Blade Outer Air Seal Flow Guide for Cooling Air Reuse
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Solution Overview
Problem
In gas turbine engines, existing blade outer air seal designs face challenges in efficiently guiding cooling air to maintain effective convection cooling and reusing cooling air for adjacent turbine vanes, leading to inefficiencies in engine performance and thermal management.
Innovation Solution
A turbine section design incorporating a flow guide with a spacer between the blade outer air seal and the support structure, which configures a passage for cooling air to flow radially inward and outward, enhancing forced convection cooling and allowing reused cooling air to be directed to adjacent vanes, thereby optimizing air distribution and reuse.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a blade outer air seal is provided radially outwardly of turbine blades, then combustion products are directed over turbine blades, but cooling air distribution and reuse efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
A flow guide component is introduced as an intermediary element between the blade outer air seal and the support structure. This flow guide includes a passage that directs cooling air from the blade outer air seal to adjacent turbine vanes, enabling cooling air reuse without interfering with the primary function of directing combustion products over turbine blades.
Solution Approach 2:
The flow guide is segmented into multiple components including a flow guide body with a passage, a spacer maintaining gaps, and integration with the blade outer air seal assembly. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each component's function while maintaining overall system performance for both combustion product direction and cooling air reuse.
2Temperature
If cooling air is used for convection cooling of blade outer air seal, then thermal management improves, but compressor section demand increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system recovers cooling air that has passed through the blade outer air seal and redirects it through the flow guide passage to cool adjacent turbine vanes. This recovery and reuse mechanism reduces the total amount of cooling air required from the compressor section, thereby reducing compressor demand while maintaining effective thermal management of the blade outer air seal and adjacent components.
3Ease of operation
If a flow guide with passage is arranged between support structure and blade outer air seal, then cooling air distribution improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flow guide is designed to perform multiple functions within a single integrated structure: it directs cooling air through its passage, maintains proper spacing via an integrated spacer, and guides airflow to multiple targets (blade outer air seal and adjacent turbine vanes). This multi-functionality reduces the number of separate components needed, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity while achieving improved cooling air distribution.
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 design improves thermal management by enhancing forced convection cooling on the blade outer air seal and efficiently reusing cooling air to reduce the demand on the compressor section, leading to improved engine efficiency and performance.
Implementation Method 1
the spacer is sized to force convection cooling on a radially outer surface of the blade outer air seal
Data Source
AI summary
A blade outer air seal assembly includes a support structure arranged about an axis. At least one blade outer air seal segment is mounted in the support structure. A flow guide is arranged between the support structure and the at least one blade outer air seal segment defining a passage between the flow guide and the blade outer air seal segment. The passage extends in a generally axial direction.