Importance

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Abstract

In a disc turbine for operation from steam, including superheated steam, a stack of horizontally oriented discs is fitted centrally with a hub having a closed upper end from which a driveshaft extends upwardly, supported by a bearing system. The hub is configured with identical vanes arrayed uniformly about the central axis and specially shaped to accomplish a set of desired flow path objectives. The vanes are generally tapered such that their cross-sectional shape evolves from predominantly solid material in area at the top of the hub to predominantly open area at the bottom of the hub, where the flow paths proceed downwardly into a tubular exhaust passageway. The entry to the exhaust passageway may take the form of effectively a hollow portion of the shaft in the exhaust region, which may be supported from the enclosure by a bearing set. The central opening in each disk, and thus in the stack, and in the periphery of the hub are both configured with a complementary mating interface pattern: e.g. three ⅓ revolution spiral paths in a radial array with a semicircular-shaped key step extending radially across each the spiral end offset, the set of key steps serving to transmit drive torque from the discs to the hub while avoiding direct solid connection therebetween, for purposes of accommodating operational thermal expansion. A downward-facing tubular exhaust passageway allows an unimpeded vortex exhaust gas flow path that evolves smoothly from the spiral flow path of gas from disc stack, as guided by the specially-shaped vanes in the hub.

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First Claim