Compound Angle Accelerator for Gas Turbine Cooling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional gas turbine engine accelerators suffer from fluid leakage, stagnant cooling fluid flow, and parasitic power losses due to their design, which affects performance and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
An annular accelerator with a compound exit angle is designed, featuring an annular outer and inner wall with a channel and vanes, manufactured using additive manufacturing to ensure a monolithic structure, directing cooling fluid tangentially to match rotor blade speed and reduce relative stagnation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional casting techniques are used to manufacture accelerators, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but fluid leakage occurs that degrades accelerator performance
Solution Approach 1:
The accelerator components (accelerator body, diffuser, and nozzle) are merged into a single monolithic structure manufactured via additive manufacturing. This eliminates the interfaces between separate cast components that cause fluid leakage, thereby improving reliability while accepting a more advanced manufacturing process.
2Loss of energy
If cooling fluid is directed radially or axially, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but the cooling fluid becomes stagnant relative to rotor blade speed causing parasitic power losses
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling fluid outlet is designed with a compound angle that incorporates both radial and axial components. This three-dimensional outlet configuration transforms the cooling fluid flow from stagnant radial or axial flow into a directed flow that matches the rotational speed of the rotor blades, reducing parasitic power losses while accepting increased geometric complexity.
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 enhances cooling efficiency by matching fluid speed with rotor blades, reducing parasitic losses and improving system performance while allowing for compact engine packaging and close coupling with rotor blades.
Implementation Method 1
depositing a layer of additive material on a bed of an additive manufacturing machine and selectively directing energy from an energy source onto the layer of additive material to fuse a portion of the additive material
Data Source
AI summary
Accelerators, methods of manufacturing accelerators, and gas turbine engines are provided. For example, an accelerator for a gas turbine engine defines a radial direction and an axial direction and comprises an annular outer wall, an annular inner wall, an annular channel defined between the outer and inner walls, and a plurality of vanes disposed within the channel. The channel has an inlet for ingress of a cooling fluid and an outlet for egress of the cooling fluid. Each vane extends from the outer wall to the inner wall adjacent the outlet, which is angled such that an exit angle of the cooling fluid is nonzero with respect to both the radial and axial directions. The accelerator may be manufactured using an additive manufacturing method. The accelerator outlet may be disposed immediately upstream of a first turbine rotor blade stage of a gas turbine engine to direct the cooling fluid thereto.