META-STABLE DETERGENT BASED FOAM CLEANING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CLEANING GAS TURBINE ENGINES

• Main Authors: KULKARNI, Ambarish Jayant, ERIKSEN, Michael Edward, TIBBETTS, Nicole Jessica, BEWLAY, Bernard Patrick, WILTON, Stephen, PRITCHARD, Byron Andrew Jr
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 08.04.2020
• Subjects: ADHESIVES; BLASTING; CHEMISTRY; CLEANING; CLEANING IN GENERAL; DYES; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; HEATING; LIGHTING; MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; MATERIALS FOR MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS, NOT PROVIDED FORELSEWHERE; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; METALLURGY; MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS OF MATERIALS; MISCELLANEOUS COMPOSITIONS; NATURAL RESINS; NON-POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT MACHINES OR ENGINES, e.g. STEAMTURBINES; PAINTS; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; POLISHES; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL; STEAM ENGINES; TRANSPORTING; WEAPONS

Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure include a meta-stable detergent based foam generating device (50) of a turbine cleaning system (11) includes a manifold (52) configured to receive a liquid detergent and an expansion gas, a gas supply source (64) configured to store the expansion gas, and one or more aerators (58) fluidly coupled with, and between, the gas supply source (64) and the manifold (52). Each aerator (58) of the one or more aerators (58) comprises an orifice through which the expansion gas enters the manifold (52), and wherein the orifice of each aerator (58) is sized to enable generation of a meta-stable detergent based foam having bubbles with bubble diameters within a range of 10 microns (3.9 x 10 -4 inches inches) and 5 millimeters (0.2 inches), having a half-life within a range of 5 minutes and 180 minutes, or a combination thereof