US1740379A

US1740379A - Elastic-fluid turbine

Info

Publication number: US1740379A
Application number: US224245A
Authority: US
Inventors: Reginald G Standerwick
Original assignee: General Electric Co
Current assignee: General Electric Co
Priority date: 1927-10-05
Filing date: 1927-10-05
Publication date: 1929-12-17
Anticipated expiration: 1946-12-17

Description

Dec. 17,1929. R. G. sTANDr-:RWICK 1,740,379

ELASTIG FLUID TURBINE Filed Oct. 5. 1927 Invenuor- Reginald @.Sbanclerwick,

His Abner-'neg- Patented Dec. 17, 1929 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REGINALD G. STANDERWICK, F MARBLEHEAD, MASSACHUSlE"1l"ILS,l ASSIGNOR TO GEN- ERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK ELASTIC-'FLUID TURBINE Appneaaon 1aed october l5, i927. serial No. 224,245.

The present invention relates to elastic fluid turbines and especially to elastic fluid' improved regulating means which, while be-A ing` simple in structure, operates to maintain stable governing of the machine, and for a consideration of what I believe to be novel and my invention, attention is directed to the accompanying description and the claims appended thereto. M

The more usual application of the invention is in connection with extraction turbines,

` that is, turbines wherein elastic fluid is withdrawn from an intermediate stage for some purpose such as, for example, industrial heating. Accordingly, I have herein specifically illustrated and described the invention in this environment. It is to be underfrom the drawing and the following description.

Referring to the lower right hand portion" of the drawing, 1 indicates the casing at the high pressure end of an elastic fluid turbine;`

2 indicates the first'stage wheel, and 3 indicates the `first stage nozzles. Elastic fluid is supplied to the turbine through a conduit t.

Associated with conduit 4 is a valve means 5j for regulating the flow of elastic fluid t-o the turbine. `In the ,present instance, the valve' means is shown diagrammatically as being a ton 28 which moves in a cylinder 29.

single valve. It is to be understood, however, that'this is intended to represent any suitable valve gear. Valve means 5 is connected by a stem 6 to a lever 7 pivoted at one end on a fixed support 8. The other end of lever 7 engages a cam 9 carried on a. shaft 10. On shaft 10 is a gear wheel 11 which meshes with a rack 12, on the upper end of the stem 13 of a fluid actuated motor. 14 indicates the cylinder of the motor; 15 indicates the piston 16` indicates a spring which normally biases the piston toward the lower end of the cylinder and hence valve means 5 toward closed position, and 17 indicates the pilot valve.

The stein of pilot valve 17 is connected to a lever 18 which at its right hand end is pivot ed on rod 18 and at its left end is pivoted to one end of a governor lever 19 fulcrumed on a fixed support 20. Connected to governor lever 19 is a speed governor 21 which is suitably driven from the turbine shaft.

The construction so far described represents the high pressure speed control valve gear of an elastic fluid turbine. rIhe operation of such a valve gear is well understood. When the speed of the turbine increases, speed governor 21 raises pilot valve 17 permitting actuatingfluid to escape from beneath piston 15 effecting a closing of valve means 5, while "when the speed of theJ turbine decreases speed governor 21 lowers pilot valve 17 thereby admitting actuating fluid beneath the piston 15 to open the valve means 5. The arrangement illustrated comprises a usual form of follow poses such as for heating purposes. 24 indicates t-he valve, termed usually a ring valve, which controls the flow of elastic fluid from the extraction stage to the next lower stage ofthe turbine. On its upper portion it is provided with a gear segment 25 which meshes with a rack `26 connected by a rod 27 to a pis- 30 indicates'a Vpilot yvalve for controlling the supply of actuating fluid to cylinder 29. The stern of' pilot valve 30 is connected to a lever 31 which at its lower end is connected through a link 32 to a stem 33 connected to pist-on'28, link 32 being pivoted at 34 on a stationary support.

The upper end of lever 3l is connected to a link 35 which in turn is connected by a bell crank lever 36 to a stem 37 of a pressure responsive device 33. `Bell crank lever 36'is pivoted at its elbow on a fixed bracket 39. Pressure responsive device 38 is here. shown as being in the form of a corrugated bellows 40 mounted in a casing 4l, it being rigidly connected at its upper end totliefcasing.l The lower end of bellows 40 is connected to stem 37. 42 is a stop to limit the amount of' upward movement oi' bellows40, Vand 43 is a suitable spring which operates in a direction to oppose the collapsing of the bellows. The compression of spring 43 can be adjusted so as to set the. spring at the desired value by an adjustable nut 43a. Casing 4l is connected by a pipe 44 to extraction conduit 23. It will thus beV seen that bellows 40 is subjectfto the extraction stage pressure and that when such stage pressure increases, bellows 40 is col-v lapsed somewhat thereby nioving stem 37 upward against the action of spring 43, whileV when the stage pressure decreases, spring 43 acts to move stein37 downward and distend the bellows. f

When stein 37 moves upward it turns bell crank lever 36 thereby actuating pilot valvel 30 and effecting operation ofpiston 23 .in a direction to open somewhat ring valve 24,

which serves to decrease the pressure in thel extraction stage while. when stem 37 moves downward it operates the pilot valve in a direction to close somewhat ring valve 24, there-l by serving to increase the pressure in the extraction stage.

An extraction stage valve and pressure-responsive regulating means therefor of' the.

type shown is more particularly illustrated in the patent to Norton, 1,091,078, March 24,.

In connection with an elastic fluid turbine equipped with a high pressure valve means responsive to one operating condition of the turbine andan extraction stage valve means Y responsive to the pressure of the extraction stage, it has been found in certain applications that the regulation obtained is not sui"- ficiently close on account of the time lag required f'or the respective regulating means to react upon each other. V For example, if the soon as this happens the increase in the extraction stage pressure effects an opening movement of the. stage valve. I-Iowever, there may be some lag and also in cases where the regulating means are set close there may result more or less hunting or irregularity in the operation of the machine. p

More particularly the object of my invention is to provide in connection with an elastic fluid turbine equipped with extraction mechanism, i a simple means whereby the above referred ,to difficulties are overcome andV tothis end I provide a connection between tlie high pressure valve gear of the elastic fluidturbine and the pressure actuated extraction valve gear whereby Athe setting of' one of them is modified bythe position of the other and preferably the setting ofthe extraction pressure valve gear is iii-odified in accordance with the position of the high pressure valve gear. According to the embodiment of myV invention illustrated in the drawing, I provide a spring4 45 which is connected so as to operate on the pressureresponsive device 38, it being in the present instance connected to one end of link 35,'and I then connect such spring tothe high pressure valve gear so that its tensiony is increased and decreased in accordance with the position of' the high pressure valve gear. In the Vpresent instance, spring 45 is shown as being connected by a rod 46, bell crank lever 47, and rod 48 to lever 7. Bell cranklever 47 is pivoted on a fixed bracket 48 and is provided with a series of openings 49 in its arm whereby the connection between such arm and rod 48 may be adjusted. n 1

From the above described arrangement, it will be seen that whenever the position of valve means 5 is changedthe tension-of spring 45 is changed, the tension of the spring be- Y ing increased as valve means 5 opens and being decreased as valve means 5 closes. TWith this arrangementwhenever valve means 5 moves toward open position the increased tension on spring 45 reacts through bell crank lever 36 and stem 37, tending to effect a collapsing movement of bellows 40. This in ef'- fect amounts to modifying the setting of spring 43 in tliatspring 45 acts in opposition to spring 43 so that when the tension of spring 45 increases the effective action of spring 43 on bellows 44 is decreased. Y As a result,l therefore, whenever valve means 5 opens somewhat, the setting of pressure-responsive device 33 is modified to effect immediately an opening movement of ringpvalve 24. Ring valve 24 is opened therefore when valve means 5 opens to admit more elastic fluidfto the Vtoward closed position, the setting of pressure-responsive device 38 is modified to effeet a closing movementof ring valve 24 withllO iii

out first waiting for the pressure in the extraction stage to decrease. On the other hand, however, the ring valve is free to be opened and closed through the pressure-responsive device 38, upon change in the eX- traction pressure. As is Well understood, such a change may be effected by a change in the demand for extracting elastic fluid.

Thus it Will be seen that by the simple interconnection shown I provide a mechanism whereby Whenever the high pressure valve means of the elastic fluid turbine is adj usted, the ring valve means is also adjusted before any change in pressure in the extraction stage occurs, the change in the extraction stage pressure being anticipated. As a result, closer and more even regulation of the turbine a Whole is obtained.

llfhile I have illustrated and described the ring valve as being controlled in response to changes in the pressure of the extracted elastic fluid, this being the more usual arrangement it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto, as the ring valve may be cont-rolled by some other operating condition of the installation, such as temperature, for example.

In accordance With the provisions of the patent statutes, I have described the prin-V ciple of operation of my invention, together With the apparatus I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown and described is only illustrative and that the invention may be carried out b v other means.

llfhat I claim as nen7 and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. The combination with an elastic fluid turbine having a valve gear for controlling the supply of elastic fluid to the turbine and a valve gear for controlling the elastic fluid at an intermediate point in the turbine, said second named valve gear comprising` governing means for positioning it in accordance with an operating condition appurtenant to the turbine. of means for modifying the setting of said governing means in accordance with the position of said first-named valve gear.

2. The combination With an elastic fluid turbine having a valve gear for controlling the supply of elastic fluid to the turbine, valve means for controlling the elastic fluid at an intermediate stage in the turbine, and governing means for positioning said valve means in accordance with an operating condition appurtenant to the turbine, of means actuated by the position of said valve gear for modifying the setting of said governing means.

. 3. The combination with an elastic fluid turbine having a conduit connected with an intermediate stage through Which elastic fluid may be Withdrawn from or supplied to the turbine, of valve means controlling the supply of elastic fluid to the turbine, valve means controlling the flow of elastic fluid at said intermediate stage, a pressure-responsive device for positioning said stage valve means, and means actuated automatically by movement of said first named valve means for modifying the setting of said pressureresponsive device in accordance with the position of said first-named valve means.

Ll. The combination With an elastic fluid turbine having a conduit connected With an intermediate stage through which elastic fluid may be Withdrawn from or supplied to the turbine, of valve means controlling the supply of elastic fluid to the turbine, valve means controlling the flow of elastic fluid at said intermediate stage, a pressure responsive device for positioning said stage valve means, an adjustable si ring for varying the pressure at which said pressure-responsive device acts, and means actuated automatically by movement of said first named valve means for n'iodifying the setting of said spring in accordance with the position of said firstnamed valve means. i

5. The combination With an elastic fluid turbine having a valve means for controlling the supply of elastic fluidto the turbine, a governor for positioning said valve means, a valve means for controlling the elastic fluid at an intermediate point in the turbine, and a governor for positioning said lastnamed valve means, of means for modifying the setting of one of said governors in accordance with the position of the other valve means.

6. The. combination with an elastic fluid turbine having a valve gear for controlling the supply of elastic fluid to the turbine and a valve gear for controlling the elastic fluid at an intermediate point in the turbine, each of said valve gears comprising governing means for positioning it in accordance With an operating condition appurtenant to the turbine, of means for modifying the setting of one of said governing means in accordance With the position of the other valve gear.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this lirst day of October, 1927.

RVEGINALD Gr. STANDERWICK.