Bell mouth inlet for turbine blade
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsSeth J. Thomen, Wieslaw A. Chlus
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An airfoil assembly for a gas turbine engine is disclosed and includes a platform portion defining a portion of a gas flow path and a root portion for attachment of the turbine airfoil, the root portion including a bottom surface including a bottom area and a plurality of inlets that define a total inlet area as a ratio of the inlet area to the bottom area. An airfoil extends from the platform and including a plurality of cooling air passages in communication with the plurality of inlets.
Claims14
An airfoil assembly for a gas turbine engine comprising:
- a platform portion defining a portion of a gas flow path;
- an airfoil extending from the platform including a plurality of cooling air channels;
- a root portion for attachment of the airfoil, the root portion including a bottom surface including a bottom area and a plurality of inlets for communicating air to the plurality of cooling air channels, wherein the plurality of inlets define a total inlet area such that a ratio of the total inlet area to the bottom area is between 0.20 and 0.45, wherein the plurality of inlets includes open inlets and metered inlets, the metered inlets including a metering plate with a plurality of meter openings attached over the metered inlets.
A gas turbine engine comprising:
- a compressor section disposed about an axis;
- a combustor in fluid communication with the compressor section;
- a turbine section in fluid communication with the combustor and driving the compressor section;
- and
- a turbine blade supported within the turbine section, the turbine blade including a platform portion defining a portion of a gas flow path, an airfoil extending from the platform including a plurality of cooling passages, and a root portion for attachment of the turbine blade, the root portion including a bottom surface including a bottom area and a plurality of inlets communicating with the plurality of cooling passages, wherein the plurality of inlets define a total inlet area such that a ratio of the total inlet area to the bottom area is between 0.20 and 0.45, wherein the plurality of inlets includes open inlets and metered inlets, the metered inlets including a metering plate with a plurality of meter openings attached over the metered inlets.
A method of manufacturing a turbine blade comprising:
- generating a turbine blade structure including a root portion, a platform and an airfoil extending from the platform;
- forming a plurality of cooling air passages within the airfoil;
- forming a plurality of inlets through a bottom surface of the root portion for supplying the plurality of cooling air passages, wherein at least one of the inlets is formed to include a bell mouthed opening, and forming the plurality of inlets includes defining the bell mouth with a first opening area at the bottom surface that is greater than an area of one the passages spaced apart from the bottom surface;
- and
- attaching a metering plate over at least one of the plurality of inlets to define a metered area, with a ratio of the metered area to a total inlet area being between 0.7 and 0.9.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.