General Electric Company

Louis Lievestro

Harvey M Maclin

Thomas G Wakeman

John Howard Starkweather

Arthur L Ludwig

James S Kelm

Richard Clay Haubert

Delmer H Landis, Jr

Paul W Lozier

James E Eiswerth

Thomas A Auxier

A sheet metal panel comprising a bent region is disclosed. The region defines a first arc of intersection with a first plane and a second arc of intersection with a second plane. The second arc has a radius of less than twice the thickness of the panel.

Sheet metal panel

A method of fabricating a hollow article, such as a rotor blade, comprising the steps of forming a solid piece of material and establishing a reference datum thereon, cutting the piece into two parts and establishing aligning means for adjacent surfaces of the two parts, separating the two parts and forming at least one cavity in one of the adjacent surfaces, aligning the adjacent surfaces using the aligning means, fastening the two parts together, and forming the external surfaces of the article using the reference datum as a positional reference.

Method of fabricating a hollow article

A gas turbine engine comprising a number of annular wall sectors which form a complete circular wall defining a hot gas passage is provided with a cooling system incorporating a plurality of hollow impingement vessels disposed in a circular array within an annular chamber behind the wall. Cooling fluid is routed to the self-contained impingement pressure vessels which are provided with perforations to disperse the cooling fluid into impingement upon the wall. Unlike prior systems, the impingement vessels are not physically attached to the band but, rather, are supported by a structural frame which partially defines the annular chamber and, in the preferred embodiment, also supports the wall sectors. Since the impingement vessel, and not the backside of the wall, is the pressure vessel for the pressurized cooling fluid, leakage between adjacent wall sectors is greatly reduced with no loss in cooling effectiveness when compared to conventional cooling systems. Thus, turbine cycle performance is improved.

Turbine band cooling system

Growing community of inventors

West Chester, OH, United States of America

Louis Lievestro