Airfoil Tip Pocket Augmentation for Gas Turbine Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engine components, such as airfoil tips, face challenges in cooling due to difficulty in effectively communicating sufficient cooling fluid, leading to potential tip burning from exposure to hot combustion gases.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a tip pocket with heat transfer augmentation devices, such as trip strips or chevrons, within the airfoil tip pocket to enhance cooling efficiency by trapping and augmenting the cooling fluid's heat transfer before expelling it into the gas stream.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If cooling circuits channel dedicated cooling fluids through the airfoil, then the component is cooled, but it is difficult to communicate enough cooling fluid to cool airfoil tips effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The tip pocket is segmented into multiple regions including a floor, suction side wall, pressure side wall, and cooling holes positioned at specific locations. Heat transfer augmentation devices are placed within specific segments of the tip pocket to maximize cooling efficiency while maintaining manageable system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
Heat transfer augmentation devices serve as intermediary elements between the cooling fluid and the airfoil tip structure. These devices enhance the heat transfer process without requiring direct modification of the cooling fluid delivery system, thus resolving the contradiction between effective cooling and system complexity
2Productivity
If heat transfer augmentation devices are added to the tip pocket, then cooling efficiency is enhanced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Heat transfer augmentation devices are placed locally within the tip pocket rather than throughout the entire airfoil structure. This localized approach enhances cooling efficiency at the critical tip region while minimizing the overall increase in device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The tip pocket structure includes more features than a minimal design would require, such as multiple walls, cooling holes, and heat transfer augmentation devices. This partial excess provides enhanced cooling efficiency while the added complexity is concentrated in non-critical areas
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 solution effectively increases the cooling efficiency of airfoil tips by prolonging the cooling fluid's residence time and enhancing heat transfer, thereby preventing tip burning and improving the overall performance of gas turbine engines.
Implementation Method 1
heat transfer augmentation device is formed in the tip pocket
Implementation Method 2
enhancing heat transfer, thereby preventing tip burning
Data Source
AI summary
A component for a gas turbine engine includes, among other things, an airfoil that includes a pressure sidewall and a suction sidewall that meet together at both a leading edge and a trailing edge, the airfoil extending radially from a platform to a tip, a tip pocket formed in the tip and terminating prior to the trailing edge, and one or more heat transfer augmentation devices formed in the tip pocket.