Cooled turbine airfoil fabricated from sheet material
AssigneeSiemens Energy, Inc.
InventorAllister W. James
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A turbine airfoil (20) fabricated as an assembly of U-channels (22A-E), each U-channel having a closed side formed by a cross wall (25), an open side (26) opposite the cross wall, and two side walls (27) extending from the cross wall to the open side. The U-channels are attached to each other in a parallel, closed-side to open-side sequence, forming a series of cooling channels (23) oriented span-wise (S) in the airfoil. A first of the U-channels (22A) has a curved cross wall forming the leading edge (24) of the airfoil. A last of the U-channels (22E) may have side walls (27) that converge to form a trailing edge (28) of the airfoil. Alternately, a solid trailing edge (22E′) may be attached to a last of the U-channels. Each U-channel may be bonded to an adjacent U-channel using half-lap joints (30).
Claims12
A turbine airfoil comprising:
- a leading edge and a trailing edge extending in a span-wise direction;
- a plurality of U-channels, each U-channel comprising a closed side formed by a cross wall, an open side opposite the cross wall, and two side walls extending from the cross wall to the open side;
- the U-channels attached to each other in a parallel, closed-side to open-side sequence, forming a series of cooling channels oriented span-wise;
- a first of the U-channels comprising a curved cross wall forming the leading edge;
- wherein a last of the U-channels comprises side walls that converge and bond to each other distally, forming the trailing edge comprising ramps on distal inner portions of the side walls of the last of the U-channels, said ramps configured to form the trailing edge thinner than a combined thickness of the side walls of the last of the U-channels.
A method of fabricating a turbine airfoil, comprising:
- forming each of a plurality of sheets of material into a respective U-channel comprising a closed side and an open side, wherein a cross wall forms the closed side, and wherein two side walls extend from the cross wall to the open side;
- attaching the U-channels to each other in a parallel, closed-side to open-side sequence, forming an airfoil having a corresponding series of cooling channels oriented span-wise with respect to a span of the airfoil, a first of the U-channels forming a leading edge of the airfoil;
- converging and bonding the side walls of a last of the U-channels, forming a trailing edge of the airfoil;
- and
- forming ramps on distal inner portions of the side walls of a last U-channel, said ramps making the trailing edge thinner than a combined thickness of the side walls of the last U-channel.
A method of fabricating a turbine airfoil, comprising:
- forming a sheet of metal;
- cutting the sheet into sections;
- forming each section into a channel comprising a cross wall and two side walls;
- forming a first of the channels with a curved cross wall defining a leading edge;
- attaching the channels to each other in parallel closed-side to open-side sequence to form an airfoil, wherein the cross wall of the first channel and the side walls of all of the channels form a skin of the airfoil
- converging and bonding together the side walls of a last of the channels to define a trailing edge;
- and
- forming ramps on distal inner portions of the side walls of the last channel to form the trailing edge thinner than a combined thickness of the side walls of the last channel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.