IP Library Granted Patent US 8,281,486
Granted Patent B2
US 8,281,486 · App. 12/619,324 · Granted Oct 9, 2012

Method for machining a gas turbine rotor

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,281,486
App. No.
12/619,324
Granted
Oct 9, 2012
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method for machining a gas turbine rotor which is provided with a cooling air slot which concentrically extends around the axis of the gas turbine rotor and is supplied with compressed cooling air via axial cooling air holes which at the side lead into the slot base of the cooling air slot, and the opening of which is covered by bridges which are arranged in a distributed manner over the circumference and spaced apart from each other by gaps. A crack-resistant slot shape is achieved without intervention into the configuration of the bridges by a material-removing tool, particularly a milling tool, being lowered in the gaps between the bridges one after the other into the cooling air slot and in this way the slot base of the cooling air slot being machined and widened over the entire circumference.

Claims (9)

1. A method for machining a gas turbine rotor ( 10 ) having a cooling air slot ( 19 , 19 ′), which concentrically extends around an axis ( 18 ) of the gas turbine rotor ( 10 ) and is supplied with compressed cooling air via axial cooling air holes ( 14 ), which at a side of the gas turbine rotor lead into a slot base ( 16 ) of the cooling air slot ( 19 , 19 ′), and an opening of the cooling air slot is covered by bridges ( 36 ) which are arranged in a distributed manner over a circumference of the gas turbine rotor and spaced apart from each other by gaps ( 38 ), the method comprising: lowering a material-removing tool ( 22 , 25 ) in the gaps ( 38 ) between the bridges ( 36 ) one after the other into the cooling air slot ( 19 , 19 ′); machining the slot base ( 16 ) of the cooling air slot ( 19 , 19 ′) over the entire circumference of the gas turbine rotor, and widening, in width (b 1 , b 2 ), the slot base ( 16 ) of the cooling air slot ( 19 , 19 ′) as a result of the material removal in such a way that the slot base has a tear-shaped cross-sectional contour with a constriction ( 20 ) which lies at a level of the bridges ( 36 ).

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a specific section of the cooling air slot ( 19 , 19 ′) is machined through each of the gaps ( 38 ), and the machined sections which are associated with adjacent gaps overlap.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the material-removing tool ( 22 , 25 ) is moved in a programmed controllable manner in the cooling air slot ( 19 , 19 ′) in a plurality of planes, the gas turbine rotor ( 10 ) is rotatably supported around its axis ( 18 ), and once an associated section of the cooling air slot ( 19 , 19 ′) is machined through a gap ( 38 ), the material-removing tool ( 22 , 25 ) is withdrawn from the cooling air slot ( 19 , 19 ′), the gas turbine rotor ( 10 ) is rotated around its axis ( 18 ) by a predetermined angle, and the material-removing tool ( 22 , 25 ) is lowered in a new gap ( 38 ) into the cooling air slot ( 19 , 19 ′) for machining.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the machining of the slot base ( 16 ) is conducted in such a way that the cooling air slot ( 19 , 19 ′) in the slot base ( 16 ) has a crack-resistant slot shape with a notch factor of <1.5.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the material-removing tool ( 22 , 25 ) is controlled according to an NC-program for machining the slot base ( 16 ).

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein a component-specific cross-sectional final profile of the slot base ( 16 ) is determined from individual operating data of the gas turbine rotor ( 10 ), the cross-sectional final profile can be created from one or more cross-sectional master profiles by the use of distortion parameters which are determined, a corresponding NC-program for controlling the material-removing tool ( 22 , 25 ) is associated with each cross-sectional master profile, and in that the determined distortion parameters are used for adapting the NC-program for the creation of the cross-sectional final profile.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the adapting of the NC-program is undertaken by the distortion parameters offline with a postprocessor.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the adapting of the NC-program is undertaken by the distortion parameters online in the machine control system.

9. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the gas turbine rotor ( 10 ) before the machining in the cooling air slot ( 19 , 19 ′) has cracks ( 17 ) of a specific crack depth, and the cross-sectional final profile which is to be achieved as a result of the machining is influenced by the type and state of the cracks ( 17 ).

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Aug 17, 2016
From: ALSTOM TECHNOLOGY LTD
To: GENERAL ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGY GMBH
Reel/Frame 039714/0578 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 12, 2010
From: STORCH, WILFRIED; GNIRSS, GUNTER; MEIXNER, BERND; GEISSEL, UWE; SCHWAAR, MICHAEL
To: ALSTOM TECHNOLOGY LTD
Reel/Frame 024074/0149 →