US 5,337,568 AGranted

Micro-grooved heat transfer wall

AssigneeGeneral Electric Company

InventorsChing-Pang Lee, Steven G. Goebel, Nesim Abuaf

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Abstract

A gas turbine engine hot section component such as a turbine blade or vane having an airfoil is provided a non-film cooled portion of a heat transfer wall having a hot surface and a plurality of longitudinally extending micro-grooves disposed in the portion of the wall along the hot surface in a direction parallel to the direction of the hot gas flow. The depth of the micro-grooves is very small and on the order of magnitude of a predetermined laminar sublayer of a turbulent boundary layer. The grooves are sized so as to alter the boundary layer thickness near the leading edge of the airfoil to reduce heat transfer from the hot gas flow to the airfoil near the leading edge. In one embodiment the micro-grooves are about 0.001 inches deep and have a preferred depth range of from about 0.001 inches to 0.005 inches and which are square, rectangular, or triangular in cross-section and the micro-grooves are spaced about one width apart.

Claims7

Dependent claims

An airfoil for use in a gas turbine engine having a hot gas flow, said airfoil comprising:

an airfoil wall including a leading edge of said airfoil;
means for altering a boundary layer thickness proximate said leading edge of said air foil and for enhancing the structural integrity of said airfoil, said means for altering and enhancing comprising:
a portion of said wall which is devoid of film cooling apertures, said portion comprising at least a part of said leading edge and said portion having a hot surface operable for exposure to the hot gas flow;
and
a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves etched in said portion along said hot surface in a first direction substantially parallel to a predetermined flowpath direction of the hot gas flow along said hot surface;
wherein said grooves are sized so as to increase the boundary layer thickness proximate said leading edge, and thereby reduce heat transfer from the hot gas flow to said airfoil having a wall portion which is devoid of said grooves, said grooves improving the structural integrity of said airfoil relative to an otherwise similar airfoil having a wall portion including film cooling holes proximate the leading edge.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.