Gas Turbine Airfoil Flow Separating Rib for Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engine components face challenges in maintaining consistent cooling fluid flow and temperature distribution due to pressure differentials within internal cooling cavities, leading to uneven cooling and potential thermal stress.
Innovation Solution
A flow separating rib is positioned within the cooling cavity to divide it into separate portions, ensuring constant fluid flow and temperature distribution by isolating fluid flows from opposite sides, with the rib located between 10% and 90% span of the airfoil and extending between opposing sides of the wall to maintain consistent Mach numbers, pressure losses, and heat transfer across the component.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single cooling cavity is used without division, then the structure is simple, but the cooling fluid flow becomes uneven due to pressure differentials leading to inconsistent temperature distribution
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling cavity is divided into multiple separate cooling circuits by introducing flow separating ribs. These ribs partition the single cavity into distinct sections, each with independent fluid flow paths. This segmentation ensures that pressure differentials do not cause cross-contamination of flow patterns between different regions, thereby achieving uniform temperature distribution across the component while maintaining structural simplicity through the use of internal partitions rather than multiple separate cavities.
2Ease of operation
If cooling fluid flow is allowed to move freely throughout the cavity, then the system is easy to operate, but pressure differentials cause inconsistent fluid flow and uneven cooling
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling cavity is segmented into multiple independent circuits using flow separating ribs, which maintain constant fluid flow in each portion despite pressure differentials. This segmentation preserves ease of operation by requiring minimal system complexity while significantly improving cooling efficiency through controlled, uniform flow distribution across all sections of the component.
3Ease of manufacture
If the rib is positioned at midspan, then the structure is symmetric and simple to manufacture, but the cooling distribution may not be optimized for asymmetric thermal loads
Solution Approach 1:
The flow separating ribs are positioned at asymmetric locations within the cooling cavity rather than at midspan, with specific positioning coordinates optimized for asymmetric thermal loads. This local quality approach allows different regions of the component to receive customized cooling patterns matched to their specific thermal requirements, thereby optimizing overall cooling distribution while maintaining ease of manufacture through precise but straightforward rib placement.
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 ensures a more even cooling distribution across the component, reducing thermal stress and enhancing the overall cooling efficiency by maintaining consistent fluid flow and temperature across the cooling cavity, despite pressure differentials.
Implementation Method 1
A flow separating rib is positioned within the cooling cavity to divide it into separate portions, ensuring constant fluid flow and temperature distribution by isolating fluid flows from opposite sides
Implementation Method 2
Thermal energy is transferred from the component to the cooling fluid to cool the component
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A component for a gas turbine engine according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a wall that extends about a cooling cavity. The cooling cavity is a dual-fed cavity that is fed from at least two different locations. A rib separates the cooling cavity into a first portion and a second portion that is fluidly isolated from the first portion. The component is an airfoil. The first portion is fed with a first cooling fluid from a first coolant source, and the second portion is fed with a second, different cooling fluid from a second coolant source. The first and second coolant sources are separate and distinct from the component.