Cooling passages wafer blade assemblies for turbine engines, compressors and the like

Claim 2

A blade for a turbine, a compressor or the like, said blade comprising: a stack of a plurality of discrete wafers, said stack of a plurality of wafers comprising a first and a second stack of a plurality of wafers, the first and second stacks being interlocked to form said blade, each wafer having planar surfaces and edge surfaces, the planar surfaces of the wafers in the first stack being substantially perpendicular to the planar surfaces of the wafers in the second stack, the edge surfaces of the wafers together forming a fluid-diverting surface of the blade, said fluid-diverting surface being adapted to contact heat energy; a controlled pattern of flow passages on a planar surface of each wafer, said flow passages terminating at an edge surface thereof; and delivery means for delivering coolant to said flow passages; said wafers being sufficiently thin as to permit thermal equilibrium between said wafers and the coolant within the flow passages, whereby the blade is transpiration-cooled by the coolant in the flow passages.

Claim 3

In a turbine engine having a stator and a rotor, said rotor being adapted to rotate about an axis; stator blades mounted to said stator; rotor blades mounted to said rotor; the improvement comprising at least some of said blades comprising a stack of a plurality of discrete wafers, said stack of a plurality of wafers comprising a first and a second stack of a plurality of wafers, the first and second stacks being interlocked to form said blade, each wafer having planar surfaces and edge surfaces, the planar surfaces of the wafers in the first stack being disposed substantially radially from said axis and the planar surfaces of the wafers in the second stack being disposed substantially tangentially to said axis; a controlled pattern of flow passages on a planar surface of each wafer, said flow passages terminating at an edge surface thereof; the passage-terminating edge surfaces of the wafers together forming a fluid-diverting surface of the blade, said fluid-diverting surface being adapted to contact heat energy; and delivery means for delivering coolant to said flow passages, said wafers being sufficiently thin as to permit thermal equilibrium between said wafers and the coolant within the flow passages, whereby the blade is transpiration-cooled by the coolant in the flow passages.

Claim 4

In a turbine engine having a stator and a rotor, said rotor being adapted to rotate about an axis; stator blades mounted to said stator; rotor blades mounted to said rotor; the improvement comprising at least some of said blades comprising a stack of a plurality of discrete wafers, said stack of a plurality of wafers comprising a first and a second stack of a plurality of wafers, the first and second stacks being interlocked to form said blade, each wafer having planar surfaces and edge surfaces, the planar surfaces of the wafers in the first stack being disposed substantially radially from said axis and the planar surfaces of the wafers in the second stack being disposed substantially tangentially to said axis; a controlled pattern of flow passages on a planar surface of each wafer, said flow passages terminating at an edge surface thereof; the passage-terminating edge surfaces of the wafers together forming a fluid-diverting surface of the blade, said fluid-diverting surface being adapted to contact heat energy; and delivery means for delivering coolant to said flow passages, said wafers being sufficiently thin as to permit thermal equilibrium between said wafers and the coolant within the flow passages, whereby the blade is transpiration-cooled by the coolant in the flow passages.