General Electric Company

Richard Mallory Davis

Fred W Staub

Susan Marie Hyde

Michael Adelbert Sullivan

R Paul Chiu

Ariel C Jacala

James E Sidenstick

In a gas turbine bucket having a shank portion and an airfoil portion having leading and trailing edges and pressure and suction sides, an internal cooling circuit, the internal cooling circuit having a serpentine configuration including plural radial outflow passages and plural radial inflow passages, and wherein a coolant inlet passage communicates with a first of the radial outflow passages along the trailing edge, the first radial outflow passage having a plurality of radially extending and radially spaced elongated rib segments extending between and connecting the pressure and suction sides in a middle region of the first passage to prevent ballooning of the pressure and suction sides at the first radial outflow passage.

Internal cooling circuit for gas turbine bucket

A method of improving structural stability of a ceramic core used in the casting of turbine components includes the steps of a) providing a die having a predetermined geometry which gives the ceramic core a shape corresponding to interior spaces in the turbine component; b) inserting elongated strengthening members into interior or more areas of the die corresponding to one or more of the interior spaces; c) injecting a ceramic slurry into the die so as to substantially enclose the strengthening members; and d) firing the ceramic slurry to form a hardened ceramic core. A ceramic core used in a high temperature gas turbine component casting process includes a ceramic body having a geometry corresponding to internal passages of a gas turbine component; and at least one elongated rod or tube incorporated in the ceramic body, the rod or tube comprised of a material which retains structural stability at temperatures in excess of about 2600.degree. F. In a method of casting a gas turbine component having interior passages, and including inserting a ceramic core in a casting die wherein the ceramic core is shaped to correspond to the interior passages, pouring molten metal into the die, and solidifying the molten metal and extracting the ceramic core, an improvement is disclosed which includes incorporating at least one strengthening member in the ceramic core to improve structural stability of the core during pouring and solidifying the molten metal.

Composite, internal reinforced ceramic cores and related methods

In a gas turbine bucket having a shank portion, a radial tip portion and an airfoil having leading and trailing edges and pressure and suction surfaces, and an internal fluid cooling circuit, an improvement wherein the internal fluid cooling circuit has a serpentine configuration including plural radial outflow passages and plural radial inflow passages. The radial outflow passages, in one example, are shaped to have aspect ratios of about 3.3 to 1 and Buoyancy Numbers of &lt;0.15 or &gt;0.80. A method of determining a configuration for steam cooling passages for a bucket stage in a gas turbine is also provided which includes, in one example, the steps of:

Closed circuit steam cooled bucket

A hot gas turbine wheel shroud ring, for hot gas turbine engines, is adapted to be concentrically positioned around the periphery of a row of buckets or blades on the circumference of a turbine wheel to provide a predetermined small sealing and running clearance between the tips of the turbine blades and the ring. The shroud ring is characterized as incorporating certain opposite warping or deflection characteristics from those found in shroud rings under normal high temperature operating conditions.

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Scotia, NY, United States of America

Richard Mallory Davis