Stator vane platform cooling means

Claim 1

For a gas turbine engine having a turbine section including a stator vane, said stator vane comprising a plurality of circumferentially abutting segments defining an annular flow path, at least two airfoil members having a tip and base circumferentially spaced in each of said segments, each segment having an upper platform member and a lower platform member defining with adjacent segments an annular flow path for directing the engine's fluid working medium through the turbine section, a cooling air cavity for receiving air at a lower temperature than the temperature of the fluid working medium, one surface of said upper platform and said lower platform being exposed to said fluid working medium and the other surface of said upper platform and said lower platform being exposed to said cooling air in said cavity, a feather seal having opposing sides fitted into complementary slots formed in the abutting side edges of platforms of adjacent segments, said feather seal being dimensioned smaller than said complementary slots so as to be in slidable relation with said slots, means for flowing cooling air at a constant volume from said cavity through said feather seal to said fluid working medium for every position of said feather seal.