Vane Ring Feed Hole Blockage Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engine components, particularly turbine vanes, face cooling challenges due to particulate blockages in airfoil cooling circuits, which can lead to airfoil distress from blocked single-source feed apertures.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a vane ring with multiple extensions, including anti-rotation tabs and filter passages, which extend from the outer vane platform, allowing cooling airflow to scrub along surfaces and reducing the likelihood of particulate entry into feed passages, ensuring unobstructed airflow to airfoil cooling circuits even if one passage becomes blocked.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single source feed aperture is used for airfoil cooling circuits, then the structure is simple, but the reliability deteriorates due to blockage by foreign object particles
Solution Approach 1:
The single feed aperture is segmented into multiple feed apertures distributed around the vane ring. Each aperture serves as an independent source for delivering cooling air to the airfoil cooling circuits, thereby eliminating the single point of failure while maintaining structural simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
The number of feed apertures is changed from one to multiple, fundamentally altering the system's redundancy parameter. This parameter change transforms the feed passage from a vulnerable single-source system to a resilient multi-source system that can tolerate individual aperture blockages
2Temperature
If cooling air is used to cool turbine vanes, then the temperature control is improved, but the harmful effect increases due to particulate blockage of feed passages
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling air supply system is segmented into multiple independent feed passages, so that particulate blockage in one passage does not prevent cooling air from reaching the turbine vanes through other passages, maintaining temperature control while mitigating blockage effects
Solution Approach 2:
The vane ring with multiple feed apertures acts as an intermediary structure that distributes cooling air through multiple pathways, mediating between the cooling air source and the turbine vanes to prevent single-point blockage from compromising the entire cooling system
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 solution effectively prevents particulate blockages, ensuring consistent cooling airflow to airfoil cooling circuits, thereby reducing the risk of airfoil distress and extending component life by allowing alternative airflow paths when primary passages are obstructed.
Implementation Method 1
the cooling airflow scrubs along the surface
Data Source
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AI summary
A vane ring (70) for a gas turbine engine component includes a multiple of vanes (74) that extend between an inner vane platform (78) and an outer vane platform (82), each of the multiple of vanes (74) contains an airfoil cooling circuit (102) that receives cooling airflow (C) through a feed passage (100) located in the outer vane platform (82) and an extension (110) from the outer vane platform (82), the extension (110) comprises a metering passage (112) in communication with the feed passage (100).