Gas Turbine Vane Purge Flow Interface for Leakage Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas leakage through connections between vane arrangements in gas turbine engines reduces efficiency and lifespan due to inadequate sealing and cooling at mateface locations, where geometric constraints and lack of protective coatings exacerbate issues like hot gas entrainment and oxidation.
Innovation Solution
A vane design with a purge flow interface and pocket features, including slots, heat transfer elements, pedestals, and feather seal gap standoff features, to enhance cooling airflow and sealing efficiency by creating a non-rectilinear pocket shape that supports feather seals and allows for effective purging and cooling of high-stress areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If feather seals are used to create air seals between components, then gas leakage is reduced, but the mateface locations remain vulnerable to hot gas entrainment and oxidation due to geometric constraints preventing adequate cooling
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into multiple independent cooling channels that deliver cooling airflow to different regions of the mateface. This segmentation allows targeted cooling of vulnerable areas without requiring a complete redesign of the sealing structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Cooling airflow acts as an intermediary substance between the hot gas environment and the mateface sealing structure. The cooling air forms a protective barrier that prevents hot gas entrainment and oxidation at the mateface locations while allowing the feather seals to maintain their sealing function.
2Productivity
If end wall contouring is included to improve efficiency, then turbine efficiency is enhanced, but a large amount of material is created that cannot be sufficiently cooled leading to durability concerns
Solution Approach 1:
Cooling channels and heat transfer features are selectively placed in specific regions of the end wall and mateface structures where thermal stress and hot gas exposure are most severe. This local application of cooling provides targeted protection to critical areas while maintaining the overall efficiency-enhancing contouring geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling system utilizes three-dimensional cooling channels and heat transfer features that extend into the thickness of the end wall and mateface structures. This dimensional approach allows cooling airflow to reach previously inaccessible internal regions of the contoured geometry, enabling sufficient cooling of the enhanced efficiency structures.
3Device complexity
If conventional sealing connections are used between vane arrangements, then the structure is simple, but gas leakage reduces engine efficiency and lifespan
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is designed to be self-regulating, where cooling airflow automatically directs itself to the mateface sealing regions based on thermal gradients and pressure differentials. The cooling channels and heat transfer features work together to ensure adequate cooling without requiring complex external control mechanisms, maintaining structural simplicity while preventing gas leakage.
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 effectively reduces gas leakage, delays oxidation, and prevents thermo-mechanical fatigue by improving cooling and sealing at mateface locations, thereby enhancing turbine efficiency and durability.
Implementation Method 1
communicating a cooling airflow within a component
Implementation Method 2
the component further comprises a multiple of heat transfer features within the pocket
Data Source
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AI summary
A component for a gas turbine engine (20) includes a mateface (82) with a purge flow interface (98), the mateface (82) comprises a pocket (100) located in communication with a feather seal slot (90) in the mateface (82). A vane (72) for a gas turbine engine (20) includes a platform (76, 78) that extends from the airfoil (74), the platform (76, 78) comprising a mateface (82) with a feather seal slot (90) and a pocket (100) in communication with the feather seal slot (90), wherein the pocket (100) is of a cross-sectional shape larger than the feather seal slot (90).