POROUS ROTATING MACHINE COMPONENT, COMBUSTOR AND MANUFACTURING METHOD

Abstract

A rotating machine component, particularly a gas turbine combustion component, having at least one part built from a porous material with a plurality of pores, wherein at least a subset of the plurality of pores is at least partly filled with a gas with a composition different from air and/or with a powder, wherein the porous material is a laser sintered or laser melted material in which void local regions form the plurality of pores. The component counter-acts vibrations. A rotating machine or gas turbine engine may have such a component.

Claims

1. A rotating machine component, comprising at least one part built from a porous material comprising a plurality of pores, wherein at least a subset of the plurality of pores is at least partly filled with a gas with a composition different from air and/or with a powder.

2. The rotating machine component according to claim 1, wherein the porous material is a laser sintered or laser melted material in which void local regions form the plurality of pores.

3. The rotating machine component according to claim 1, wherein the porous material is metal foam.

4. The rotating machine component according to claim 1, wherein sizes and/or shapes of the plurality of pores and/or distribution of the plurality of pores over the at least one part is non-uniform.

5. The rotating machine component according to claim 4, wherein the sizes and/or the shapes of the plurality of pores and/or the distribution of the plurality of pores over the at least one part are selected to modify the Eigen frequencies of the rotating machine component.

6. The rotating machine component according to claim 1, wherein the pores are closed cavities without passages to an exterior of the part.

7. The rotating machine component according to claim 1, wherein the part comprises at least one cooling channel for guiding cooling fluid through the part to cool the part during operation.

8. The rotating machine component according to claim 1, wherein the gas having a composition comprising argon.

9. The rotating machine component according to claim 1, wherein during operation, the powder and/or the gas damp vibrations of the part.

10. A combustor, comprising a sheet like part, wherein the part is arranged as a rotating machine component according to claim 1.

11. A manufacturing method of a part of a rotating machine component, comprising: building-up of the part as a porous structure by solidifying a base material i) from metal foam which forms a plurality of pores or ii) via laser sintering or laser melting, wherein the laser sintering or laser melting leaves void local regions to form a plurality of pores; providing a gas with a composition different from air and/or with a powder during building-up of the part such that at least a subset of the plurality of pores is at least partly filled with the gas and/or the powder.

12. The manufacturing method according to claim 11, wherein building-up of the part via laser sintering or laser melting comprises: generating instructions to a laser positioning control system such that pores with partly random shapes and/or random sizes and/or random distribution are generated.

13. The manufacturing method according to claim 11, wherein providing gas is performed by having the laser sintering or laser melting performed in a gas tight enclosure filled with the gas.

14. The manufacturing method according to claim 11, wherein providing powder comprises: generating instructions to a powder deposition control system such that it is selected from at least two different sources to provide particles for a consecutive layer for sintering of for melting, a first source providing the to be solidified particles and a second source providing the powder.

15. The rotating machine component according to claim 1, wherein the component comprises a gas turbine combustion component.

16. The combustor according to claim 10, wherein the combustor comprises a gas turbine engine.

17. The combustor according to claim 10, wherein the sheet like part comprises a combustion chamber liner.

18. The manufacturing method according to claim 11, wherein the rotating machine component comprises a gas turbine combustion component.

19. The manufacturing method according to claim 12, wherein the instructions are generated to a laser positioning control system such that pores with partly random shapes and/or random sizes and/or random distribution are generated, under evaluation of at least one of the following input parameters as input to the laser positioning control system: minimum pore size, maximum pore size.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, of which:

[0039] FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section of typical combustor.

[0040] FIG. 2 shows an example of a material that can be used in a combustor which shows an embodiment of the invention.

[0041] FIG. 3 shows schematically a laser sintering or laser melting chamber in which a component is in the process of being generated layer by layer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

[0042] The illustrations in the drawings are schematic. It is noted that for similar or identical elements in different figures, the same reference signs will be used to denote the same or equivalent features.

[0043] Some of the features and especially the advantages will be explained for an assembled or operating gas turbine but obviously the features can also be applied to the single components of the gas turbine but may show the advantages only once assembled and during operation. By the way explained by means of a gas turbine during operation none of the details should be limited to a gas turbine while in operation.

[0044] As the invention is related to vibration, the features can also be applied to different types of machines that are affected by vibrations irrespective of the source or cause or to different components within a gas turbine engine that experience vibrations.

[0045] Combustion devices are employed in a number of different environments, including gas turbines, furnaces and boilers.

[0046] In the following it will be focused on a combustion device but the invention can also be applied to other components affected by vibrations, like a casing of an engine.

[0047] A gas-turbine engine may serve as one example of a rotating machine. The gas turbine—short for gas-turbine engine—comprises an air inlet at one end followed by a compressor stage in which incoming air is compressed for application to one or more combustors as combustion devices, which may be annular or so-called can-annular, the latter being distributed circumferentially around the turbine's rotational axis. Fuel is introduced into the combustors and is there mixed with a major part of the compressed air taken from the compressor. Hot gases created by combustion in the combustors are directed to a set of turbine blades within a turbine section, being guided in the process by a set of guide vanes, and the turbine blades and the shaft—the turbine blades being fixed to a shaft—forming the rotor are turned about an axis as a result. The rotating rotor in turn rotates blades of the compressor stage, so that the compressed air is supplied by the gas turbine itself once this is in operation. There may be more than one rotor in the gas-turbine engine.

[0048] According to FIG. 1, a combustion chamber 1 is depicted in a cross-sectional and fairly abstract view. Particularly two combustion chamber walls, the inner wall 2 and the outer wall 3 are shown which are arranged coaxially. A combustion chamber may only have a single wall instead. In the given example, the inner wall 2 and the outer wall 3 form a combustion liner. Between the inner wall 2 and the outer wall 3 an annular cooling cavity 4 may be present. The inner and outer wall 2, 3 are surrounding a combustion zone including a main flame 5 during operation. During operation the main flame 5 will be present in the combustion zone but possibly may be instable in some modes of operation, e.g. in transient operation. In these instable modes of operation, the inner wall 2 and/or the outer wall 3 may start to vibrate. These kinds of vibrations may particularly occur in prior art combustion chambers in which the inner wall 2 and/or the outer wall 3 are manufactured from a solid sheet of metal.

[0049] According to the invention, the inner wall 2 and/or the outer wall 3 may represent the rotating machine component as claimed in the patent claims. In the following, the invention is only explained for the inner wall 2 but may be also present for the outer wall 3 or with other gas turbine components which may be affected by vibrations, like combustion and/or rotational and/or aerodynamic vibrations. The inner wall 2 therefore may be built from a porous material comprising a plurality of pores which perform a damping effect. The porous material will be explained further in relation to FIG. 2.

[0050] FIGS. 2A and 2B shows two sectional views through the inner wall 2. The first figure shows a section thorough an outer cylindrical surface 11 to an inner cylindrical surface 10 of the outer wall 2 from a similar view as also indicated in FIG. 1. The second cross-sectional view of FIG. 2 shows a cut through the plane which is indicated by the line A-A in the first cross-sectional view of FIG. 2. This plane lies completely within the body of the inner wall 2. This depiction is obviously a simplification as a real life component may be curved.

[0051] The inner wall 2 comprises a porous material 15. The porous material 15 is used to form substantial parts of the inner wall 2. The porous material 15 comprises a plurality of pores 16. The pores may be of even shape or the plurality of pores 16 may contain at least some pores formed irregularly or non-uniform. Furthermore in FIG. 2 a cooling passage 20 is shown which provides a channel for cooling air from the outer cylindrical surface 11 to the inner cylindrical surface 10 (again it has to be noted that the figure shows as a simplification a flat surface which in reality would be cylindrical). This passage—which could be an effusion cooling hole or a mixing port—may be implemented as a straight through-hole (not shown in FIG. 2) or may be embodied as a more complex structure, e.g. in S-form like as it is shown in FIG. 2. According to FIG. 2, the cooling passage 2 may have one inlet for cooling air going perpendicular from the outer cylindrical surface 11 in direction of the inner cylindrical surface 10, but then within the layer of the inner wall 2, the cooling passage 2 may expand in a parallel direction to the outer cylindrical surface 11 or parallel to the inner cylindrical surface 10. The outlet then may be directed again in direction to the inner cylindrical wall 10. This passage configuration guides a cooling fluid through and within the inner wall 2 by having it guided through a larger expanse and therefore surface area of the body of the inner wall 2.

[0052] The inner wall 2 forms at least in parts a liner 25 of the combustion chamber 1 which therefore forms the inventive part that is built from a porous material 15.

[0053] FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in a cross sectional view of a selective laser melting apparatus at a specific operating stage of that apparatus in which a workpiece—which will form the to be built component—that is partly built is shown as being processed in a chamber 32 of the apparatus. In the chamber 32 for laser melting particles 35 will be distributed on a base plate 31 or substrate. The element (called hopper) that distributes the particles is not shown in the figure. A laser 33 is present issuing a laser beam 34 which will be directed onto the surface to be solidified and in direction of the ground plate 31. The laser 33 will be moved or at least the laser beam 34 will be moved or redirected such that a two-dimensional area on the ground plate 31 is covered by the laser beam 34. Alternatively also the ground plate could move and the laser may be fixed. When the laser beam 34 hits a particle 35—typically a plurality of particles—, it will melt this particle 35 which consecutively solidifies such that a solidified area 36 will be generated which eventually will result in the “part” as defined in the patent claims or previously mentioned. At locations where the laser beam 34 is not directed—therefore the particles 35 which are not hit and melted by the laser beam 34—, particles 35 will stay in their state as being loose particles or powder. Layer by layer the particles 35 will be distributed on the ground plate 31 and on the already solidified area 36 such that layer by layer, that part 25 is produced. At the same time the particles 35 are also distributed in regions which are not solidified, e.g. regions of pores which will be realized once the built component is completed.

[0054] The path of the laser beam 34 will be controlled such that pores 16 will be generated layer by layer. Within the hollow regions that will eventually become a pore 16, the particles 35 will be inserted as it can be seen in the semi-finished pore 16′ in the figure. Different shapes are possible for the pores 16, 16′. The pores eventually will be closed such that they will encapsulate a closed volume in which still loose particles 35 are located. The loose particles 35 within a pore 16 will be considered to form the powder 35′. As said, the powder 35′ may remain within the pores 16. Alternatively, the powder can also be removed before a final layer of closing a pore 16 is solidified.

[0055] The chamber 32 for laser melting may be filled with a specific gas, for example with a substantial amount of argon or another inert gas. This gas may also be present in the pores 16 during manufacturing of the part 25. Therefore the particles 35 as the powder 35′ and the gas may be present together in one enclosed pore 16 or alternatively the powder may be removed from the pore 16 such that, when the pore 16 is closed, only the gas content is encapsulated in the pore 16.

[0056] By this procedure, a sponge-like or cellular part can be manufactured. The pores 16 can be shaped and arranged in various manners. Once the component is finished, it may end up as an inner wall 2 as shown in FIG. 1. In that wall, a plurality of pores 16 is therefore included wherein the pores 16 themselves contain the enclosed air and/or powder 35′. This provides a damping effect once the combustion is performed and once a vibration would otherwise occur on the inner wall 2.

[0057] The previous embodiment shows that in a laser melting or laser sintering process void local regions which are not heated up by the laser beam 34 will form a plurality of pores 16. The sizes and shapes of the pores 16 and also the distribution of the pores 16 throughout the body of the inner wall 2 can be very flexible or variable particularly non-uniform. A location, the sizes and the shapes of the pores 16 may particularly be selected to modify the Eigen frequencies of the inner wall 2. The frequency of the Eigen frequency may shift. Or the component may be attenuated for all kinds of frequencies, even the natural frequencies of the component. The Eigen frequency will be modified compared to a combustor with a solid inner wall 2 that would establish otherwise during operation. As explained, a pore individually forms a closed cavity without passages to an exterior of the part 25. Therefore, the structure of a pore is particularly gas-tight.

[0058] Particularly also other structural elements like the cooling passage 20 as shown in FIG. 2 can be incorporated into the part 25 by the laser sintering or laser melting process.

[0059] Alternative to the procedure of FIG. 3, the material 15 of the inner wall 2 may be so called metal foam. Metal foam itself may form pores such that the inner wall 2 will be a porous component. During processing of the metal foam a gas or foaming agent may be present that will then be encapsulated into the pores of the foam. To seal the metal foam it may be advantageous to coat the component so that for example the inner wall 2 will have a coating on the inner cylindrical surface 10 and the outer cylindrical surface 11.

[0060] The CAD model (CAD: computer aided design) may be very complex to define all pores and all the pores may need to be defined in that model. Therefore the CAD software or the laser sintering or laser melting control software may be improved that simply random pores can be generated by the software itself once in a specific region a porous material is defined in the CAD model. In that model possibly some parameters can be selected like the minimum pore size or the maximum pore size and the percentage of material in a fix state compared to the pore sizes. If gas is only filled into the pores, this may be performed just that the sintering or laser melting process is performed in a gas-tight enclosure like the chamber 32. By this at least a part of the gas that fills the chamber 32 will be included and encapsulated into the pores 16.

[0061] The powder 35′ that will be identical to the particles 35 may be of such a mechanical nature that possibly after some while powder will consume less space such that the pores 16 will only be partly be filled by the powder 35′. Such a loose powder 35′ may be particularly advantageous to perform the wanted damping effect counteracting vibrations.

[0062] With such a component modified by the inventive concept it should be possible to design a component which will be able to have less vibration in all modes of operation. That means not only during stable mode of operation but also during transient modes of operation the vibrations will be damped in a sufficient way.

[0063] Damping by particles may occur due to that the enclosed but loose particles may collide and/or rub together during operation such that vibration energy is lost.

[0064] The porosity or density of a sponge-like material of the part may be possibly different at different sections of the component. Furthermore, the powder and/or the gas which will be included into the pores shall be inert.

[0065] Exemplary embodiments of the invention are described above and herein in relation to a combustion chamber liner. Nevertheless, a concept can be applied to a lot of other components that experience vibrations which are unwanted. This can even happen for all kinds of components of a rotating machine. Alternatively the present invention can be applied to all kinds of combustion engines. Furthermore the invention can be applied to components that experience friction which would otherwise result in vibration of at least one component