General Electric Company

Randall Brent Rydbeck

Robert Francis Manning

Baolan Shi

Robert Proctor

Nigel Brian Thomas Langley

Gregory Alan White

Edward P Brill

John William Hanify

Christopher Roach

A turbine airfoil includes sidewalls extending between leading and trailing edges, with an internal cooling circuit therein. A row of venturi slots commences inside the airfoil at the cooling circuit and terminates near the trailing edge. Each of the venturi slots includes an inlet, converging portion, throat, diverging portion, and outlet in serial flow communication from the cooling circuit. The converging portion is comparable in chordal length with the throat.

Venturi outlet turbine airfoil

A turbine nozzle includes outer and inner bands integrally joined to a vane having a three-pass serpentine flow circuit between opposite pressure and suction sidewalls. The outer band includes an inlet for channeling cooling air into a first channel of the circuit located behind a leading edge of the vane. A first outlet is disposed in the inner band at the bottom of the first channel where it joins the second channel of the circuit. A second outlet is also disposed in the inner band at the bottom of a third channel of the circuit which is disposed in flow communication with the second channel. The first channel behind the leading edge is smooth except for corresponding rows of first and second turbulators spaced laterally apart. The first turbulators bridge the pressure and suction sidewalls directly behind the leading edge, and the second turbulators are disposed behind the suction sidewall.

Complementary cooled turbine nozzle

A method for fabricating a nozzle for a gas turbine engine facilitates extending a useful life of the nozzles. The nozzle includes an airfoil. The method includes forming the airfoil to include a suction side and a pressure side connected at a leading edge and a trailing edge, forming a plurality of slots in the pressure side of the airfoil extending towards the trailing edge, and extending a plurality of pins arranged in rows between the airfoil suction and pressure sides, such that at each of a first row of pins has a substantially elliptical cross-sectional area, wherein the first row of pins is between the remaining rows of pins and the airfoil pressure side slots.

Methods and apparatus for cooling gas turbine nozzles

To cool the shroud assembly in the high pressure turbine section of a gas turbine engine, high pressure cooling air is directed in metered flow to baffle plenums and thence through baffle perforations to impingement cool the rails and back surfaces of the shroud. Impingement cooling air then flows through elongated, convection cooling passages in the shroud sections and exits to flow along the shroud front surface with the main gas stream to provide film cooling. The aft rail of the shroud sections is provided with one or more cooling holes to impingement cool the annular retaining ring or C-clip retaining the shroud sections on the shroud hangers. This cooling air then travels aftward on the inboard side of the C-clip to provide convection cooling of the C-clip. In an alternative embodiment, cooling air is directed at the aft corners of the shroud base to avoid overheating.

Growing community of inventors

Hamilton, MA, United States of America

Randall Brent Rydbeck