Cooling air injector for turbine blades

Claim 2

A gas turbine engine comprising: a source of pressurized air; a combustion chamber wherein fuel is burned with said pressurized air to produce a rapid flow of hot gas; a plenum surrounding said combustion chamber effective for receiving said pressurized air; a turbine driven by said hot gas to actuate said source of pressurized air; said turbine including a rotatable disk having at least one row of turbine blades thereon; said rotatable disk and turbine blades being spaced from adjacent stationary portions of said engine by a gap; each of said turbine blades having a channel therein for the flow of cooling air, said channel being disposed at an angle relative to a longitudinal axis of said engine; a circular row of spaced apart slots in said disk facing said gap connected to said channels in said turbine blades; a plurality of spaced apart nozzles in a circle on said stationary portions facing said slots; an annular stationary intermediate chamber disposed between said plenum and said nozzles; a plurality of passages disposed in walls defining said intermediate chamber for communicating said pressurized air from said plenum to said intermediate chamber; said nozzles being in flow communication with said intermediate chamber for receiving pressurized air therefrom and each being effective to project a stream of air at a predetermined angle from said nozzles and across said gap toward said slots in said disk; and said passages and said intermediate chamber being sized relative to said nozzles for adding resistance to flow of said pressurized air flowable therebetween for reducing velocity and controlling flow rate thereof, so that angular misalignment represented by the difference between said predetermined angle and said angle of said channel is substantially zero in magnitude for obtaining a pressure enhancement in said slots with respect to said gap of a magnitude greater than 1.0.

Claim 3

A gas turbine engine according to claim 1, wherein said angular misalignment is between about -10 and about +10 degrees.

Claim 4

A gas turbine engine according to claim 1, wherein each of said nozzles is a discrete tube extending part way across said gap toward said slots.

Claim 5

A gas turbine engine according to claim 1, wherein said nozzles include bored holes in a plate.

Claim 6

A gas turbine engine according to claim 4 further including an annular channel in a surface of said plate facing said slots, said nozzles being located in said annular channel.

Claim 7

A gas turbine engine according to claim 1, wherein said nozzles are disposed in an annular structure.

Claim 8

A gas turbine engine according to claim 6, wherein said annular structure has a generally dome-shaped cross section.

Claim 9

In a gas turbine engine of the type having a source of pressurized air, a combustion chamber wherein fuel is burned with said pressurized air to produce a rapid flow of hot gas, a plenum surrounding said combustion chamber effective for receiving said pressurized air, a turbine driven by said hot gas to actuate saiid source of pressurized air, said turbine including a rotatable disk having at least one row of turbine blades thereon, said rotatable disk and turbine blades being spaced from adjacent stationary portions of said engine by a gap, each of said turbine blades having a channel therein for the flow of cooling air, said channel being disposed at an angle relative to a longitudinal axis of said engine, said disk including a circular row of spaced slots therein facing said gap and connected to said channels in said turbine blades, wherein the improvement comprises: a plurality of spaced apart nozzles in a circle on said stationary portions facing said slots; an annular stationary intermediate chamber disposed between said plenum and said nozzles; a plurality of passages disposed in walls defining said intermediate chamber for communicating said pressurized air from said plenum to said intermediate chamber; said nozzles being in flow communication with said intermediate chamber for receiving pressurized air therefrom and each being effective to project a stream of air at a predetermined angle from said nozzles and across said gap toward said slots in said disk; and said passages and said intermediate chamber being sized relative to said nozzles for adding resistance to flow of said pressurized air flowable therebetween for reducing velocity and controlling flow rate thereof, so that angular misalignment represented by the difference between said predetermined angle and said angle of said channel is substantially zero in magnitude for obtaining a pressure enhancement in said slots with respect to said gap of a magnitude greater than 1.0.

Claim 10

In a gas turbine engine of the type having a source of pressurized air, a combustion chamber wherein fuel is burned with said pressurized air to produce a rapid flow of hot gas, a plenum surrounding said combustion chamber effective for receiving said pressurized air, a turbine driven by said hot gas to actuate saiid source of pressurized air, said turbine including a rotatable disk having at least one row of turbine blades thereon, said rotatable disk and turbine blades being spaced from adjacent stationary portions of said engine by a gap, each of said turbine blades having a channel therein for the flow of cooling air, said channel being disposed at an angle relative to a longitudinal axis of said engine, said disk including a circular row of spaced slots therein facing said gap and connected to said channels in said turbine blades, wherein the improvement comprises: a plurality of spaced apart nozzles in a circle on said stationary portions facing said slots; an annular stationary intermediate chamber disposed between said plenum and said nozzles; a plurality of passages disposed in walls defining said intermediate chamber for communicating said pressurized air from said plenum to said intermediate chamber; said nozzles being in flow communication with said intermediate chamber for receiving pressurized air therefrom and each being effective to project a stream of air at a predetermined angle from said nozzles and across said gap toward said slots in said disk; and said passages and said intermediate chamber being sized relative to said nozzles for adding resistance to flow of said pressurized air flowable therebetween for reducing velocity and controlling flow rate thereof, so that angular misalignment represented by the difference between said predetermined angle and said angle of said channel is substantially zero in magnitude for obtaining a pressure enhancement in said slots with respect to said gap of a magnitude greater than 1.0.

Claim 11

Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said angular misalignment is between about -10 and about +10 degrees.

Claim 12

Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein each of said nozzles is a discrete tube extending part way across said gap toward said slots.

Claim 13

Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said nozzles include bored holes in a plate.

Claim 14

Apparatus according to claim 11 further including an annular channel in a surface of said plate facing said slots, said nozzles being located in said annular channel.

Claim 15

Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said nozzles are disposed in an annular structure.

Claim 16

Apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said annular structure has a generally dome-shaped cross section.

Claim 17

An air injector for use in a gas turbine engine of the type having a turbine driven by hot combustion gas and a compressor driven by said turbine to produce pressurized air in a plenum surrounding a combustion chamber in which fuel is burned with said pressurized air to produce said gas, said turbine including a rotatable disk having a plurality of turbine blades thereon upon which said hot gas impinges to drive said turbine, each of said turbine blades having an internal channel for the passage of cooling gas therethrough, said channel being disposed at an angle relative to a longitudinal axis of said engine, said rotatable disk and turbine blades being spaced from stationary portions of said engine by a gap, said disk including a circular row of spaced slots therein facing said gap for providing fluid communication to said internal channels, comprising: a plurality of nozzles in a circle on said stationary portions facing said circular row of slots, whereby said slots are rotatable past openings in said nozzles; an annular stationary intermediate chamber disposed between said plenum and said nozzles; a plurality of passages disposed in walls defining said intermediate chamber for communicating said pressurized air from said plenum to said intermediate chamber; said nozzles being in flow communication with said intermediate channel for receiving pressurized air therefrom and each being effective to project a stream of air at a predetermined angle from said nozzles and across said gap toward said slots in said disk; and said passages and said intermediate chamber being sized relative to said nozzles for adding resistance to flow of said pressurized air flowable therebetween for reducing velocity and controlling flow rate thereof, so that angular misalignment represented by the difference between said predetermined angle and said angle of said channel is substantially zero in magnitude for obtaining a pressure enhancement in said slots with respect to said gap of a magnitude greater than 0.1.

Claim 18

An air injector for use in a gas turbine engine of the type having a turbine driven by hot combustion gas and a compressor driven by said turbine to produce pressurized air in a plenum surrounding a combustion chamber in which fuel is burned with said pressurized air to produce said gas, said turbine including a rotatable disk having a plurality of turbine blades thereon upon which said hot gas impinges to drive said turbine, each of said turbine blades having an internal channel for the passage of cooling gas therethrough, said channel being disposed at an angle relative to a longitudinal axis of said engine, said rotatable disk and turbine blades being spaced from stationary portions of said engine by a gap, said disk including a circular row of spaced slots therein facing said gap for providing fluid communication to said internal channels, comprising: a plurality of nozzles in a circle on said stationary portions facing said circular row of slots, whereby said slots are rotatable past openings in said nozzles; an annular stationary intermediate chamber disposed between said plenum and said nozzles; a plurality of passages disposed in walls defining said intermediate chamber for communicating said pressurized air from said plenum to said intermediate chamber; said nozzles being in flow communication with said intermediate channel for receiving pressurized air therefrom and each being effective to project a stream of air at a predetermined angle from said nozzles and across said gap toward said slots in said disk; and said passages and said intermediate chamber being sized relative to said nozzles for adding resistance to flow of said pressurized air flowable therebetween for reducing velocity and controlling flow rate thereof, so that angular misalignment represented by the difference between said predetermined angle and said angle of said channel is substantially zero in magnitude for obtaining a pressure enhancement in said slots with respect to said gap of a magnitude greater than 0.1.