Detecting generator seal leakage, seal clearance and seal alignment

• Main Authors: DANIEL JAMES FITZMORRIS, JEFFREY JAMES ANDRITZ, JAMES DANIEL ANTALEK, NICOLA PICCIRILLO, VINODH KUMAR BANDARU, KRISHNA SWAMY CHERUKURI, ANTHONY JAMES GEORGE, SUDHANSHU RAI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 18.07.2012
• Subjects: CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES; ELECTRICITY; GENERATION; MEASURING; PHYSICS; TESTING; TESTING STATIC OR DYNAMIC BALANCE OF MACHINES ORSTRUCTURES; TESTING STRUCTURES OR APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

A casing 102 surrounds a rotor 104, encloses a volume of a cooling gas 103 and has plural static seals. An end housing 120 at each end of the casing includes a seal system 121 through which the rotor 104 extends and cooling gas 103 escapes from the casing 102 to at least one seal area 123. A cooling gas regulator 110 and a gas source 108 maintain constant pressure in the casing. A scavenging system 130 removes a gas mixture 132 from each end housing 120 including escaping cooling gas 103. A leak detector 170 generates an alarm indicating a leak at one of the static seals in response to an increase in the cooling gas flow in the regulator and/or an increase in gas flow in the scavenging system. A seal alignment detector 172 generates an alarm in response to the seal oil flow rate, a difference between the temperature of the oil drain and inlet, and a seal oil filter 136 differential pressure. A seal clearance increase detector 176 generates an alarm in response to a ratio of time for which a scavenge control valve 134 operates to remove gas at a higher and at a lower scavenge rate