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US 6,439,847 B2Granted
Air-cooled turbine blade
AssigneeAlstom (Switzerland) Ltd
InventorUlrike Taeck
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air-cooled turbine blade (1) is provided in the cavity (5) of the blade body (3) with an insert (6) made of a shape memory alloy. Due to the contraction of the insert (6) after a certain temperature threshold value is exceeded, the cooling system (12) of the turbine blade (1) is enlarged in the interior. The size of the cooling system (12) (effectiveness of the cooling, cooling-air quantity, size of cooling passages) is therefore advantageously dependent upon the ambient temperature.
Claims11
A turbine blade of a gas turbine, comprising:
- a blade body having at least one cavity in the interior of the blade, a leading edge, a suction side, a pressure side and a blade tip;
- a metallic insert being positioned within said at least one cavity, said metallic insert defining at least one surface of a cooling system and at least part of said metallic insert being made of a shape memory alloy such that the size of said at least part of the insert changes with temperature as a function of the composition of the shape memory alloy during the operation of the gas turbine when a predetermined temperature is exceeded and thereby changes the size of at least part of the cooling system during the operation of the gas turbine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.