Convex Airfoil Multi-Piece Baffle Insertion
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Solution Overview
Problem
The design of gas turbine engine airfoils with convex sides presents a challenge in incorporating a baffle for enhanced cooling, as the convex shape results in a barrel-shaped internal core cavity with narrowed openings, making it difficult to insert a single barrel-shaped baffle and achieving a constant gap and stand-off distance for effective cooling.
Innovation Solution
A multi-piece baffle system with complementary baffle pieces that can be inserted and removed through the narrow openings by moving along curved paths and rotating, allowing each piece to fit through the openings without interference, enabling effective cooling by maintaining a constant gap and stand-off distance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single barrel-shaped baffle is used in a convex-sided airfoil, then the cooling coverage is improved, but the difficulty of insertion through narrowed openings increases
Solution Approach 1:
The single barrel-shaped baffle is divided into multiple segmented baffles (typically three segments) that can be inserted separately through the narrowed openings of the convex-sided airfoil. Each segment is smaller in cross-section than the narrowed opening, allowing individual insertion while collectively providing the required cooling coverage when assembled inside the airfoil cavity.
2Shape
If convex sides are used in airfoil design, then the aerodynamic performance is improved, but the internal core cavity shape creates narrowed openings that complicate baffle insertion
Solution Approach 1:
The baffle system is segmented into multiple pieces that can be inserted through the narrowed openings created by the convex airfoil shape. The segments are designed with complementary surfaces that mate together inside the airfoil cavity, allowing assembly despite the constrained access through the narrowed openings.
Solution Approach 2:
The segmented baffles are designed to nest together within the airfoil cavity, with each segment fitting into a specific position and orientation. The segments may be inserted sequentially or simultaneously, with their complementary surfaces ensuring proper positioning and assembly within the constrained space.
3Ease of operation
If a multi-piece baffle system is used, then the ease of insertion through narrow openings is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The baffle system is divided into a limited number of segments (typically three) with complementary surfaces designed to mate together. This segmentation enables insertion through narrow openings while the complementary surface design ensures proper alignment and assembly, reducing the operational complexity despite having multiple pieces.
Solution Approach 2:
The multiple baffle segments are designed to merge or mate together inside the airfoil cavity to form the complete cooling structure. The complementary surfaces ensure that when the segments are assembled, they create a unified cooling barrier that provides the required thermal protection.
Data Source
AI summary
An airfoil includes an airfoil section that has an airfoil wall that defines a leading end, a trailing end, and first and second convex sides that join the leading end and the trailing end. The first and second convex sides span in a longitudinal direction between first and second ends. The first and second convex sides define lateral bounds of an internal core cavity, and the first and second convex sides converge toward each other at each of the first and second ends such that the internal core cavity constricts at the first and second ends. A multi-piece baffle is disposed in the internal core cavity and has a shape that is complementary to the first and second convex sides.