Gas Turbine Vane Cooling via Insert Standoffs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engine components, such as vanes, face challenges in effectively managing high temperatures due to exposure to hot combustion gases, requiring dedicated cooling methods to prevent thermal damage.
Innovation Solution
A gas turbine engine vane design incorporating an insert spaced from a platform by standoffs, allowing for convective cooling through a radial gap, where a cooling fluid is directed to cool the platform and subsequently the airfoil, utilizing a baffle lip and baffle body configuration within cooling cavities to enhance heat transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If an insert is integrated directly into the platform surface, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but cooling efficiency deteriorates due to insufficient thermal isolation and heat transfer pathways
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into distinct components: the platform, the insert, and standoffs. This segmentation allows the insert to be thermally isolated from the platform by the standoffs, creating dedicated cooling pathways. The cooling fluid can flow through the insert and radial gap without being immediately conducted away by direct thermal contact with the platform, improving convective cooling efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The standoffs act as intermediaries between the insert and the platform. They provide mechanical support while limiting thermal conduction, allowing the cooling fluid to effectively cool the insert and platform surface through the radial gap without direct thermal short-circuiting. This intermediary structure optimizes both thermal management and structural integrity.
2Temperature
If cooling fluid flow rate is increased to improve cooling efficiency, then heat transfer is enhanced, but energy consumption and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system employs local quality by concentrating cooling effort where it is most needed. The insert is positioned close to the hot section with the radial gap providing direct convective cooling to the platform surface. This localized cooling approach improves efficiency by targeting critical thermal areas without requiring high overall flow rates, reducing energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling approach transitions from internal volumetric cooling to external surface cooling through the radial gap. By utilizing the gap space between the insert and platform, the system creates an additional cooling dimension that enhances heat transfer efficiency without increasing fluid flow rate or energy consumption.
3Temperature
If the radial gap between insert and platform is enlarged to improve convective cooling, then heat transfer efficiency is improved, but structural strength and rigidity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system optimizes the radial gap dimension as a critical parameter. The gap is sized to provide sufficient convective cooling surface area and fluid flow pathways, improving heat transfer. Simultaneously, the standoffs are designed with appropriate dimensions and positioning to maintain structural strength despite the increased gap size, balancing thermal and mechanical requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling system utilizes a composite approach combining the insert, standoffs, and platform materials to achieve both thermal management and structural integrity. The different components may use materials optimized for their specific functions: thermal conductivity for heat dissipation, mechanical strength for structural support, and dimensional stability for maintaining the radial gap.
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 effectively convectively cools the vane components, improving their thermal management and durability by efficiently transferring heat away from critical areas, thereby enhancing the operational reliability of the gas turbine engine.
Implementation Method 1
A cooling fluid can be communicated through the radial gap to convectively cool the platform
Implementation Method 2
The standoffs protrude from a non-gas path surface of the platform and support an insert at a spaced relationship from the platform
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A component for a gas turbine engine according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a platform, an airfoil that extends from the platform, and an insert positioned such that a first portion of the insert extends relative to a surface of the platform and a second portion extends inside the airfoil. A standoff supports the insert above the surface.