Turbine or system with internal evaporative blade cooling

Abstract

A radial flow engine has at least one rotor with an internal cavity that includes a vaporization section and a condensation section. The condensation section is disposed radially inward toward the shaft and the vaporization section extends radially outward adjacent to the surface of the rotor blade. The vaporization section includes a series of pockets for dispersing the cooling fluid within each blade, and a cascaded series of capture protrusions to distribute the liquid coolant to the successive radially-arrayed pockets. A working system includes a centrifugal compressor which feeds a compressed air fuel mixture to an annular combustion chamber that, in turn, feeds the combustion gases along a radial direction to impinge on the surface of the cooled radial flow rotor. Optionally, the system is a regenerative system including a heat exchange sub-assembly which couples heat from the exhaust stream to a position between the compressor and combustion chamber. The invention also includes a compressor, or a turbine, or both a compressor and a turbine with a rotor cooled by internal vaporization and condensation of a recirculating medium, and systems wherein such a cooled compressor and cooled turbine assembly operate together, either as a stand-alone engine or combustion system, or as a core engine between other input and output stages. The core engine may be retrofitted to improve the efficiency or increase the power of an existing plant.