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US 9,803,502 B2Granted
Cooling passages for a mid-turbine frame
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsAnthony P. Cherolis, Jeffrey J. Lienau, Robert Newman, John H. Mosley, Joshua Daniel Winn, Paul K. Sanchez
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mid-turbine frame assembly includes an inner frame case which includes a first plurality of holes and a second plurality of holes. A plurality of tie rods is circumferentially spaced around the inner frame case and includes an inlet passage that is aligned with the first plurality of holes. A plurality of hollow airfoils is aligned with the second plurality of holes.
Claims13
A mid-turbine frame assembly comprising:
- an inner frame case including a first plurality of holes and a second plurality of holes, the second plurality of holes define flow balancing holes in fluid communication with a bearing support cavity and a first set of the first plurality of holes in the inner frame case each define leakage gaps between one of a plurality of service lines and one of the first set of the first plurality of holes, wherein an area of the flow balancing holes is approximately equal to an area of the leakage gaps;
- a plurality of tie rods circumferentially spaced around the inner frame case including an inlet passage aligned with a second set of the first plurality of holes, wherein the plurality of tie rods supplies cooling air to the bearing support cavity and the cooling air exits the bearing support cavity through the leakage gaps and the flow balancing holes;
- and
- a plurality of hollow airfoils aligned with the second plurality of holes.
1 more element
A gas turbine engine comprising:
- a mid-turbine frame located axially between a first turbine and a second turbine, the mid-turbine frame including:
- a first plurality of airfoils each surrounding one of a plurality of tie rods, each of the tie rods have an inlet passage in fluid communication with a bearing support cavity through a corresponding hole in an inner frame;
- a second plurality of airfoils each surrounding one of a plurality of service lines and aligned with one of a plurality of leakage gaps, each of the leakage gaps is defined between the inner frame case and one of the service lines and is in fluid communication with the bearing support cavity;
- and
- a third plurality of airfoils each aligned with one of a plurality of flow balancing holes in the inner frame case and the flow balancing holes are in fluid communication with the bearing support cavity, wherein each of the tie rods supplies cooling air to the bearing support cavity and the cooling air exits the bearing support cavity through each of the leakage gaps and each of the flow balancing holes and an area of all of the flow balancing holes is approximately equal to an area of all of the leakage gaps.
2 more elements
A method of cooling a portion of a gas turbine engine comprising:
- directing cooling airflow through an inlet passage in each of a plurality of tie rods through a corresponding hole in an inner frame into a bearing support cavity;
- and
- directing the cooling airflow from the bearing support cavity radially outward through a plurality of flow balancing holes in the inner frame into a hollow airfoil;
- and
- directing cooling airflow from the bearing support cavity through a plurality of leakage gaps between the inner frame case and one of a plurality of service lines, wherein an area of all of the leakage gaps is approximately equal to an area of all of the flow balancing holes.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.