1. A turbine bucket tip clearance control system comprising:
a rotor assembly including a rotor having a plurality of axially spaced wheels, each of said axially-spaced wheels mounting an annular row of buckets, said annular row of buckets on at least one of said plurality of axially-spaced wheels having a radially outer tip shroud provided with at least one seal tooth;
a stator assembly including a radially inwardly facing, axially-stepped surface, said axially-stepped surface formed with radially inner and outer seal surfaces connected by a shoulder; and
wherein said stator assembly and said rotor assembly are shiftable axially relative to each other, enabling selective shifting of said at least one seal tooth to a location radially opposite one of said radially inner and outer seal surfaces to thereby selectively alter a clearance gap between said at least one seal tooth and said radially inward facing axially-stepped surface.
2. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 1 including means for shifting said rotor assembly axially relative to said stator assembly.
3. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 1 including means for shifting said stator assembly axially relative to said rotor assembly.
4. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 1 wherein said radially outer tip shroud is provided with at least two seal teeth.
5. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 1 wherein said at least one seal tooth is formed with an axially-oriented seal edge.
6. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 1 wherein said at least one seal tooth is formed with an acutely angled seal edge.
7. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 1 wherein said shoulder is oriented at substantially 90 degrees relative to said radially inner and outer seal surfaces.
8. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 1 wherein said shoulder is oriented at substantially 45 degrees relative to said radially inner and outer seal surfaces.
9. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 8 wherein said shoulder is oriented at substantially 90 degrees relative to said radially inner and outer seal surfaces.
10. A turbine bucket tip clearance control system comprising:
a rotor assembly including a rotor having a plurality of axially spaced wheels, each of said axially-spaced wheels mounting an annular row of buckets, said annular row of buckets on at least one of the plurality of axially-spaced wheels having a radially outer tip shroud provided with at least one seal tooth;
a stator assembly surrounding said tip shroud and formed with radially inwardly facing seal surfaces including at least one axially-oriented surface substantially parallel with the rotor axis and at least one contiguous acutely angled surface wherein said at least one axially-oriented surface defines a maximum clearance gap and said at least one contiguous acutely angled surface defines a range of clearance gaps less than said maximum clearance gap.
11. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 10 wherein said at least one seal tooth is formed with an axially-oriented seal edge.
12. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 10 wherein said at least one seal tooth is formed with an acutely angled seal edge.
13. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 10 including means for shifting said rotor assembly axially relative to said stator assembly.
14. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 10 including means for shifting said stator assembly axially relative to said rotor assembly.
15. The turbine bucket tip clearance control system of claim 10 wherein said tip shroud is provided with at least two seal teeth.
16. A method of controlling tip clearances between a tip shroud on an annular row of turbine buckets mounted on a turbine rotor and a substantially concentrically arranged turbine stator, wherein the tip shroud is provided with at least one radially outwardly projecting seal tooth, and wherein said stator includes a radially inwardly facing surface including at least first and second seal surfaces defining at least first and second seal clearances, respectively, with a seal edge of said at least one radially outwardly projecting seal tooth, the method comprising:
shifting one of said turbine rotor and said turbine stator axially to cause said at least one radially outwardly projecting seal tooth to radially align with said first seal surface during transient operations of the turbine; and
shifting one of said turbine rotor and said turbine stator axially to cause said at least one radially outwardly projecting seal tooth to radially align with said second seal surface when the turbine is operating at substantial thermal equilibrium.
17. The method of controlling tip clearances according to claim 16 wherein said turbine rotor is shifted axially relative to said stator.
18. The method of controlling tip clearances according to claim 16 wherein said stator is shifted axially relative to said rotor.
19. The method of claim 16 wherein at least one of said first and second seal surfaces is oriented at an acute angle relative to an axis of rotation of said turbine rotor and wherein a seal edge of said at least one seal tooth is oriented at a substantially identical acute angle.
20. The method of claim 16 wherein at least one of said first and second seal surfaces is oriented at an acute angle relative to an axis of rotation of said turbine rotor and wherein a seal edge of said at least one seal tooth is oriented substantially parallel to said axis of rotation.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A system, comprising:
a hardware memory; and
at least one processor in communication with the hardware memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
provide a pattern entry image to a user,
receive pattern entry data associated with a pattern drawn by the user on the pattern entry image,
associate an electronic commerce transaction to be performed with the pattern entry data, and
store the pattern entry data and the electronic commerce transaction in the hardware memory.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic commerce transaction is based on a location on the pattern entry image where the pattern is drawn.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to provide pattern association options to the user and to associate the electronic commerce transaction to be performed with the pattern entry data by receiving selected ones of the pattern association options from the user.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the pattern association options comprise a transaction type option, a currency amount option, and a recipient option.
5. The system of claim 3, wherein the selected ones of the pattern association options comprise a specific currency amount to be sent or received by the user and wherein the pattern entry data corresponds to the specific currency amount.
6. The system of claim 3, wherein the selected ones of the pattern association options comprise a specific recipient or a specific payer of funds from or to the user and wherein the pattern entry data corresponds to the specific recipient or the specific payer.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the pattern entry image comprises a dot matrix having a user-selected number of rows and columns of dots.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the pattern entry image comprises a user-selected image.
9. A method, comprising:
providing, electronically by a hardware processor, a pattern entry image to a user;
receiving, electronically by the hardware processor, a pattern entry associated with the pattern entry image from the user;
recognizing, electronically by the hardware processor, the pattern entry;
obtaining, electronically by the hardware processor, stored pattern association selections associated with the pattern entry, wherein the stored pattern association selections specify a transaction; and
executing, electronically by the hardware processor, the transaction using the pattern association selections.
10. The method defined in claim 9, wherein the stored pattern association selections comprise a payment amount and a recipient and wherein the executing comprises sending a payment from the user to the recipient.
11. The method defined in claim 9, wherein the stored pattern association selections comprise a currency amount and a recipient and wherein the executing comprises requesting a payment of the currency amount from the recipient.
12. The method defined in claim 9, wherein the stored pattern association selections comprise an invoice transaction type and a recipient and wherein the executing comprises:
generating an invoice; and
sending the invoice to the recipient.
13. The method defined in claim 9, wherein the pattern entry corresponds to a pattern drawn by the user on the pattern entry image, the method further comprising:
determining, electronically by the hardware processor, a location on the pattern entry image at which the pattern was drawn by the user.
14. The method defined in claim 13, wherein the executing comprises:
executing the transaction based on the determining.
15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having a plurality of machine-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a server, are adapted to cause the server to perform a method comprising:
providing a pattern entry image to a user;
receiving a pattern entry associated with the pattern entry image from the user;
recognizing the pattern entry;
obtaining stored pattern association selections associated with the pattern entry, wherein the stored pattern association selections specify a transaction; and
executing the transaction using the pattern association selections.
16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium defined in claim 15, wherein the stored pattern association selections comprise a payment amount and a recipient and wherein the executing comprises sending a payment from the user to the recipient.
17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium defined in claim 15, wherein the stored pattern association selections comprise a currency amount and a recipient and wherein the executing comprises requesting a payment of the currency amount from the recipient.
18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium defined in claim 15, wherein the transaction comprises an invoicing transaction and wherein the executing comprises:
generating an invoice; and
sending the invoice to a recipient.
19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium defined in claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:
determining a location on the pattern entry image that corresponds to the pattern entry.
20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium defined in claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:
receiving location-dependent amount change information from the user.