Engine component with non-diffusing section

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11015453-B2
Application number	US-201715820568-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 22, 2017
Priority date	Nov 22, 2017
Publication date	May 25, 2021
Grant date	May 25, 2021

Abstract

An airfoil for a turbine engine can include an outer wall bounding an interior and extending in a chord-wise direction between a leading edge and a trailing edge, and also extending radially between a root and a tip. A tip rail including at least one tip cooling cavity can project from the tip, and cooling holes can be provided in the tip rail.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An airfoil for a turbine engine, the airfoil comprising:
an outer wall bounding an interior, and extending axially between a leading edge and a trailing edge to define a chord-wise direction with a chord line, and the outer wall extends along a radial line between a root and a tip to define a span-wise direction;
a tip rail projecting from the tip in the span-wise direction, the tip rail comprising an exterior surface spaced from an interior surface and at least partially circumscribing the airfoil along the tip;
at least one cooling passage formed in the interior of the airfoil;
at least one cooling cavity provided at least partially within the tip rail between the exterior surface and the interior surface and fluidly coupled to the at least one cooling passage; and
a cooling trench extending in the chord-wise direction in one of the exterior surface or the interior surface of the tip rail, and the cooling trench at least partially defined by a first cooling hole and a second cooling hole provided in the tip rail, with each of the first cooling hole and the second cooling hole fluidly coupling the cooling trench and the at least one cooling cavity.

2. The airfoil of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first cooling hole and the second cooling hole defines a centerline forming a centerline angle that is non-orthogonal relative to the chord line.

3. The airfoil of claim 2 wherein the centerline angle is an acute angle less than 50 degrees.

4. The airfoil of claim 2 wherein both of the first cooling hole and the second cooling hole each define a corresponding centerline forming a corresponding centerline angle that is non-orthogonal relative to the chord line.

5. The airfoil of claim 4 wherein the first cooling hole forms a first centerline angle and the second cooling hole forms a second centerline angle smaller than the first centerline angle.

6. The airfoil of claim 2 further comprising a plurality of cooling holes that includes the first cooling hole and the second cooling hole, where the plurality of cooling holes defines corresponding centerline angles that decrease toward the trailing edge.

7. The airfoil of claim 2 wherein the centerline is non-aligned with the radial line.

8. The airfoil of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first cooling hole or the second cooling hole has a curvilinear profile.

9. The turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the cooling trench is located on the exterior surface of the tip rail, and wherein each of the first cooling hole and the second cooling hole comprises an inlet fluidly coupled to the at least one cooling cavity and an outlet on the exterior surface of the tip rail.

10. The airfoil of claim 9 wherein the outlet of the first cooling hole and the outlet of the second cooling hole are located on an inner surface of a slot formed in the tip rail.

11. The airfoil of claim 9 wherein the outlets share at least one contact point to define the at least a portion of the cooling trench.

12. The airfoil of claim 9 further comprising a first diffuser at the outlet of the first cooling hole and a second diffuser at the outlet of the second cooling hole.

13. The airfoil of claim 9 wherein the outlet of one of the first cooling hole or the second cooling hole comprises a maximum cross dimension, and the cooling trench comprises a trench width larger than the maximum cross dimension.

14. The turbine engine of claim 9 wherein adjacent outlets define at least a portion of the cooling trench.

15. A turbine engine comprising a fan section, compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section in axial flow arrangement, with at least one of the compressor section or the turbine section having an airfoil comprising:
an outer wall bounding an interior, and extending axially between a leading edge and a trailing edge to define a chord-wise direction with a chord line, and the outer wall extends along a radial line between a root and a tip to define a span-wise direction;
a tip rail projecting from the tip in the span-wise direction, the tip rail comprising an exterior surface spaced from an interior surface;
at least one cooling passage formed in the interior of the airfoil;
at least one tip cooling cavity provided at least partially within the tip rail between the exterior surface and the interior surface; and
a cooling trench extending in the chord-wise direction in the exterior surface of the tip rail, and at least partially defined by a first cooling hole and a second cooling hole provided in the tip rail, each of the first cooling hole and the second cooling hole fluidly coupling the at least one tip cooling cavity and the cooling trench.

16. The turbine engine of claim 15 wherein at least one of the first cooling hole or the second cooling hole defines a centerline forming a non-orthogonal centerline angle relative to the chord line.

17. The turbine engine of claim 16 wherein the non-orthogonal centerline angle is an acute angle less than 50 degrees.

18. The turbine engine of claim 15 wherein the outlet of the first cooling hole and the outlet of the second cooling hole are located on an inner surface of a slot formed in the tip rail.

19. The turbine engine of claim 15 wherein the first cooling hole forms a first centerline angle and the second cooling hole forms a second centerline angle smaller than the first centerline angle.

20. The turbine engine of claim 15 , wherein the cooling trench is located on the exterior surface of the tip rail, and wherein each of the first cooling hole and the second cooling hole comprises an inlet fluidly coupled to the at least one cooling cavity and an outlet on the exterior surface of the tip rail.

21. The turbine engine of claim 20 wherein the outlets share at least one contact point to define the at least a portion of the cooling trench.

22. The turbine engine of claim 20 further comprising a first diffuser at the outlet of the first cooling hole and a second diffuser at the outlet of the second cooling hole.

23. The turbine engine of claim 20 wherein the outlet of one of the first cooling hole or the second cooling hole comprises a maximum cross dimension, and the cooling trench comprises a trench width greater than the maximum cross dimension.

24. A method of cooling a tip rail projecting radially outward from a tip of an airfoil in a turbine engine, the method comprising emitting cooling air from a cooling passage at least partially within the tip rail into a trench extending in a chord-wise direction along the tip rail, the trench being at least partially defined by cooling holes within the tip rail having abutting outlets.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the emitting cooling air further comprises emitting the cooling air from an inner surface of a slot located within the tip rail.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the emitting cooling air further comprises emitting the cooling air from one of an exterior surface or an interior surface of the tip rail.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Smith Aaron Ezekiel
• Beyer Matthew Thomas
• Garay Gregory Terrence
• Webster Zachary Daniel

Classifications

• F05D2250/324

  divergent · CPC title

• F01D5/20 Primary

  Specially-shaped blade tips to seal space between tips and stator {(F01D5/225 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• F05D2260/221

  Improvement of heat transfer · CPC title

• F05D2250/314

  the axes being inclined in relation to each other · CPC title

• F04D29/324

  Blades · CPC title