Solar Turbines Compressor Blade Installation Tools

The following report documents a California Polytechnic State University, Mechanical Engineering Senior Project sponsored by the gas turbine manufacturer, Solar Turbines. The senior project team consisted of four senior mechanical engineering students at Cal Poly, all with general concentrations; Ryan Bruce, Carolyn Honeycutt, Steve Oltrogge, and Emmett Ross. Kenneth Thomas sponsored the group and serves as the point of contact between the senior project team and Solar Turbines. He is a member of the Solar Turbines Mechanical Design Engineering Team and a Cal Poly graduate. Christoph Maurer served as the project team’s on-campus advisor. A gas turbine uses internal combustion to produce output shaft work and can be broken down into a “cold” section and a “hot” section. The cold section is composed of the air inlet and the air compressor, while the hot section is composed of the burner, turbine, and diffuser. This project was focused on the compressor, specifically compressor blade installation. Solar Turbines’ T130, Mars, and T250 turbines all contain multi-stage compressors, meaning that many sets of compressor blades spin around a single shaft to continually compress the air as it nears the burner. Many of the compressor stages are installed using a ring method, where the compressor blades are slid into large slots around the compressor rotor, radially, and held into place, axially, by a large ring. These stages require additional hardware to restrain the blades radially. However, the first several stages of the compressor use axially installed fan blades, where each blade slides into an individual slot on the rotor disk and is held in place, radially by the geometry of the compressor. These stages therefore require additional hardware to restrain the axial movement of the blades. This is accomplished via small steel retainer tabs. This project focuses on the installation of these metal retainer tabs. The current process for installing the early stage compressor blades, those requiring retainer tabs, involves several, individual, time-consuming steps. Additionally, there are numerous tools required for each of these steps and every individual installation technician can have an additional, personal set of installation tools. As a result compressor blade installation is a lengthy and imprecise process that leads to inconsistencies and risks damaging the compressor rotor. The task for the Cal Poly senior project group was to design a tool(s) and a corresponding standardized process to bend these retainer tabs into position. The sponsor, Solar Turbines, owns all Intellectual Property for the tools designed during the course of the project. In return, they provided funding for the project, access to necessary company proprietary information, manufacturing support (as needed), and general project guidance. The overall aim of this project was to design a tool or set of tools that removed as much of the variation from compressor blade retainer tab installation as possible. As well as reduced the time spent installing blades, therefore reducing the risk of damage to the turbine blades and rotors from non-standardized processes and tooling. Additionally the team focused on minimizes the number of tools used in the overall process. The final tool design consisted of two tools, a “backing” and a “bending” tool. Each should decrease the installation time, increase consistency, are more ergonomic, and are safer than the current methods

Design of a research engine for homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion.

The design and development of a research engine for Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion was performed. The objectives were; to design and build an experimental apparatus for investigation of parameters affecting control of HCCI burn in engines, to commission the HCCI burn apparatus, to establish HCCI burn of lean fuel/air mixture, and to enable data acquisition of in-cylinder pressure measurements. A simple design methodology was followed. Three different concepts were presented along with the advantages and disadvantages of each. Concept three was chosen as the best alternative based on functional objective and cost. Several parameters were identified to affect control of HCCI burn in the literature review. Systems were designed to enable variability of these parameters and study of HCCI burn in a variable compression ratio engine. The criteria and constraints of all the systems of the apparatus were identified. Detailed design drawings and calculations of each system were performed to enable component selection. Testing was performed to verify the functional objectives of each system. Based on methodology, detailed design, fabrication, testing and verification, the project has met all the objectives. Recommendations for future work were made based on testing.Dept. of Mechanical, Automotive, and Materials Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2005 .Z65. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-03, page: 1427. Thesis (M.A.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2005

'Solutioning': a model of students' problem-solving processes

The aim of this study was to generate a model (or theory) that explains students’ concerns as they tackle non-routine mathematical problems. This was achieved by using the grounded theory approach as suggested by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and further developed by Glaser (1978; 1992; 1998; 2001; 2003). The study took place in the context of a problem-solving course offered at the undergraduate level. As methods of data collection, the study made use of the problem-solving rubrics (or scripts) that students generated during the course. Other sources of data included interviews with the students and observations in class. The model generated as a result of this study suggests that problem solving can be seen as a four-stage process. The process was labelled ‘solutioning’ and is characterised by students trying to resolve the following concerns: Generating knowledge; Generating solutions; Validating the results, and Improving the results. The model also makes reference to pseudo-solutioning as an alternative approach to solutioning. During pseudo-solutioning, instead of trying to resolve the concerns listed above, students focus on trying to satisfy the academic requirement to submit an acceptable piece of work. Thus, pseudo-solutioning can be seen as an important variation to solutioning. After presenting the model of ‘solutioning’, the study provides an illustration of how it can be used to describe students’ processes. This is done in set of case studies in which three problem-solving processes are considered. The case studies provide a view of how the model developed fits the data and serves to highlight relevant patterns of behaviour observable as students solve problems. The case studies illustrate how the concepts suggested by the model can be used for explaining success and failure in the processes considered. This study contributes to the study of problem solving in mathematics education by providing a conceptualisation of what students do as they try to solve problems. The concepts that the model suggests are relevant for explaining how students resolve their main concerns as they tackle problems during the course. However, some of these concepts (e.g., ‘reducing complexity’, ‘blinding activities’, ‘transferring’) may also be of relevance to problem solving in other areas

Definition study for photovoltaic residential prototype system

A site evaluation was performed to assess the relative merits of different regions of the country in terms of the suitability for experimental photovoltaic powered residences. Eight sites were selected based on evaluation criteria which included population, photovoltaic systems performance and the cost of electrical energy. A parametric sensitivity analysis was performed for four selected site locations. Analytical models were developed for four different power system implementation approaches. Using the model which represents a direct (or float) charge system implementation the performance sensitivity to the following parameter variations is reported: (1) solar roof slope angle; (2) ratio of the number of series cells in the solar array to the number of series cells in the lead-acid battery; and (3) battery size. For a Cleveland site location, a system with no on site energy storage and with a maximum power tracking inverter which feeds back excess power to the utility was shown to have 19 percent greater net system output than the second place system. The experiment test plan is described. The load control and data acquisition system and the data display panel for the residence are discussed

'Solutioning' : a model of students' problem-solving processes

The aim of this study was to generate a model (or theory) that explains students’ concerns as they tackle non-routine mathematical problems. This was achieved by using the grounded theory approach as suggested by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and further developed by Glaser (1978; 1992; 1998; 2001; 2003). The study took place in the context of a problem-solving course offered at the undergraduate level. As methods of data collection, the study made use of the problem-solving rubrics (or scripts) that students generated during the course. Other sources of data included interviews with the students and observations in class. The model generated as a result of this study suggests that problem solving can be seen as a four-stage process. The process was labelled ‘solutioning’ and is characterised by students trying to resolve the following concerns: Generating knowledge; Generating solutions; Validating the results, and Improving the results. The model also makes reference to pseudo-solutioning as an alternative approach to solutioning. During pseudo-solutioning, instead of trying to resolve the concerns listed above, students focus on trying to satisfy the academic requirement to submit an acceptable piece of work. Thus, pseudo-solutioning can be seen as an important variation to solutioning. After presenting the model of ‘solutioning’, the study provides an illustration of how it can be used to describe students’ processes. This is done in set of case studies in which three problem-solving processes are considered. The case studies provide a view of how the model developed fits the data and serves to highlight relevant patterns of behaviour observable as students solve problems. The case studies illustrate how the concepts suggested by the model can be used for explaining success and failure in the processes considered. This study contributes to the study of problem solving in mathematics education by providing a conceptualisation of what students do as they try to solve problems. The concepts that the model suggests are relevant for explaining how students resolve their main concerns as they tackle problems during the course. However, some of these concepts (e.g., ‘reducing complexity’, ‘blinding activities’, ‘transferring’) may also be of relevance to problem solving in other areas.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceConsejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Mexico) (CONACYT)Overseas Research Student Awards Scheme (ORSAS)GBUnited Kingdo

NASA Tech Briefs, April 1991

Topics: New Product Ideas; NASA TU Services; Electronic Components and Circuits; Electronic Systems; Physical Sciences; Materials; Computer Programs; Mechanics; Machinery; Fabrication Technology; Mathematics and Information Sciences; Life Sciences

WHC significant lessons learned 1993--1995

A lesson learned as defined in DOE-STD-7501-95, Development of DOE Lessons Learned Programs, is: A ``good work practice`` or innovative approach that is captured and shared to promote repeat applications or an adverse work practice or experience that is captured and shared to avoid a recurrence. The key word in both parts of this definition is ``shared``. This document was published to share a wide variety of recent Hanford experiences with other DOE sites. It also provides a valuable tool to be used in new employee and continuing training programs at Hanford facilities and at other DOE locations. This manual is divided into sections to facilitate extracting appropriate subject material when developing training modules. Many of the bulletins could be categorized into more than one section, however, so examination of other related sections is encouraged