Patent ID: 9291068
Filing Date: 2016-03-22
CPC Classification: F01D,F05D,F16J

Claim Text:
1. A vacuum seal arrangement installed between confronting co-planar portions of a low pressure steam turbine exhaust hood and a circular bulkhead that forms part of an exhaust duct structure of a steam turbine module, the vacuum seal arrangement comprising: a flexible gasket in the form of an annular diaphragm with a radially inner circumferential portion sealingly secured to the circular bulkhead by releasably secured segmented flanges; a radially outer circumferential portion sealingly secured to the exhaust hood by releasably secured segmented flanges; and a radially median resilient portion extending therebetween; wherein the segmented flanges comprise diametral joint lines between flange segments coincident with a sealing plane between lower and upper parts of each the exhaust hood and the circular bulkhead; and wherein an upper part of the gasket is releasably secured to the upper part of each the exhaust hood and the circular bulkhead by an arrangement of segmented flanges and counter-flanges.