General Electric Company

United Technologies Corporation

Robert E Gladden

Robert Alexander Nicoll

Dennis C Evans

Elias Hucul, Jr

The turbine blades of a high pressure turbine in a gas turbine jet engine are cooled by cooling air injected into cooling channels in the blade using angled nozzles supplied with high pressure air from the engine compressor. The nozzles project the high pressure air across a lower-pressure gap into slots which lead to internal channels in the turbine disk without requiring the use of seals to produce a pressure differential to encourage the flow of cooling air. Maximum air transfer into the internal channels in the turbine blades occurs when the air impacting slots in the turbine wheel is travelling at an angle with respect to the slots which is approximately parallel to the axes of the internal channels. A relatively narrow range of angular misalignment for aiming the nozzles is permitted. The pressure of the air from the plenum may be reduced by employing two or more flow channels in series before projecting the air across the gap to the turbine wheel.

Cooling air injector for turbine blades

A convectively cooled turbine blade has a three-pass cooling air passageway. Air enters the blade at its root end, travels along a reversing path through the passageway and is emitted through an array of slots in the blade trailing edge generally configured in the form of a Venetian blind. Pedestals or turning vanes located in the turning areas of the passageway control separation of flow to prevent development of local hot spots. Pedestals located in a midchord portion of the passageway prevent sidewall panel vibration and enhance cooling efficiency. A root metering plate governs magnitude of cooling flow through the turbine blade.

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Burlington, MA, United States of America

Robert E Gladden