Turbomachine Blade Cooling Insert with Hub Bleed Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing guide vane assembly cooling systems in turbomachines suffer from significant cooling air consumption and loss due to inefficient air routing and leakage, leading to increased air temperature and reduced effectiveness in cooling both blades and other turbine parts.
Innovation Solution
A blade with an internal insert and a bleed device that directs cooled air directly to the hub, minimizing heating and air leakage through a ball joint-connected bleed mechanism, which allows for thermal displacement and integrates the bleed head and duct for reduced manufacturing complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cooling air is routed through labyrinth-type circuits in blades, then blade cooling effectiveness is improved, but cooling air consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into distinct functional zones: an insert with cooling channels for blade cooling, and a bleed device with separate channels for hub cooling. This segmentation allows independent optimization of air routing for each cooling target, reducing overall air consumption by delivering cool air directly where needed rather than through inefficient labyrinth paths.
Solution Approach 2:
The insert acts as an intermediary structure between the cooling air inlet and the blade internal surfaces. It provides dedicated cooling channels that efficiently deliver cool air to the blade leading edge and other critical areas, serving as a mediator that improves cooling effectiveness while reducing the quantity of air required compared to direct labyrinth routing.
2Quantity of substance
If inserts are extended to cross the internal meridian to route bleed air to the hub, then air consumption is reduced, but significant leakage of cold air occurs at the insert-hub interface
Solution Approach 1:
The bleed device extracts cooling air from the insert at an optimal location and routes it through dedicated bleed channels directly to the hub. This extraction approach prevents the leakage problem by providing a controlled, sealed path for air that would otherwise escape at the insert-hub interface, while still achieving the goal of reducing overall air consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The bleed device serves as an intermediary mechanism between the insert and the hub. It provides a sealed connection and dedicated cooling air channels that eliminate leakage at the interface while efficiently routing cool air to the hub for cooling other turbine parts, thus resolving both the air consumption and leakage contradictions.
3Reliability
If cooling air passes through the entire blade length from external to internal meridian, then blade cooling is effective, but air temperature increases significantly by the time it reaches the hub
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling air path is segmented into two separate routes: one through the insert for blade cooling, and another through the bleed device for hub cooling. This segmentation allows the hub cooling air to be extracted before it undergoes significant heating from prolonged contact with hot blade surfaces, maintaining lower temperature and higher cooling effectiveness at the hub.
Solution Approach 2:
The bleed device performs preliminary extraction of cooling air from the insert before the air can be significantly heated by the blade structure. By taking the cooling air out early in its path and routing it directly to the hub through sealed channels, the system preserves the air's cooling capability and delivers it to the hub at a more effective temperature.
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 reduces cooling air consumption and loss, maintaining air temperature near the inlet level and effectively cooling turbine components, while minimizing air leakage and accommodating thermo-mechanical displacements.
Implementation Method 1
The turbine blade is fitted with a cooling system comprising an insert arranged inside an internal cavity of the blade, connected to a cooling air inlet of the blade and designed to cool the surface of the internal cavity of the blade
Implementation Method 2
designed to accommodate relative displacements between the blade and the hub
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a blade of a guide vane assembly of a turbomachine fitted with a cooling system, generally including an insert arranged inside an internal cavity of said blade, connected to a cooling air inlet of the blade and designed to cool the surface of the internal cavity of the blade, and a bleed device configured to bleed some of the cooling air inside the insert and designed to send this bled cooling air to a central hub of the turbomachine. The bleed device of the blade may further include a bleed head arranged in the internal cavity of the blade and passing through an opening of the insert, and configured to bleed some of the cooling air inside the insert.