO 2005/038269
Inventors: L.A. Portolese,
W.S. Rowan and G.E. Fluga
Publication date: 28 April 2005

Cross-section of the rotary

vane actuator described in
WO 2005/038269, showing
the cross drillings to provide
high-pressure energization
to the corner seal.

Sealing Technology July 2005