Turbomachine rotor blade

#The present disclosure generally relates to turbomachines. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to inserts for rotor blades for turbomachines.

#A gas turbine engine generally includes a compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section. The compressor section progressively increases the pressure of air entering the gas turbine engine and supplies this compressed air to the combustion section. The compressed air and a fuel (e.g., natural gas) mix within the combustion section and burn in a combustion chamber to generate high pressure and high temperature combustion gases. The combustion gases flow from the combustion section into the turbine section where they expand to produce work. For example, the expansion of the combustion gases in the turbine section may rotate a rotor shaft coupled to a generator to produce electricity.

#The turbine section generally includes a plurality of rotor blades, which extract kinetic energy and/or thermal energy from the combustion gases flowing through the turbine section. In this respect, each rotor blade includes an airfoil positioned within the flow of the combustion gases. Since the airfoils operate in a high temperature environment, it may be necessary to cool the rotor blades.

#A full and enabling disclosure of the present technology, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures, in which:

#FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an exemplary gas turbine engine in accordance with the embodiments disclosed herein;

#FIG. 2 is a front view of an exemplary rotor blade in accordance with the embodiments disclosed herein;

#Repeat use of reference characters in the present specification and drawings is intended to represent the same or analogous features or elements of the present technology.

#Reference will now be made in detail to present embodiments of the technology, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The detailed description uses numerical and letter designations to refer to features in the drawings. Like or similar designations in the drawings and description have been used to refer to like or similar parts of the technology. As used herein, the terms “first”, “second”, and “third” may be used interchangeably to distinguish one component from another and are not intended to signify location or importance of the individual components. The terms “upstream” and “downstream” refer to the relative direction with respect to fluid flow in a fluid pathway. For example, “upstream” refers to the direction from which the fluid flows, and “downstream” refers to the direction to which the fluid flows.

#Each example is provided by way of explanation of the technology, not limitation of the technology. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made in the present technology without departing from the scope or spirit thereof. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be used on another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present technology covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.