Method and apparatus for reducing high-cycle fatigue and suppressing noise in rotating machinery

Abstract

A stator apparatus for mounting upstream of an intake to a rotating machine which blows pressurized air, or other media, from discharge orifices at a pressure and velocity to minimize velocity defects or turbulence in the wake of the stator prior to the plane of rotation of a rotating member of the machine. The rotating member then encounters a substantially uniform velocity medium at the plane of incidence, which substantially reduces uneven loading on the rotating member, thereby reducing noise and reducing high-cycle failure of that rotating element. The distribution and size of the orifices is determinable by placing the stator apparatus in a wind tunnel, or on the intake of a apparatus simulating the intake of the rotating machine, measuring the turbulence or velocity defects in the stator wake, and modifying the distribution and size of the orifices until the turbulence is minimized.