Turbine Rotor Blade Platform Cooling Segmentation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional platform cooling designs for turbine rotor blades face challenges such as inadequate sealing, limited coolant control, inefficient coolant usage, high manufacturing costs, and lack of flexibility due to their complex geometry and assembly dependencies, which affect the durability and efficiency of the cooling process.
Innovation Solution
A platform cooling arrangement featuring an interior cooling passage with high and low-pressure regions, airfoil and slashface manifolds, connectors, and cooling apertures that allow for a controlled coolant flow pattern, enabling efficient and flexible cooling of the platform region through machining and post-cast processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional platform cooling designs are used, then cooling function is provided, but sealing is inadequate and coolant control is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into separate functional components: high-pressure coolant supply passages, low-pressure coolant supply passages, and platform cooling passages. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each passage type and enables precise control over coolant flow distribution to different regions of the platform, resolving the contradiction between cooling effectiveness and system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the platform are provided with different cooling characteristics: the first platform region receives high-pressure coolant through high-pressure passages, while the second platform region receives low-pressure coolant through low-pressure passages. This local differentiation optimizes cooling effectiveness in each specific area while maintaining overall system manageability.
2Reliability
If complex cooling channel geometries are implemented, then cooling coverage is improved, but manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling passages are segmented into multiple simpler channels (high-pressure coolant supply passages, low-pressure coolant supply passages, platform cooling passages) that can be individually formed through conventional machining processes, avoiding the need for expensive complex casting or machining of a single monolithic cooling structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates adjustable flow control means that allow dynamic regulation of coolant flow distribution. This enables optimization of cooling coverage for different operating conditions without requiring complex geometric designs, as the same simple passages can be dynamically adjusted to achieve desired cooling patterns.
3Ease of manufacture
If fixed cooling channel configurations are used, then manufacturing is simplified, but adaptability to varying thermal loads is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system incorporates flow control means that enable dynamic adjustment of coolant flow distribution between high-pressure and low-pressure passages. This allows the same simply-manufactured passage configuration to adapt to varying thermal loads by adjusting flow rates and distribution patterns, resolving the contradiction between manufacturing simplicity and operational adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows changing operational parameters (coolant flow rates, pressure differentials) to adapt to different thermal loading conditions. By adjusting flow control parameters rather than changing physical geometry, the system maintains manufacturing simplicity while achieving versatility in handling varying thermal demands.
4Device complexity
If inadequate coolant control is implemented, then system complexity is reduced, but coolant usage efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The coolant delivery system is segmented into high-pressure and low-pressure supply passages with separate flow control means for each. This segmentation enables precise control over coolant distribution to different platform regions, maximizing cooling efficiency and minimizing waste by directing coolant only where and when needed, without requiring an overly complex integrated control system.
Solution Approach 2:
Different platform regions are provided with tailored coolant control: the first region receives controlled high-pressure coolant flow while the second region receives controlled low-pressure coolant flow. This local quality approach optimizes coolant usage efficiency in each region by matching coolant pressure and flow rates to specific cooling demands, reducing overall coolant waste.
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
The solution provides effective and efficient cooling of the platform region, enhancing durability and engine efficiency while being cost-effective and flexible, allowing for redesign and reconfiguration of cooling channels to adapt to varying thermal loads.
Implementation Method 1
a flow of coolant is directed across a surface of the platform region
Implementation Method 2
the interior cooling passage comprises, in operation, a high-pressure coolant region and a low-pressure coolant region
Data Source
AI summary
A platform cooling arrangement for a turbine rotor blade having a platform and an interior cooling passage and, in operation, a high-pressure coolant region and a low-pressure coolant region, wherein the platform includes a topside, which extends from the airfoil to a pressure side slashface, and an underside. The platform cooling arrangement may include: an airfoil manifold that resides near the junction of the pressure face of the airfoil and the platform; a slashface manifold that resides near the pressure side slashface; a high-pressure connector that connects the airfoil manifold to a high-pressure coolant region of the interior cooling passage; a low-pressure connector that connects the slashface manifold to a low-pressure coolant region of the interior cooling passage; cooling apertures that extend from a starting point along the pressure side slashface to a connection with the airfoil manifold, bisecting the slashface manifold therebetween; and a plurality of non-integral plugs.