Gas Turbine Airfoil Baffle for Enhanced Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engine components, such as airfoils and vanes, face challenges in effective cooling due to extreme heat, with existing cooling schemes often inadequate in managing thermal resistance and heat load distribution.
Innovation Solution
An airfoil design incorporating a baffle with an internal passage for coolant conveyance, where the baffle body is made of a material with lesser thermal resistance than the airfoil body, and features like tapered sidewalls and exit ports for efficient coolant ejection, enhancing convective cooling and heat management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional cooling schemes are used for airfoils and vanes, then the structure is simple, but the cooling effectiveness is inadequate due to extreme heat and thermal resistance
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into multiple functional zones within the airfoil cavity: an inlet region for coolant reception, an intermediate region for coolant distribution, and an exit region for coolant ejection. This segmentation allows each region to be optimized for its specific function, improving overall cooling effectiveness while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the airfoil are provided with different cooling characteristics. The inlet region has features for coolant reception, the intermediate region has tapered sidewalls for flow distribution, and the exit region has spaced-apart sidewalls for coolant ejection. This local differentiation of cooling quality addresses varying thermal conditions at different locations within the airfoil
2Reliability
If a baffle with complementary geometry is used to maximize contact with the cavity, then heat management is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The baffle is designed with complementary geometry that matches the specific contours of the airfoil cavity, maximizing contact area for efficient heat transfer. This localized geometric matching is applied only where thermal contact is needed, rather than requiring perfect fit throughout the entire baffle structure
Solution Approach 2:
The baffle geometry is segmented into regions with different precision requirements. The regions requiring high precision are limited to specific contact zones, while other portions of the baffle can be manufactured with standard tolerances, reducing overall manufacturing precision requirements
3Productivity
If the sidewalls are spaced apart at the exit region to define exit ports, then coolant ejection efficiency is improved, but the baffle structure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of adding complex ejection mechanisms or separate components, the design inverts the approach by spacing apart the sidewalls at the exit region to naturally define exit ports. This simple geometric inversion creates effective coolant ejection pathways without requiring additional structural complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The exit ports are created by extracting or removing material between the spaced-apart sidewalls at the exit region. This extraction creates the necessary coolant ejection pathways in a straightforward manner that does not significantly increase overall baffle structure complexity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively manages heat loads by providing enhanced convective cooling, improving the thermal performance of gas turbine engine components and reducing fabrication complexity and costs.
Implementation Method 1
an internal passage for conveying coolant
Implementation Method 2
the baffle body is made of a material with lesser thermal resistance than the airfoil body
Data Source
AI summary
A method of repairing an airfoil according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, providing an airfoil body, the airfoil body having external walls extending between a leading edge and a trailing edge, providing a baffle, the baffle including a baffle body defining an internal passage, and sidewalls of the baffle body defining a first contour, defining a cavity in the airfoil body, the cavity extending inwardly from the external walls to define a second contour complementary to the first contour, and inserting the baffle into the cavity. An airfoil arrangement is also disclosed.