Turbine stator vane and/or turbine rotor vane with a cooling flow adjustment feature and corresponding method of adapting a vane
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorStephen Batt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A turbine stator vane or turbine rotor vane has a body, a channel being adapted for leading a cooling fluid through the body, and a flow adaption feature protruding from the body to the channel in such a manner as to reduce a cross-sectional area of the channel.
Claims13
A method of manufacturing a vane, the vane comprising a root part, an aerofoil and a cooling channel extending through at least the root part, the cooling channel is defined by a wall and comprises a flow adaption feature, the method comprising:
- determining a first desired coolant mass flow for the cooling channel that is suitable for operation of the vane at a first operating level in a gas turbine engine,
- determining an oversized flow area of the cooling channel that is 105% to 200% greater than a flow area of the cooling channel required to achieve the first desired coolant mass flow,
- forming the vane comprising the cooling channel comprising the oversized flow area and comprising the flow adaption feature as an inlet of the cooling channel, wherein the inlet is disposed within the root part, and wherein the flow adaption feature partly occludes an inlet opening of the cooling channel to an initial and nominal flow area (Ai) which is less than the flow area of the cooling channel required to achieve the first desired coolant mass flow,
- testing a mass flow rate of coolant passing through the cooling channel to find an actual mass flow,
- determining an increase in area of the flow adaption feature needed to achieve the first desired coolant mass flow based on the actual mass flow, and
- machining the flow adaption feature to increase the inlet opening to achieve the first desired coolant mass flow.
A vane for a gas turbine engine, the vane comprising:
- a root part,
- an aerofoil, and
- a cooling channel extending through at least the root part,
- wherein the cooling channel is defined by a wall and comprises a flow area that is 105% to 200% greater than a flow area required to achieve a first desired coolant mass flow and a flow adaption feature as an inlet of the cooling channel, wherein the inlet is disposed within the root part, and wherein the flow adaption feature partly occludes an inlet opening of the cooling channel to an initial and nominal flow area (Ai) and which is less the flow area required to achieve a first desired coolant mass flow in the cooling channel that is suitable for operation of the vane in the gas turbine engine.
A method of manufacturing a vane assembly comprising a plurality of vanes, each vane comprising a root part, an aerofoil and a cooling channel extending through at least the root part, wherein the cooling channel is defined by a wall and comprises a flow adaption feature, the method comprising:
- determining an average first desired coolant mass flow for each vane of the plurality of vanes that is suitable for operation of the plurality of vanes at a first operating level in a gas turbine engine,
- determining for each vane an oversized flow area of the cooling channel that is 105% to 200% greater than a flow area of the cooling channel required to achieve the average first desired coolant mass flow,
- forming each vane comprising the cooling channel comprising the oversized flow area and comprising the flow adaption feature as an inlet of the cooling channel, wherein the inlet is disposed within the root part, and, wherein the flow adaption feature partly occludes an inlet opening of the cooling channel to an initial and nominal flow area (Ai) which is less than the flow area of the cooling channel required to achieve the average first desired coolant mass flow,
- testing a mass flow rate of coolant passing through the plurality of vanes to find an actual mass flow,
- determining an average machining requirement of each flow adaption feature needed to achieve the average first desired coolant mass flow based on the actual mass flow, and
- machining each flow adaption feature to increase the inlet opening to achieve the average first desired coolant mass flow.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.