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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Stage for a steam turbine

Patent ·
OSTI ID:7071696
This patent describes a stage of an axial flow turbine for converting at least a portion of energy available from an elastic fluid into mechanical energy, comprising: buckets affixed to and circumferentially aligned around a rotor of the turbine, each bucket including an aerodynamic region intermediate an outer tip section and an inner root section. The turbine includes a shell having an inner surface for circumferentially surrounding the buckets; bucket covers, each of the covers respectively connecting the tip section of adjacent buckets and each of the covers including an outer surface, wherein each of the covers permits untwisting of each respective bucket of the plurality of buckets during turbine operation; and one rib respectively extending radially outward from the outer surface of each of the plurality of covers, respectively. Each rib is tangentially aligned with respect to the ribs on adjacent covers, the radially extensive edge of the rib in close proximity to yet spaced from the inner surface of the shell to form a radial clearance gap between the inner surface of the shell and the rib. The rib is only impediment to flow of the elastic fluid between the tips of the plurality of buckets and the inner surface of the shell.
Assignee:
General Electric Co., Schenectady, NY
Patent Number(s):
US 4643645
OSTI ID:
7071696
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English