Gas Turbine Airfoil Cooling Structure With Impingement and Sub-Cavities
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gas turbines face challenges in achieving efficient cooling of airfoils, which are critical components in turbines, leading to potential degradation and reduced performance.
Innovation Solution
The airfoil design incorporates cooling holes, collision jet holes, inner cooling flow paths, sub-cavities, and cooling fins to enhance cooling efficiency by collision cooling, increased cooling time, and air curtain effects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional cooling methods are used in airfoils, then the structure is simple, but cooling efficiency is insufficient leading to thermal degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into multiple functional components: collision jet holes for impingement cooling, inner cooling flow paths for convective cooling, sub-cavities for thermal mass storage, and cooling fins for heat dissipation. This segmentation allows each component to perform a specific cooling function, collectively achieving superior cooling efficiency while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling structure employs nested cavities where sub-cavities are positioned within the airfoil structure to surround inner cooling flow path outlets. This nesting arrangement maximizes the cooling surface area and thermal mass within the limited airfoil volume, improving cooling efficiency without proportionally increasing external dimensions or overall complexity
2Reliability
If cooling fluid flow time is shortened, then productivity is improved, but cooling efficiency decreases leading to thermal damage
Solution Approach 1:
The collision jet holes are positioned to deliver cooling fluid to the hottest regions of the airfoil before thermal degradation occurs. The impingement cooling action immediately addresses peak thermal loads at critical locations such as the leading edge and suction side, providing preliminary thermal protection where it is most needed
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling system maintains continuous cooling action through multiple mechanisms: collision jets provide continuous impingement cooling, inner cooling flow paths ensure continuous convective cooling, and sub-cavities with cooling fins provide continuous passive heat dissipation. This continuity of cooling action ensures sustained thermal protection throughout the airfoil's operational cycle
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 enhanced cooling design improves the thermal resistance and durability of airfoils, thereby increasing the operational efficiency and longevity of gas turbines.
Implementation Method 1
a collision jet hole provided as a plurality of collision jet holes formed in inner surfaces of the suction side and the pressure side, the collision jet hole being configured to perform colliding and cooling by introducing the cooling fluid into the inner cooling flow path
Implementation Method 2
an inner cooling flow path formed inside a wall body forming the pressure side and the suction side
Implementation Method 3
a sub-cavity formed such that the sub-cavity surrounds an inner cooling flow path outlet formed on an end portion of the inner cooling flow path
Data Source
AI summary
An airfoil and a gas turbine including the airfoil. The airfoil includes a suction side and a pressure side having a cooling hole, a main cavity which is formed in an inner space formed by the suction side and the pressure side and into which a cooling fluid is introduced, an inner cooling flow path formed inside a wall body forming the pressure side and the suction side, and a collision jet hole formed in inner surfaces of the suction side and the pressure side and configured to perform colliding and cooling by introducing the cooling fluid into the inner cooling flow path, and a sub-cavity surrounding an inner cooling flow path outlet formed on an end portion of the inner cooling flow path, the sub-cavity being configured such that the inner cooling flow path outlet and a cooling hole inlet are in communication with each other.