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SQL O Discussion is printed only it the paper is published in an ASME Journal. Papers are available
from ASME for fifteen months after the meeting.
Printed in USA. Copyright 1989 by ASME
ABSTRACT Examples are louver damper blades, which are usually airfoil shaped and
with hollow sections where one skin faces the heat blast and one face down-
The purpose of this paper is to update the industry on the evolutionary stream. As conductivity through the section is slow, immediate distorsion dur-
steps that have been taken to address higher requirements imposed on the new ing start-up transients is unavoidable. Guillotine blades made of the traditional
generation combined cycle gas turbine exhaust ducting expansion joints, di- plate and chain drive concept face a similar problem. Heat transfer through
verter and damper systems. Since the more challenging applications are in the the plate is gradual and thus the guillotine blade binds immediately in Turbine
larger systems, we shall concentrate on sizes from nine (9) square meters up to start-up due to buckling, often permanently.
forty (40) square meters in ducting cross sections. (Reference: General Electric Expansion joints mounted on vertical structural channel members and
Frame 5 through Frame 9 sizes.) covered by flow liners also see distorsions in the hardware causing tearing of
Severe problems encountered in gas turbine applications for the subject the expansion joint membrane, and often immediate failure in start-up..
equipment are mostly traceable to stress buckling caused by differential expan- In recent times, sizes and efficiencies of combined cycle gas turbine plants
sion of components, improper insulation, unsuitable or incompatible mechan- have increased and temperatures have now risen up to 600 degrees C in some
ical design of features, components or materials, or poor workmanship. units with mass flow velocities up to 30 to 40 meters per second. Duct cross
Conventional power plant expansion joints or dampers are designed for sections are now between 8 and 40 square meters depending on turbine frame
entirely different operating conditions and should not be applied in gas turbine sizes.
applications. The sharp transients during gas turbine start-up as well as the
very high temperature and high mass-flow operation conditions require spe- Design Changes Addressing Gas Turbine Applications:
cific designs for gas turbine application.
Serious redesign of damper and expansion jont concepts were necessitated
Background: by the upward evolution in order to make the combined cycle concept reliable
and workable.
For purposes of stand-by generation traditional gas turbine plants were The initial change was to insulate the duct, damper and expansion joint
mostly of the simple cycle type, comprised of a turbine with a single exhaust components internally in order to avoid stresses in the external component
stack and one expansion joint on the turbine neck. Temperatures on these walls. By better maintaining shape and rigidity, the physical accuracy of the
systems were between 400 and 450 degrees C. The ducting was of either carbon system was vastly improved.
steel or at best, low alloy CR MO steel. Insulation was usually attached exter- In addition further development of gas turbine expansion joints was re-
nally. quired in order to handle both thermal expansion movements as well as the
In order to increase the efficiency of gas turbine power generation, the transition from externally insulated turbine connections to internally insulated
exhaust gas is passed through a heat recovery steam generator. Thus, a steam ducts and dampers.
turbine is fed to generate power in addition to the gas turbine simple cycle. Finally, two damper concepts evolved which will be discussed in detail as
This concept is known as "Combined Cycle Generation". follows with a discussion of gas turbine expansion joints to follow.
The duct system for this concept is more complex as it usually contains a The two damper concepts:
by-pass stack to atmosphere prior to the boiler or HRSG (Heat Recovery 1) Multi-Damper Flow Diverter Dystems
Steam Generator). Dampers or flow diverters are needed to control bypass 2) Single Blade Gas Flow Diverter Systems
and HRSG flow volume. There are a number of expansion joints and there The Multi-Damper Flow Diverter System (MDS) is comprised of a by-pass
may also be transition pieces and a silencer. "Tee" fitting, onto which a double louver or by-pass flap is mounted on the
The original damper choice for gas turbine service was a direct derivative by-pass side, and a single louver plus a guillotine damper on the boiler inlet
louver and guillotine damper combination previously designed for conven- side.
tional power plant equipment. The temperatures in these gas turbines were 400 The Single Blade Gas Flow Diverter System (GFD) is comprised of the
to 450 degrees C thus similar to the Economizer Outlet temperatures on coal same by-pass "Tee" fitting. However a single large blade, capable of modulat-
fired boilers of 300 to 375 degrees C. Very limited success in the smaller sizes ing as well as alternately isolating the boiler inlet for turbine start-up and then
was achieved with this approach as the high transients in Gas Turbine start- the by-pass for normal base load operation, is pivoted within that "Tee".
up have a major impact on components. The larger the frame sizes, the more Before going into the comparative advantages and drawbacks of the two
frequent failures were experienced. above approaches, what must be undertaken is an examination of the mechan-
Presented at the Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and ExpositionJune 4-8, 1989 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
INSULATION LINER
INSULATION LINER
SEAL AIR CAVITY
FRAME INSULATION
BLADE INSULATION
GASTURBINE SIDE
BLADE STIFFENER
FRAME
FIG,
BLADE FRAME BLADE MEMBRANE
Seats: Traditional jamb-seals have been replaced with leaf-spring seals FIG. 5
SEAL DETAIL
Drives and Components: Electro-mechanical actuation with self-locking FIG. 6
worm gear drive is preferred over pneumatic actuation as back-lash and vibra-
tion can be better controlled throughout all operating angles. Drive compo-
nents are made up of back-lash inhibiting components, such as automotive
type ball joints, locking devices, pin secured blade operator arm to blade shaft Drive: The drive system is a rack and pinion combination which is de-
connections. etc. signed to positively actuate the blade open and close without binding or buck-
ling.
PINION RACK
on I ono 000
NI
DC FIG. '
FIG. 4
A li
The space provided inside the seal engagement is pressurized by a seal air
blower integrated into the guillotine unit, thus assuring absolute cross-blade
leak tightness.
Operation By-Pass: 0% leakage into the by-pass stack via the double louver
damper, preventing any energy loss.
HRSG Inlet: Modulation into the HRSG by means of a single modu-
lation Louver Damper followed by a 0% leakage Isola-
tion Guillotine damper, open-shut service, to isolate the
HRSG for simple cycle plant operation and or HRSG
repair and maintenance.
7 f T FIG. 11
Early attempts, mainly from upscaling small pivot actuated single blade
flow diverters, demonstrated the limitations in size capacity due to blade insta-
bility in operation at various blade operating positions. The large moments in
FULL HRSG FULL BY-PASS
the pivot driven blades simply could not be managed. One way was to change
aspect ratios by going to rectangular cross-sections thus reducing moments.
FIG. 9
This approach nevertheless could still not cover the very large turbine frame
sizes of today. Multiple blades have been used and resulted in duplicated
drives, operational complexity and increased costs.
The advantages of the MDS, or multi-damper system approach, are: A novel drive system was developed for large frame single blade Gas Flow
the units are economical to transport, as the general face to face dimension Diverter Systems which attaches to the center of the blade and operates the
of the individual dampers are 18" for Guillotines and Single Louver single blade via a system of toggle arms. The blade center attachment location
Dampers and 36" for Double Louver Dampers. Like the Expansion of the drive arms largely reduces moments and thus results in smooth opera-
Joints, they represent just slices of duct systems. tion and modulation throughout the entire actuation stroke. The toggle arm
attachments are expansion compensated to allow for length changes in differ-
ent operational positions.
I
The "Tee" body forms the major component and all other damper parts
SEAL AIR are incorporated into the "Tee" body to form the total Flow Diverter Con-
cept. To ensure low stress in the major, controlling components, the "Tee"
body is internally insulated with a high quality ceramic insulation and stainless
steel tile system. The blade is heat shielded to prevent energy loss to the atmo-
sphere and to avoid radiation into the HRSG for worker safety.
Both by-pass and HRSG openings are equipped with double metallic leaf
spring seals to ensure 0% leakage when the blade is in either position and the
seal air is engaged.
The advantages of the GFD concept are
a) operational safety, as it is impossible to block both outlets with only
one blade, throughout all size ranges
b) economy as the "Tee" body concept incorporates all the damper com-
ponents in one assembly, making this approach more economical as compared
FIG. 10 to Multi-Damper Systems