General Electric Company

Matthew James Findlay

John Alan Eastman

Jon Allen Ebacher

Gary Michael Itzel

Jason Dean Fuller

Cathy Chiurato

A turbine blade includes a shank portion and an airfoil portion with leading and trailing edges and a radially outer tip. An internal closed-loop cooling circuit is formed within the airfoil portion and includes at least one radial outflow passage and at least one radial inflow passage connected by at least one respective tip turn at the radially outer end of the airfoil portion. At least one tip turn is provided with a single turbulence-enhancement device on an underside of the radially outer tip, projecting into the tip turn.

Turbulator on the underside of a turbine blade tip turn and related method

A nozzle assembly () for a turbine engine includes an inner band () and an outer band () spaced apart from each other. An airfoil () installed between the bands has a leading edge () and a trailing edge (). The airfoil has cavities formed in it for fluid flow through the nozzle assembly. A plurality of film cooling holes (A&#x2013;H) are formed in a sidewall of the airfoil on a concave side of the assembly, and a plurality of film cooling holes (J&#x2013;R) are formed in a sidewall of the nozzle on a convex side thereof. The holes are formed on each side of the airfoil, adjacent the trailing edge of the nozzle, in a plurality of rows of holes including at least a forward row (C, J), an aft row (A, L), and an intermediate row (B, K). The spacing between the intermediate row and aft row is substantially closer than the spacing between the forward row and the intermediate row.

Growing community of inventors

Simpsonville, SC, United States of America

Matthew James Findlay