Two stage rotor assembly with improved coolant flow

Claim 1

A rotor assembly comprising first and second coaxial, co-rotating gas turbine engine rotors, each including a disk having a front face, a rear face, a live rim, and a plurality of lugs circumferentially spaced about and extending radially outwardly from said rim, a blade root slot being defined between circumferentially adjacent lugs, said slots extending axially from said front to rear face; a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart stator vanes disposed between said rotors and having radially inner ends; a stationary annular seal land supported by said stator vane inner ends; means associated with said first rotor front face defining a front compartment for receiving a supply of cooling air; spacer means, comprising an axially extending annular member having a forward end and a rearward end, said forward end including a radially outwardly facing circumferentially extending surface, said first disk rear face including a radially inwardly facing circumferentially extending surface located radially inwardly of said first disk slots and engaging said radially outwardly facing surface to define a first substantially cylindrical interface therebetween, said rearward end including a radially outwardly facing circumferentially extending surface, said second disk front face including a radially inwardly facing circumferentially extending surface located radially inwardly of said second disk slots and engaging said radially outwardly facing surface of said rearward end defining a second substantially cylindrical interface therebetween, said spacer means and rotor disks defining an intermediate annular cooling air compartment radially inwardly of said spacer means and extending axially between said rear and front disk faces, said spacer means including at least one annular knife edge seal extending radially outwardly from said annular member and in sealing relation to said seal land; said rotors each including a plurality of rotor blades, each blade having a root, one of said roots being disposed in each of said slots and defining, with its respective slot, an axial cooling air passageway through said slot from said front to rear face of its respective disk; and cover plate means downstream of said first disk and in contact with said first disk rear face defining a first rear compartment between said intermediate compartment and said axial cooling air passageways through said first disk slots, wherein said first disk and said spacer means includes means defining openings at said first interface to meter cooling air flow from said passageways through said first disk slots into said intermediate compartment, and said second disk and said spacer means includes means defining opening at said second interface for the flow of cooling air from said intermediate compartment into said cooling air passageways through said second rotor disk slots, and wherein said front compartment, said passageways through said first rotor disk slots, said first rear compartment, said intermediate cooling air compartment, and said passageways through said second rotor disk slots are in series fluid flow relationship, whereby cooling air flows from said front compartment into and through said first rotor disk slots, from said first rotor disk slots into said first rear compartment, from said first rear compartment radially inwardly into said intermediate cooling air compartment, and from said intermediate cooling air compartment radially outwardly and into and through said second rotor disk slots.