Inlet guide vane assembly

• US 9,534,501 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2014
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Chung, Jenn-Chyi, Hung, Kuo-Shu, Liu, Chung-Che
• Primary Examiner(s): BOGUE, JESSE SAMUEL
• Application Number:
  US14/267,730
• Publication Number:
  US 20150167481A1
• Time in Patent Office: 978 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/14 varying effective cross-sectional area of nozzles or guide conduits
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/141 by means of shiftable members or valves obturating part of the flow path
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/145 by means of valves, e.g. for steam turbines valves in general F16K
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/146 by throttling the volute inlet of radial machines or engines
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/148 by means of rotatable members, e.g. butterfly valves
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/16 by means of nozzle vanes
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/162 for axial flow, i.e. the vanes turning around axes which are essentially perpendicular to the rotor centre line F01D17/167 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/165 for radial flow, i.e. the vanes turning around axes which are essentially parallel to the rotor centre line F01D17/167 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/167 of vanes moving in translation
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 9/04 forming ring or sector

Abstract

An inlet guide vane assembly is disclosed, which comprises: a housing, configured with a first penetration part and a plurality of first grooves; at least one fixing ring, each configured with a second penetration part and a plurality of second grooves; at least one rotary ring, each configured with a third penetration part and a plurality of sliding chutes, wherein the first, the second and the third penetration parts are arranged in communication with one another; a plurality of vane units, each vane unit is composed of a vane, a linkage and a sliding block; and at least one driving unit, for driving one vane of the plural vanes to swing, thus driving the rotary ring to rotate simultaneously, bringing along the other vanes to swing, enabling the sliding blocks to slide inside corresponding sliding chutes, and consequently flipping the vane from a first state to a second state.

Claims

1. An inlet guide vane assembly, comprising:

a housing, configured with a first penetration part and a first end surface having a plurality of first grooves disposed thereat;

at least one fixing ring, each being arranged coupling to the housing and each configured with a second penetration part and a second end surface having a plurality of second grooves disposed thereat in a manner that each of the plural second grooves is disposed mating to a corresponding first groove so as to form an accommodation space;

at least one rotary ring, each mounted to the exterior of the fixing ring while enabling each to be formed with an central axial direction and configured with a third penetration part and a plurality of sliding chutes in a manner that the third penetration part is formed along the extension of the central axial direction and the plural sliding chutes are disposed surrounding the periphery of the rotary ring, while enabling the first penetration part, the second penetration part and the third penetration part to be arranged in communication with one another into a passage;

a plurality of vane units, each composed of a vane, a linkage and a sliding block in a manner that the vane and the sliding block are disposed respectively at the two ends of the linkage, while allowing the linkage to be sandwiched between one first groove of the plural first grooves and one second groove of the plural second grooves that are arranged corresponding to one another, the vane to protrude into the passage and the sliding block to inset into the sliding chute; and

at least one driving unit, comprising a driving rod and an actuating part and disposed coupling to one vane unit selected from the plural vane units for driving the selected vane unit to swing and thus to drive the rotary ring to rotate simultaneously, thereby bringing along the other vanes to swing, enabling the plural sliding blocks to slide inside their corresponding sliding chutes, and consequently the vane is flipped from a first state to a second state,

wherein two opposite ends of the driving rod are arranged coupling respectively to one of the plural vane units and the actuating part, and thereby the driving rod is enabled to be powered and brought to move by the actuating part, consequently enabling the vane unit that is coupled to the driving rod to swing accordingly;

wherein each of the at least one fixing ring and the at least one rotary ring is formed as a ring-like part; and

each rotary ring further has a ring of staircase formed on an inner ring thereof, while each fixing ring is arranged insetting to a ring of staircase of a corresponding rotary ring; and

wherein at corresponding positions on the corresponding fixing ring and rotary ring, at least one position limiting unit is disposed thereat while each position limiting unit includes a protrusion and an arc-shaped recess formed in a manner that the arc-shaped recess is formed centering around the central axial direction and the protrusion is arranged inserting into the arc-shape recess.

2. The inlet guide vane assembly of claim 1, wherein the vane is formed into a fan-like shape, and the linkage is connected to an extension rod at an end thereof while allowing another end of the linkage opposite to the end connected to the extension rod to connect to the sliding block;

and the two opposite ends of the extension rod are coupled respectively to the linkage and the expanded end of the fan-shaped vane while allowing the extension rod to be sandwiched between and disposed inside the corresponding accommodation space formed between the engagement of the first end surface and the second end surface.

3. The inlet guide vane assembly of claim 1, wherein the protrusion is disposed at a component selected from the fixing ring and the ring of staircase, while allowing the arc-shaped recess to be formed on another component where there is no protrusion disposed threat.

4. The inlet guide vane assembly of claim 1, wherein the plural sliding chutes are arranged surrounding the central axial direction, while enabling each of the plural sliding chutes to extend in a length parallel to the central axial direction.

5. The inlet guide vane assembly of claim 1, wherein in a condition when each of the plural vanes is positioned in the first state, the passage is close by the cooperation of the plural vanes;

and in another condition when each of the plural vanes is positioned in the second state, the passage is open by the cooperation of the plural vanes.

6. The inlet guide vane assembly of claim 1, further comprising:

a scale indicator, arranged coupling to the rotary ring to be used for displaying the flip angles of the vanes.

7. The inlet guide vane assembly of claim 1, having more than one said fixing rings and two of said rotary rings;

and the two rotary rings are arranged interconnected to each other, while the more than one said fixing rings includes a first fixing ring, a second fixing ring and a third fixing ring to be arranged in a manner that the first fixing ring is disposed at a position between the housing and one of the two said rotary rings while allowing more than one of the plural vane units to be disposed between the first fixing ring and the housing, and the second and the third fixing rings are disposed at a side of another rotary ring of the two said rotary ring that is facing away from the housing while allowing more than one of the plural vane units to be disposed between the second rotary ring and the third rotary ring.

8. The inlet guide vane assembly of claim 7, wherein the vane units that are disposed between the first fixing ring and the housing and the vane units that are disposed between the second fixing ring and the third fixing ring are symmetrically arranged.

9. The inlet guide vane assembly of claim 7, wherein one vane unit selected from the vane units that are disposed between the first fixing ring and the housing and one vane unit selected from the vane units that are disposed between the second fixing ring and the third fixing ring are connected the same driving unit of the at least one driving unit, and in a condition when there are more than one said driving units, the two selected vane unit is connected respectively to two different driving units selected from the more than one said driving units.

10. The inlet guide vane assembly of claim 7, wherein the two said rotary rings are symmetrically arranged.

11. The inlet guide vane assembly of claim 7, wherein the two said rotary rings are integrally formed.