Turbine Blade Cooling Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-temperature industrial machinery, such as combustion turbine engines, face challenges in effectively cooling turbine blades while maintaining structural integrity and minimizing mechanical and thermal stresses, especially in thinner, more aggressively shaped aerodynamic configurations.
Innovation Solution
The design of diagonal crisscrossing cooling channels within turbine blades, featuring alternating diverging-converging configurations and crisscrossing patterns, which enhance cooling efficiency and reduce stress concentrations by promoting turbulent flow and distributing coolant effectively across the blade surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If internal cooling channels are added to turbine blades, then cooling effectiveness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into multiple independent straight channels arranged in a grid pattern, with each channel serving a specific cooling zone. This segmentation allows for simplified manufacturing of individual channels while achieving comprehensive cooling coverage through their collective arrangement.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling channels are arranged in a three-dimensional grid pattern with channels extending in multiple directions (x, y, z dimensions) through the blade structure. This multi-dimensional arrangement maximizes cooling surface area and effectiveness without requiring complex curved channel geometries.
2Temperature
If cooling air is diverted from the compressor, then blade cooling is improved, but engine efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The straight grid-patterned channels provide targeted cooling to specific high-temperature zones on the blade surface, delivering cooling effectiveness precisely where needed rather than requiring uniform cooling throughout the entire blade structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The interconnected grid pattern of channels ensures continuous coolant flow and heat dissipation across the blade surface, maintaining effective cooling throughout the operational cycle without requiring excessive coolant volume or flow rate.
3Weight of moving object
If cooling channels are designed to remove weight, then blade weight is reduced, but structural strength decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The blade structure is segmented into multiple small channel passages arranged in a grid pattern, which removes material selectively to reduce weight while maintaining overall structural integrity through the distributed channel arrangement that preserves load-bearing material in critical areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The channels are arranged in a three-dimensional grid pattern that extends through the blade thickness, providing effective cooling and weight reduction while the regular geometric pattern maintains structural predictability and strength through optimized material 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 configuration provides enhanced cooling performance, reduces material weight while maintaining structural strength, and increases the blades' resilience to mechanical and thermal loads, thereby extending their lifespan and improving engine efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
passing a relatively cool supply of compressed air through internal cooling channels within the blades. As the compressed air passes through the blade, it convectively cools the blade
Implementation Method 2
diagonal crisscrossing cooling channels within turbine blades, featuring alternating diverging-converging configurations and crisscrossing patterns, which enhance cooling efficiency and reduce stress concentrations by promoting turbulent flow
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3
AI summary
Cooling channels through the interior of a machine component that include: a first set of cooling channels 24, the first set of cooling channels 24 including a plurality of parallel channels that reside in a first plane; a second set of cooling channels 26, the second set of cooling channels 26 including a plurality of parallel channels that reside in a second plane. Along a longitudinal axis, the cooling channels of the first and second set of cooling channels 26 may include an alternating diverging-converging configuration, the alternating diverging-converging configuration creating a series of broader chamber sections 30 connected by a series of narrower throat sections 32. The first set of cooling channels 24 and the second set of cooling channels 26 may be configured such that, when viewed from the side, a crisscrossing pattern with a plurality of intersections 36 is formed. The first plane resides in spaced relation to the second plane, with the first plane being offset from the second plane such that a plurality of the chamber sections 30 of the first set of cooling channels 24 connect to a plurality of the chamber sections 30 of the second set of cooling channels 26.