Gas Turbine Stator Vane Platform Cooling via Shoulder Extraction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In gas turbine engines, the impingement plate and platform pocket designs limit the cooling area, with the material beneath the shoulder and welded plate remaining uncooled due to oversized shoulders required for tolerance overlap, reducing the effective cooling capacity.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates lateral flanges that engage the lateral walls and a radial flange perpendicular to them, eliminating the need for a shoulder and allowing for increased cooling by enlarging the pocket area, with the impingement plate secured using welds to enhance cooling fluid impingement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a cast pocket with a raised shoulder around its entire perimeter is used, then the impingement plate can be securely welded to ensure minimum overlap between sheet metal and casting profiles, but the material beneath the shoulder and welded plate remains uncooled, reducing the effective cooling area
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the raised shoulder structure from the casting that was previously necessary for attaching the impingement plate. By eliminating this shoulder, the design allows cooling passages to extend directly beneath the impingement plate attachment location, converting previously uncooled material into cooled structure without compromising the weld attachment integrity between the impingement plate and the casting profiles
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extends the cooling passages in the radial direction beneath the impingement plate, utilizing the dimension previously occupied by the shoulder structure. This allows the cooling fluid to flow through passages that now extend under the attachment point, effectively using the space previously wasted by the shoulder to provide additional cooling surface area
2Manufacturing precision
If oversized shoulders are used to ensure minimum overlap between sheet metal and casting profiles, then tolerance requirements are met, but the combination of tolerances from sheet metal profile and casting profiles requires the shoulder to be oversized, further reducing pocket area
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the entire shoulder structure that was causing the area reduction. By eliminating the shoulder, the design achieves tolerance overlap through direct welding of the impingement plate to the casting profiles without requiring oversized features, thereby maximizing the pocket area while still meeting manufacturing precision requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The invention incorporates attachment features directly into the casting profile design that facilitate proper alignment and overlap between sheet metal and casting profiles before welding. This preliminary design of integrated attachment features eliminates the need for oversized shoulders to compensate for tolerance variations
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 configuration increases the cooled platform area, minimizing uncooled mass and enhancing cooling efficiency by enlarging the pocket and improving impingement cooling, thus improving the overall thermal management of turbine vanes.
Implementation Method 1
impingement plate and platform pocket designs... limiting the amount of platform area that is able to be cooled
Implementation Method 2
The hot combustion gases are communicated through the turbine section, which extracts energy from the hot combustion gases
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3B
Figure 4A~5
AI summary
A stator vane (60) for a gas turbine engine includes an airfoil (78) that extends radially from a first side of a platform (76). A pocket (90) is provided in the platform (76) on a second side opposite the airfoil (78). Forward and aft rails (100,102) extend from the second side of the platform (76). One of the forward and aft rails (100,102) includes a radial surface (118). An impingement plate (108) is secured to the platform (76) over the pocket (90). The impingement plate (108) includes a radial wall (120) that engages the radial surface (118).