System and method for air injection passageway integration and optimization in turbomachinery

A method of manufacturing a turbomachine comprising:

• forming an airfoil to include a leading edge, a trailing edge, a pressure side, and a suction side so that the airfoil is configured to influence an airflow as it passes from the leading edge to the trailing edge;
• defining an aerodynamic passageway in the airfoil to have an inlet on at least one of the pressure side and the suction side and an outlet on at least one of the pressure side and the suction side;
• configuring the aerodynamic passageway to deliver air from the airflow through the airfoil to a respective side;
• identifying areas of a passage defined between adjacent airfoils and opposing walls that have a propensity to generate undesirable flow losses;
• and
• targeting the outlets to inject the air at the areas of significant loss generation.

A turbomachine system comprising:

• a shroud and a hub configured to contain an airflow;
• a plurality of airfoils disposed between the shroud and the hub, each airfoil including a leading edge, a trailing edge, a pressure side, and a suction side,
• wherein:
• the shroud, the hub, and the airfoils define a number of airflow channels in the turbomachine;
• each airfoil is configured to influence the airflow as it passes through one of the airflow channels from the leading edge to the trailing edge,
• the airfoil, the hub and the shroud together define a number of internal aerodynamic passageways, each aerodynamic passageway having an inlet, an enlarged cavity, and an outlet,
• the internal aerodynamic passageways are configured to deliver air from the airflow through the airfoil, the hub and the shroud to outlets, and
• the outlets are configured to inject the air at areas of the airflow channels targeted due to their propensity to generate undesirable flow losses in the airflow channels.