Gas Turbine Airfoil Cooling via Crossover Passages and Pin Array
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engine components, such as blades and nozzles, face inefficiencies and degradation due to mechanical and thermal stresses, and existing cooling methods are insufficient to effectively reduce thermal loads, limiting the turbine's operating temperature and power generation capacity.
Innovation Solution
The airfoil design incorporates a unique cooling path with crossover passages and a pin array near the trailing edge, combining impingement and convective cooling to enhance cooling capacity, allowing the turbine to operate at higher temperatures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional cooling methods are used, then the airfoil can operate, but the cooling capacity is insufficient to effectively reduce thermal loads
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into multiple independent cooling paths: a first cooling path with a first coolant flowing through first cooling passages, and a second cooling path with a second coolant flowing through second cooling passages. This segmentation allows each path to be optimized independently for different cooling requirements, thereby increasing overall cooling capacity and effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a multi-dimensional cooling approach by creating separate cooling paths that operate in parallel rather than relying on a single cooling pathway. This dimensional expansion of the cooling system allows coolant to reach different regions of the airfoil through multiple routes, significantly enhancing heat removal capability from the airfoil structure.
2Power
If the turbine operates at higher temperatures, then additional power generation is achieved, but thermal stresses cause inefficiencies and part degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling passages are designed to deliver coolant to the airfoil structure before the hot gas flow reaches maximum temperature levels. The multiple cooling paths are configured to preemptively cool critical regions of the airfoil, preventing excessive thermal stress accumulation and allowing the turbine to operate at higher temperatures without degradation.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the thermal parameters of the airfoil by introducing multiple coolant flows that alter the temperature distribution within the airfoil structure. By modifying the cooling parameters (multiple coolants, multiple paths), the airfoil can withstand higher operating temperatures while maintaining structural integrity and reducing thermal stress.
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
This combination of cooling methods increases the airfoil's cooling efficiency, leading to improved aeromechanical life and additional power generation by enabling the turbine to operate at higher temperatures.
Implementation Method 1
As the coolant moves through the internal cavity of the airfoil it cools the exposed surfaces within the internal cavity through convection
Implementation Method 2
the second coolant flowing through the second cooling passages to cool the airfoil
Data Source
AI summary
An airfoil for a gas turbine engine. The airfoil includes a unique cooling path for a coolant, routing the coolant through a cooling cavity, through a column of crossover passages and through a pin array near a trailing edge of the airfoil. The crossover passages produce impingement cooling and the pin array produces convective cooling. This combination of impingement cooling and convective cooling results in increased cooling of the airfoil and better aeromechanical life objectives.