Cooling module design and method for cooling components of a gas turbine system

A gas turbine system of the type having a combustor, a turbine section and a transition exhaust duct conduit providing a cylindrical path for flow of hot gas in a longitudinal direction along the direction of flow of the exhaust gas from the combustor to the turbine section, the conduit being a monolithic structure comprising a cooling arrangement disposed between a first wall and a second wall of the conduit, the cooling arrangement including a plurality of flow network units each configured to transfer heat generated by the gas turbine system to cooling fluid passing through the walls, at least a first of the network units comprising a series of interconnected flow sections each including one or more chambers, each chamber providing the network unit a flow direction in a sequence of flow directions comprising a radial direction from one of the walls toward the cylindrical path, the longitudinal direction and a circumferential direction about the cylindrical path, wherein:

• at least first, second, and third ones of the flow sections connected between multiple first openings in the first wall and at least one second opening in the second wall to pass the cooling fluid through the walls, and remove heat therefrom,
• the first section including a first plurality of first flow paths extending between the first openings in the first wall and the second section, the first flow paths extending to the second section to effect flow of the cooling fluid between the first openings and the second section,
• the third section including a third plurality of third flow paths extending between the second section and the second opening in the second wall, to effect flow of the cooling fluid from the second section and through the third flow paths
• wherein the second section includes at least one path through a chamber extending between the first section and the third section to effect flow of the cooling fluid between the paths of the first section and the paths of the third section, the number of paths in the second section fewer than the number of paths in the first plurality of flow paths and fewer than the number of paths in the third plurality of flow paths;
• and
• so that at least the first of the network units provides a set of paths wherein cooling fluid may flow predominately in the radial direction through one set of chambers, predominately in a longitudinal direction through another set of chambers and predominately in the circumferential direction through still another set of chambers.