US3545879A - Hydraulic machine - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 8, 1970 P. PIGUET HYDRAULIC MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan. 51, 1969 INVENT OR ATTORNEY United States Patent US. Cl. 415-160 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention is applicable to a pump, turbine or turbopump of the type including a distributor between the covers of which the guide vanes are pivotally fitted under suitable control means. To eliminate the drawback of a heavy reinforcement of the cover remote from the suction pipe and the difficult accessibility of the guide vanes, the stresses to which the covers are subjected are transmitted directly to the solid mass of masonry in which the turbine is built. This can be done by means of an annular series of arms fitted between the masonry and an outer ring forming part of said remote cover and in which the corresponding ends of the guide vanes are pivotally carried.

The present invention has for its object a hydraulic machine, primarily a turbine, a pump or a turbo-pump including a spirally-shaped casing connected with the Wheel through a distributor fitted between the annular covers of which one is located near the suction channel and the other includes an outer ring in which the stub shafts of the distributor guide vanes are fitted and is rigid with a central ring etxending into proximity with the shaft carrying the wheel.

In prior hydraulic machines of this type, it is necessary in the case of heavy duty machines to provide a particularly efiicient reinforcement of the cover lying at a distance from the suction channel by reason of the considerable load to which it is subjected. Generally, said reinforcement is obtained by forming said cover by means of a plurality of superposed plates connected with one another by stays. Such a structure shows however the drawback of being heavy and expensive and of preventing any access to the stub shafts controlling the guide vanes. The hydraulic machine according to the invention is designed so as to remove such drawbacks. It is characterized by means transmitting to the masonry surrounding the machine a portion of the load to which the outer ring is subjected together with the entire load to which the central ring is subjected, independently of the portion of the load of the control ring which is transmitted to the casing.

The accompanying drawings illustrate diagrammatically and by way of example two embodiments of a machine according to the invention. In said drawings:

FIG. 1 is a partial axial cross-section of a turbine of the Francis type.

' FIG. 2 is similarly a partial axial cross-section of a turbine of the Kaplan type.

Referring to FIG. 1, the hydraulic turbine illustrated includes a shaft 1 carrying a Francis type wheel 2 into which water is fed out of the spirally-shaped casing 3. The water passing out of said casing enters, the wheel 2 by means of a distributor 4 comprising a plurality of guide vanes 5. The trunnions or stub shafts 6 and 7 at the opposite ends of said vanes are pivotally carried respectively in bearings 8 rigid with a lower annular cover 10 and in bearings 9 rigid with an upper annular cover 11. Said upper cover 11 which is further from the suction channel 12 than the lower cover 10, includes along its inner periphery an outer ring 13 in which are fitted the bearings 9 for the upper stub shafts of the distributor guide vanes 5. Said upper cover 11 also carries in its plane a central ring 14 extending between the outer ring 13 and 1ts mner periphery near the shaft 1 carrying the turbine wheel 2.

A connecting member 15 which may also comprise a ring overlaps the joint between the two rings 13 and 14.

A number of arms 16 extending in parallelism with the shaft 1 are distributed around the shaft 1 along the connecting member 15 and serve for the transmission of a portion of the load to which the outer ring 13 is subjected and the entire load to which the central ring 14 is sub jected, to the solid mass of masonry 17 inside which the hydraulic machine is erected. One of the ends 18 of the arms 16 engages the central ring 14 through means of the connecting member 15 whereas the other end 19 of each arm 16 engages a support 20 set inside the masonry 17.

Such a structure ensures a substsantial relief of stress on the upper cover 11 of the hydraulic machine and simultaneously clears the space extending above the ring 13. The aforementioned space accommodates the levers 21 which control the angular position of the guide vanes 5 as provided by the conventional arrangement 22 which includes a multiplicity of auxiliary motors acting directly on the levers 21 or may comprise a conventional arrangement such as a gating annulus driven by one or more auxiliary motors. A further advantage of the structure disclosed consists in that it is possible to proceed with the dismantling of the wheel 2 of the improved hydraulic machine without dismantling the distributor 4 and conversely said distributor may be dismantled without affecting the wheel 2.

The second embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 2 comprises again a shaft 1 carrying a Kaplan wheel 2 fed with water out of the casing 3 by means of the distributor 4 including angularly adjustable vanes 5. Stub shafts or trunnions rigid with said vanes are adapted to pivot in the bearings 8 and 9 fitted respectively in the lower cover 10' and in the upper cover 11 of the hydraulic machine. This upper cover 11, which is farther from the suction channel 12 than the lower cover 10, includes as heretofore an outer ring 13 and a central ring 14. Said central ring 14 comprises two main vertically spaced parallel plates namely, the plate 23 which is substantially coplanar with the outer ring 13 and a plate 24 lying at a short distance above the plate 23. Said plates 23 and 24 are interconnected by stays 25 lying preferably in radial planes with reference to the shaft 1. The outer periphery of the plate 24 engages the solid mass masonry 17 surrounding the hydraulic machine by means of the support 20 anchored in said masonry. Thus, as in the case of the first embodiment, the major portion of the-load acting on the outer ring 13 is transmitted to the masonry 17 by the means comprising in the present case the inner ring structure including the plates 23 and 24 and the stays 25. This inner ring structure ensures also a clearing of the space required for the positioning of the multiple auxiliary motors controlling the vanes 5 by means of levers 21. In fact, the space thus cleared is sufiiciently large for it to be possible to reach through it the arrangement controlling the guide vanes.

In either of the above-described embodiments the outer ring 13 may obviously be secured at 26 to the casing 3 by means of screws and nuts. Of course, a portion of the load acting on the outer ring 13 is thus transmitted to the casing 3. However, the major part of the load or stress is transmitted to the masonry 17 by the means comprising, for in the first embodiment, the annular series of arms and, in the second embodiment, the central ring 14 and more particularly the stays 25 forming part of the latter.

It should be noted that in FIG. 2 illustrating the second embodiment, the central ring 14 may serve for carrying the hydraulic machine through its bearing.

The two above-described embodiments and the corresponding drawings relate to turbines. Of course, the same structure may be incorporated with pumps or turbopumps. In the case of a hydraulic machine comprises pumps, the distributor 4 would be replaced by the diffuser of the pump.

One of the advantages of the above-described embodiments is that upon dismantling of the outer ring 13 and raising of the latter into the position 13a, it becomes possible to shift the guide vanes upwardly and to give them a sloping position, as shown at 5a in FIGS. 1 and 2, after which they may be drawn out between two adjacent outer guide vanes 27 towards the inside of the casing 3 without at any moment altering the position of the central ring 14.

I claim:

1. A hydraulic machine comprising, in a solid mass of masonry including a suction channel, a rotary shaft, a bladed wheel rigid with said shaft, and revolvable at the end of the suction channel, a spirally-shaped casing surrounding the shaft and wheel, two annular covers spaced axially of and coaxial with the shaft and forming a distributor chamber connecting the casing with the location of the wheel, an outer ring fitted along the inner periphery of the cover farthest from said suction pipe, guide vanes pivotally carried between said outer ring and the cover nearest the suction channel, a central ring fitted along the inner periphery of the outer ring and extending into substantial proximity with the shaft, means fitted between the central ring and the masonry and adapted to transmit to the latter the major portion of the stresses to which the two rings are subjected, said central ring including two vertically spaced parallel annular plates and stays rigidly interconnecting said plates, one of said plates being substantially coplanar with the outer ring and fitted inside the latter and the other plate engaging the masonry, the stresses being thus transmitted from the outer ring through the coplanar plate, the stays and the other plate to the masonry.

2. A hydraulic machine as claimed in claim 1. including an intermediate annulus overlapping the joint between the outer ring and the plate coplanar therewith, the stresses being thus transmitted from the outer ring through said coplanar plate, said stays and said other plate to the masonry.

References Cited 9/1957 Switzerland. 10/1930 Germany.

HENRY F. RADUAZO, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 415--163, 203

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