Spiral inlets for steam turbines

This paper deals with the design process of special nozzle blades for spiral inlets. Spiral inlets are used for the first stages of high pressure and intermediate pressure steam turbines with both reaction and impulse blades when throttling or sliding pressure control is applied. They improve the steam flow uniformity from the inlet pipe and thus decrease the aerodynamic losses. The proposed evaluation of the inlet angle is based on the free vortex law.