Cooled turbine components and method of making the same

Claim 1

A turbine wheel of the type having a hub portion and thin blades projecting radially therefrom, said blades and said hub portion defining grooves between said blades through which hot gases flow after impinging on the sides of the blades, said turbine wheel comprising: a. a plurality of thin flat sheets, each of said sheets having a central portion corresponding to the hub of the turbine wheel and a plurality of projections extending outwardly from said central portion, said projections being substantially equally spaced around the circumference of said central portion and corresponding to said blades; b. said sheets each having a central opening; c. said sheets being stacked together in fact-to-face relation with said central opening and said radial projections of each sheet being aLigned with the projections and central opening of adjacent sheets; d. bonding means between each one of said adjacent sheets for securing said sheets together over the entire surface of engagement between said sheets to form a unitary turbine wheel; e. at least one pair of said sheets having slots therein, one of said pair of sheets having a slot extending from said central opening into one of said radial projections of said one sheet and the other of said pair of sheets having a slot inclined with respect to a radius of said wheel extending from the edge of said other sheet across said projection and intersecting said slot in said one sheet, whereby said pair of slots provides fluid communication between said central opening and the channel between adjacent blades of said turbine wheel.