General Electric Company

Thomas Edward Demarche

Robert Francis Manning

Sean Robert Keith

Mohammad Esmaail Taslim

Judd Dodge Tressler

John Robert Staker

David Allen Flodman

Vincent Barry

Samuel D Spring

Mario E Abreu

A turbine airfoil includes an internal cooling circuit between opposite pressure and suction sidewalls. The pressure sidewall includes a row of outlet slots for the circuit separated by converging partitions. Each slot includes an inlet, throat, and diverging outlet. Each of the partitions includes a step in a converging sidewall thereof for increasing divergence of the slots to diffuse coolant discharged therethrough.

Stepped outlet turbine airfoil

A multiple impingement cooled structure is provided having two or more stages of impingement cooling wherein the stages are arranged so as to have substantially constant cooling effectiveness.

Multiple impingement cooled structure

A flowpath wall is provided for bounding hot combustion gases in a gas turbine engine. The wall includes opposite outer and inner surfaces and a plurality of cooling holes extending therebetween. A thermal barrier coating is bonded to the outer surface and covers blind the holes thereat.

Failsafe film cooled wall

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 such that a cooling cavity and a cooling circuit are defined within the airfoil, wherein the suction side and the pressure side extend radially between a tip and a root. The method also includes forming a plurality of cooling slots within the airfoil that extend from the cooling circuit towards the airfoil trailing edge, and forming a control vane within the cooling circuit to facilitate maintaining a substantially constant cooling effectiveness within the cooling circuit.

Methods and apparatus for cooling gas turbine engine nozzle assemblies

A method for fabricating a rotor blade for a gas turbine engine facilitates reducing operating temperatures of a tip portion of the rotor blade. The method comprises forming an airfoil including a first sidewall and a second sidewall connected at a leading edge and a trailing edge to define a cavity therein, wherein the first and second sidewalls extend radially between a rotor blade root and a rotor blade tip plate, and forming a first tip wall extending from the rotor blade tip plate along the first sidewall, such that at least a portion of the first tip wall is at least partially recessed with respect to the rotor blade first sidewall to define a tip shelf that extends from the airfoil trailing edge towards the airfoil leading edge. A second tip wall is formed to extend from the rotor blade tip plate along the second sidewall.

Method and apparatus for reducing turbine blade tip region temperatures

An improved cooling passage configuration for a gas turbine engine airfoil is disclosed for enhancing convective cooling over that afforded by conventional wall turbulator ribs. An internal cooling passage bounded by pressure and suction side walls and at least one partition has raised turbulator ribs disposed on at least one side wall and the partition. A side wall turbulator rib extends over at least a portion of the side wall and abuts the partition. A turbulator rib disposed on the partition extends from a point spaced from the wall rib to the opposed side wall. The gap formed between the partition rib and wall rib accelerates a coolant flow passing therethrough, locally enhancing convective heat transfer. Partition ribs may be aligned with or offset from the wall ribs in the spanwise direction and may be normal to the primary direction of cooling flow or angled thereto. Convective heat transfer is particularly enhanced in flow passages having cavity height blockage due to wall ribs greater than about 10%.

Enhanced cooling apparatus for gas turbine engine airfoils

A pulse-cooled gas turbine engine assembly includes a hollow airfoil and a fluidic oscillator joined thereto. The fluidic oscillator discharges pressurized cooling air inside the airfoil at a predetermined pulsation frequency for cooling the airfoil.

Growing community of inventors

Boxford, MA, United States of America

Thomas Edward Demarche