Condenser Integrated Turbine Support

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a power plant support in accordance with the present invention including an outline drawing of a section of a ship's hull.

FIG. 2 is an elevation drawing of a power plant support in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an end elevation view taken at III--III in the aft "A" frame support.

FIG. 4 is an end elevation view taken at IV--IV in the forward "A" frame support.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the support system showing the position of the distributed isolation mounts.

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention which shows in outline a portion of a ship's hull 11 and a combined condenser and turbine support system 12. A marine power plant may include at least one propulsion turbine 13 drivingly connected to a gear train (not shown) mounted in a gear housing 15. In the illustration shown, two propulsion steam turbines 13 are shown which provide separate power inputs into the gear casing. Each propulsion turbine may be connected to the gear casing by means of a flexible coupling 21.

In addition to the propulsion turbine and gear located at the aft end of the hull, the marine power plant may also include at the fore end of the hull at least one ship's service turbine generator set (SSTG) including a steam turbine 17 and an electrical generator 19. There are shown in this drawing two such SSTG sets. It should be clear to one skilled in the art that a marine power plant to which this invention may apply and be useful would only need to include one steam turbine requiring a condenser facility such as a power plant comprising solely either a steam turbine propulsion plant or a ship's service power plant or a combination of the two.

FIG. 2 shows an outline side elevation view of the various marine power plant elements and further includes a propulsion output shaft coupling 23. The support system for the marine power plant includes a plurality of girders 25 indicated in dotted lines extending completely across the ship's hull (port to starboard) and as shown and further explained in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4.

In FIG. 3, the drawing shows a cross-section elevation view taken at section III--III in FIG. 2. In FIG. 4, the drawing shows a cross-section elevation view taken at section IV--IV in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3, the main support element is the girder 25 which extends completely across the width of the ship, port to starboard. For purposes of orientation, a turbine support flex plate 27 for one of the propulsion turbines is shown mounted on the top side or deck 29 of the support system. This deck may be constructed of one half inch plate. The girder 25 itself may be reinforced three quarter inch steel and for end supports (end girders) as well as header supports is solid reinforced web plate. The girders may have 20 inch wide flanges with thicknesses on the order of two and one half inches. The girders are mounted on fore to aft side flex rails 31 which are mounted on angle support 33. The side flex rails 31 are slidable relative to the angle supports 33 to allow axial expansion of the support system although the aft ends of the flex rails may be fixed to restrict thermal axial expansion to one axial direction. This limits any adverse effect on system piping connections to the condenser. Typically, water inlet and outlet pipes shown in FIG. 2 are connected to inlet and outlet headers which are contained in condenser end cap 57. The support angle 33 may be grooved to accept the flex rails therein. The purpose of the flex rails is to accommodate some radial deflection of the hull, thermal expansion of the condenser and also to further accommodate vertical shock loadings. The angle supports or side pedestals are affixed to the side-hull tanks 35 located on the port and starboard hull sections. Excessive athwart ship's movement of the support systems due possibly to vertical shock loads relative to the hull is limited by means of side rail snubbers 37 built upon the hull tank 35.

In another aspect of this invention, there is mounted a fore "A" 41 frame and an aft "A" frame 43 within the hull of the ship. These "A" frames do not carry vertical load but rather contribute to athwart ship's stability on the support system. As is shown in FIG. 3, channel members 45 proximate to a girder and an "A" frame and fixed to the girder straddle a central beam or gib key 47 fixed to the "A" frame whereby athwart ship's motion is restrained while vertical and axial movement of the support system relative to the "A" frame is free and non-loading. It is clear that the girders 25 are supported only at each end with respect to vertical loads and that no vertical support is encountered at the centerline of the system.

The side walls 51 of the support system are one half inch plate and together with the top side or deck 29 constitute a portion of a condenser integral with the support system. The condenser further includes end caps 57 which accommodate inlet and outlet headers for passing water in parallel cooling pipes (not shown) but well known to persons of ordinary skill in the art. Normally the end caps adjacent aft "A" frame 43 will contain the inlet and outlet pipes whereas the other end cap adjacent the fore "A" frame will contain the end turns. Once again, this is to maintain the integrity of the piping connection at the fixed end of the condenser while allowing for thermal expansion at the untied end of the condenser support. A hot well 59 is also connected to the combined condenser and turbine support. In a preferred embodiment, there are two hot wells and two condensers built into the support system. Each of the girders 25 comprises two sections separated by a solid wall, the latter extending along the axial center line of the condenser. This allows one condenser to be completely removed from service when such action is desired or warranted. Therefore, each condenser includes a separate well, whereas there are four end caps, only two of which are shown in FIG. 2. Since it is now apparent that the structural support is also the condenser, note that the girders 25 lying within the interior portions of the condenser interior girders such as is shown in FIG. 4 will contain cutouts 61 which permit the axial flow of steam within the condenser.

FIG. 5 shows a plan view of the support system 12 for the purposes of describing the gear support structure and the location of noise vibration mounts. Only one side of the support system is shown in detail, it being understood that the mounting structure is identical for the other side. Moreover, the reader will appreciate that it may be useful to refer back to FIGS. 1 and 2 in conjunction with FIG. 5. Each propulsion turbine 13 is supported at its output end by a flex leg 27 and at its discharge end by an exhaust flange 73. The location of the flex leg 27 may coincide with the last or aft end girder support 25. Beyond this support, the remainder of the support system may be comprised of an arrangement of welded box girders "a" and "b" fastened together at the end of the previously described plate girder network with "a" box girders disposed along the ship's centerline and "b" box girders disposed at the support sides. The box girders may be fabricated two deep. That is, one on top of the other to achieve the desired depth of the mounting arrangement and likewise the box sections are also mounted on flex rails 31. Dotted lines in FIG. 5 indicate locations of underlying plate girders for the integral condenser turbine support. The gear housing 15 is mounted on box girder sections "a" and "b" and the low-speed gear wheel extends below the section between box girders "a" and "b".

Each ship's service turbine generator set includes turbine 17 supported on flex leg 75 and exhaust flange 77. Each generator 19 is mounted on the plate girder construction as,shown in FIG. 2.

In the prior art, it has been the standard practice to hard mount the rotating components to the subbase whereas noise isolation would be accomplished between the subbase and hull mounting. In the present invention, distributed isolation mounts are used between the various components and the condenser support system thus allowing the support system itself to be slidably mounted with respect to the hull tanks on flex rails 31. This allows for thermal expansion between the support system and hull support. In order to exemplify the distributed isolation mounts, gear isolation mounts 85 are shown in FIG. 1 between the gear casing 15 and the top side of the support system. The propulsion turbines are mounted on isolation mounts 87 under the flex legs 27 and isolation mounts 89 under the exhaust flange 73. This permits the selection of suitable and custom isolation mounts for each particular supported unit which therefore maximizes the noise reduction quality of the isolation mount while permitting an isolation mount having maximum rigidity. The ship's service turbine generators include isolation mounts 91 under flex legs 75, isolation mounts 93 under exhaust flange 77 and isolation mounts 95 under the four corners of each generator, respectively.

While there has been shown what is considered at present, to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is, of course, understood that various modifications may be made therein with respect to application and details obvious to other skilled in the art. It is intended to cover all such modifications as fall within the true scope and spirit of the invention.