Blade with tip rail, cooling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11655718-B2
Application number	US-202117316026-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 10, 2021
Priority date	Jul 13, 2017
Publication date	May 23, 2023
Grant date	May 23, 2023

Abstract

An apparatus and method for cooling a blade tip for a turbine engine can include an blade, such as a cooled turbine blade, having a tip rail extending beyond a tip wall enclosing an interior for the blade at the tip. A plurality of film-holes can be provided in the tip rail. A flow of cooling fluid can be provided through the film-holes from the interior of the blade to cool the tip of the blade.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An airfoil having a rotational axis and comprising:
a body defining an interior, and extending axially between a leading edge and a trailing edge to define a chord-wise direction and radially between a root and a tip to define a span-wise direction, which terminates in a tip end wall and a tip rail extending from the tip end wall, with the tip rail having:
an exterior surface extending between a first surface, a second surface, and a third surface that interconnects the first surface and the second surface, the third surface defining a distal end of the tip rail with respect to the rotational axis;

a cooling passage formed in the interior;
a set of radially-spaced cooling cavities formed within the tip rail and including a first cooling cavity, a second cooling cavity and a third cooling cavity, the set of radially-spaced cooling cavities being spaced with respect to an exterior surface of the tip rail;
a cooling conduit fluidly coupling the cooling passage with the first cooling cavity;
a first connecting conduit fluidly coupling the first cooling cavity to the second cooling cavity;
a second connecting conduit fluidly coupling the second cooling cavity to the third cooling cavity; and
a film hole having an inlet fluidly coupled to at least one cooling cavity of the set of radially-spaced cooling cavities and an outlet provided on the exterior surface of the tip rail;
wherein the second connecting conduit and the cooling conduit are located along a local plane extending in the span-wise direction, the local plane extending between the first surface and the second surface of the tip rail, the local plane further intersecting both the second connecting conduit and the cooling conduit.

2. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of both the first connecting conduit and the second connecting conduit are located along the local plane.

3. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the film hole is located along the local plane.

4. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein the first cooling cavity, the second cooling cavity and the third cooling cavity radially overlie at least a portion of the cooling passage.

5. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein the film hole is one of two film holes, with the two film holes each including a respective inlet fluidly coupled to one of the first cooling cavity, the second cooling cavity or the third cooling cavity.

6. The airfoil of claim 5 , wherein a first film hole of the two film holes extends radially through the tip rail while a second film hole of the two film holes extends axially through the tip rail, with respect to the rotational axis.

7. The airfoil of claim 1 wherein the second surface of the tip rail defines a tip plenum and a set of film holes are fluidly coupled to the tip plenum.

8. The airfoil of claim 1 wherein the exterior surface of the tip rail is an outer surface of the tip rail.

9. A blade for a turbine engine, the blade being rotatable about a rotational axis and comprising:
a body defining an interior, and extending axially between a leading edge and a trailing edge to define a chord-wise direction and radially between a root and a tip to define a span-wise direction, with the tip terminating in a tip end wall, and a tip rail extending from the tip end wall, with the tip rail having:
an exterior surface extending between a first surface, a second surface, and a third surface that interconnects the first surface and the second surface, the third surface a distal end of the tip rail with respect to the rotational axis;

at least one cooling passage formed in the interior;
at least two radially-spaced cooling cavities fluidly coupled to the at least one cooling passage and being provided within the tip rail, the at least two radially-spaced cooling cavities including at least a first cooling cavity and a second cooling cavity, with the at least two radially-spaced cooling cavities spaced with respect to the exterior surface of the tip rail;
a first connecting conduit fluidly coupling the first cooling cavity to the second cooling cavity; and
a cooling conduit extending into the tip rail and being directly fluidly coupled to the cooling passage;
wherein the first connecting conduit and the cooling conduit are located along a local plane extending in the span-wise direction, the local plane extending in a direction between the first surface and the second surface of the tip rail, the local plane further intersecting both the first connecting conduit and the cooling conduit.

10. The blade of claim 9 , wherein the at least two radially-spaced cooling cavities includes a third cooling cavity fluidly coupled to the second cooling cavity via a second connecting conduit.

11. The blade of claim 10 , wherein the first cooling cavity is directly fluidly coupled to the cooling conduit.

12. The blade of claim 11 , wherein the second connecting conduit is located within the local plane.

13. The blade of claim 9 , wherein the second surface of the tip rail defines a tip plenum and a set of film holes are fluidly coupled to the tip plenum.

14. The blade of claim 9 wherein the cooling conduit and the first connecting conduit comprise multiple cooling conduits and multiple connecting conduits, respectively.

15. The blade of claim 9 wherein the exterior surface of the tip rail is an outer surface of the tip rail.

16. The blade of claim 9 , further comprising a film hole having an inlet fluidly coupled to at least one cooling cavity of the at least two radially-spaced cooling cavities and an outlet provided on the exterior surface of the tip rail.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Dyson Thomas Earl
• Rathay Nicholas William
• Leary Brendon James
• Garay Gregory Terrence
• Ledezma Gustavo Adolfo
• Weber David Wayne
• Smith Aaron Ezekiel

Classifications

• F01D5/186 Primary

  Film cooling (F01D5/187 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F05D2260/202

  by film cooling · CPC title

• F05D2220/323

  for aircraft propulsion, e.g. jet engines · CPC title

• Y02T50/60

  Efficient propulsion technologies, e.g. for aircraft · CPC title

• F01D5/187 Primary

  Convection cooling · CPC title