Axial turbine and method for discharging a flow from an axial turbine

1. An axial turbine comprising:

a plurality of expansion stages each including and defined by stator blades and rotor blades;

a diffuser fluidly downstream of the expansion stages configured and arranged to collect the flow passing through the expansion stages and discharge it;

wherein the expansion stages, the diffuser, or both have at least a non-axial symmetric portion;

wherein stator blades of at least one of the expansion stages define different openings along the circumference of the turbine than openings between other stator blades of the same expansion stage.

2. An axial turbine as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

an extraction slit; and

wherein the stator blades defining different openings are blades of a stage adjacent to the diffuser, a stage upstream of the extraction slit, a stage downstream of the extraction slit, or combinations thereof.

3. An axial turbine as claimed in claim 2 , wherein said stator blades defining different openings have different angles defined between the axial direction and an axis perpendicular to the opening, to define different openings.

4. An axial turbine as claimed in claim 3 , wherein said stator blades defining different openings comprise a first group of stator blades having a first angle between the axial direction of the turbine and an axis perpendicular to the opening, and a second group of stator blades having a second angle between the axial direction of the turbine and an axis perpendicular to the opening, the first angle being different from the second angle.

5. An axial turbine as claimed in claim 4 , wherein:

the first group of stator blades is adjacent to an upper portion of the exhaust diffuser and the second group of stator blades is adjacent to a lower zone of the exhaust diffuser; and

the first angle is smaller than the second angle, such that the openings between the stator blades of the first group are greater than the openings between the stator blades of the second group.

6. An axial turbine as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the stator blades of the first group are symmetrically arranged about an axis of symmetry of the diffuser and the stator blades of the second group are symmetrically arranged about the same axis of symmetry of the diffuser.

7. An axial turbine as claimed in claim 4 , wherein said stator blades defining different openings comprise a third group of stator blades having angles between the axial direction of the turbine and the perpendicular to the opening different from the first and second angles and between the first and the second angles.

8. An axial turbine as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said turbine is a steam turbine and said flow is a steam flow.

9. A method for discharging a flow from an axial turbine having a plurality of expansion stages followed by a diffuser for collecting and discharging the flow passing through the expansion stages, wherein the expansion stages, the diffuser, or both have at least a non-axial symmetric portion, the method comprising:

differently driving the flow with the stator blades within the expansion stages according to the angular position along the circumference of the turbine.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein differently driving comprises driving the flow only in an expansion stage adjacent to the diffuser, in stages upstream of an extraction slit, in stages downstream of an extraction slit, or combinations thereof.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein differently driving comprises driving more flow in an upper zone of the exhaust diffuser than in a lower zone of the same exhaust diffuser.

12. A method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein said turbine is a steam turbine and said flow is a steam flow.