Gas turbine engine and means for cooling same
US4190398A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 3, 1977 |
| Grant date | Feb 26, 1980 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 3, 1997 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02T50/60
- WIPO fieldEngines, pumps, turbines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
The turbine blades of a gas turbine engine are individually cooled through the internal circulation of a fluid coolant by the thermosiphon principle. Each turbine blade has associated therewith a closed-loop coolant passageway which is rotatable with the turbine rotor disk and which, in one embodiment, passes through a heat exchanger borne by, and rotatable with, a rotatable lubrication duct. The blade internal coolant is placed in heat exchange relationship with engine lubrication oil within the heat exchanger. The heated lubrication oil is then placed in heat exchange relationship with the engine fuel and the fuel thus heated is burned in the combustor, thereby returning at least a portion of the heat removed from the turbine blades to the engine power cycle. The cooling system is designed for simplified blade removal and replacement and the entire turbine can be removed from the engine as a sealed unit. A secondary cooling system is provided as a backup in the unlikely event that cooling effectiveness of one or more of the blade coolant loop passageways is lost.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.