Abstract: A method is provided of reducing lockout time of a gas turbine engine which includes: an inlet, a compressor, a combustor, a turbine, and an exhaust duct, where the compressor and the turbine are carried on a turbomachinery rotor and each include an array of blades mounted for rotation inside a casing of the engine. The method includes: operating the engine at a first power output; shutting down operation of the engine without substantially reducing the power output beforehand, wherein thermomechanical changes occur in the engine subsequent to shutdown that tend to reduce a radial clearance between at least one of the blades and the casing; and subsequent to shutting down the engine, (1) heating the casing and/or (2) pumping an airflow of ambient air into the inlet and through the casing, past the rotor, and out the exhaust duct, so as to reverse at least partially the thermomechanical changes.

Abstract: A method is provided of reducing lockout time of a gas turbine engine which includes: an inlet, a compressor, a combustor, a turbine, and an exhaust duct, where the compressor and the turbine are carried on a turbomachinery rotor and each include an array of blades mounted for rotation inside a casing of the engine. The method includes: operating the engine at a first power output; shutting down operation of the engine without substantially reducing the power output beforehand, wherein thermomechanical changes occur in the engine subsequent to shutdown that tend to reduce a radial clearance between at least one of the blades and the casing; and subsequent to shutting down the engine, (1) heating the casing and/or (2) pumping an airflow of ambient air into the inlet and through the casing, past the rotor, and out the exhaust duct, so as to reverse at least partially the thermomechanical changes.

Abstract: A method facilitates balancing a gas turbine rotor. The method includes providing a gas turbine rotor including a plurality of turbine blades, wherein at least one turbine blade includes a blade tip shroud that includes a leading edge and a trailing edge that is opposite the leading edge, and coupling a balance clip to the at least one turbine blade. The balance clip includes a first portion having a first length that enables the clip to extend between the tip shroud leading and trailing edges and includes a first hook that couples to the tip shroud leading edge, a shorter second portion that extends only partially from at least one of the tip shroud trailing and leading edges towards the opposite shroud edge, and a second hook that extends between the first and second portions and couples to at least one of the tip shroud leading and trailing edges.

Abstract: An editing system is proposed for automatically, or semi-automatically, editing input data to generate output production. The input material is annotated by, or analyzed to derive, a set of media descriptors which describe the input material and which are derived from the input material. The style of editing is controlled using style data which is optionally derived from a user. The input material may include any or more of motion video, still images, music, speech, sound effects, animated graphics and text. The style data and the descriptors are used to generate a set of operations which, when carried out on the input data, generate an edited output production.