Cooling system for a turbine vane
View Patent ↗A turbine vane usable in a turbine engine and having at least one cooling system. The cooling system including an aft cooling circuit formed from at least one serpentine cooling path. The serpentine cooling path having at least one rib may include bypass orifices for allowing air to pass through the rib to shorten the distance of the serpentine cooling path through which at least some of the air passes. The bypass orifices allow a greater quantity of air to pass through the vane and be expelled into a disc to which the vane is movably coupled as compared to a similar shaped and sized serpentine cooling path not having the bypass orifices.
1. A turbine vane, comprising:
a generally elongated vane formed from at least one housing and having a leading edge, a trailing edge, a pressure side, a suction side, and a cooling system in the vane;
a serpentine cooling path formed at least from a first inflow section, a first outflow section and a second inflow section, the first inflow section extending from a first end at 100 percent span of the serpentine cooling path to a first turn at 0 percent span of the serpentine cooling path, the first outflow section in communication with the first inflow section and extending from the first turn generally toward the first end of the serpentine cooling path and a second turn, the second inflow section in communication with the first outflow section and extending from the second turn to an opening in a second end of the turbine vane adapted to be movably coupled to a disc; and
at least one rib separating by the first inflow section and the first outflow section and extending from the first end of the serpentine cooling path substantially to a second end of the serpentine cooling path; and
wherein the at least one rib includes a plurality of bypass orifices positioned between about 85 percent span of the serpentine cooling path and about 15 percent span of the serpentine cooling path for accommodating increased flow of cooling fluids through the turbine vane without negatively impacting turbine vane cooling, and wherein the plurality of bypass orifices create a pathway between the first inflow section and the first outflow section.
2. The turbine vane of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of bypass orifices have substantially equal diameters.
3. The turbine vane of claim 2 , wherein the diameters of the bypass orifices is between about 2 mm and about 10 mm.
4. The turbine vane of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of bypass orifices are evenly spaced relative to each other.
5. The turbine vane of claim 1 , wherein the first inflow section has a larger cross-sectional area at 100 percent span of the serpentine cooling path than a cross-sectional area of the first inflow section at 10 percent span of the serpentine cooling path.
6. The turbine vane of claim 1 , wherein the first inflow section has a larger cross-sectional area at 100 percent span of the serpentine cooling path than a cross-sectional area of the first inflow section at 50 percent span of the serpentine cooling path.
7. The turbine vane of claim 6 , wherein the cross-sectional area of the first inflow section at 50 percent span of the serpentine cooling path is about 0.7 of the cross-sectional area of the first inflow area at 100 percent span of the serpentine cooling path.
8. The turbine vane of claim 1 , wherein the first inflow section has a larger cross-sectional area at 50 percent span of the serpentine cooling path than a cross-sectional area of the first inflow section at 10 percent span of the serpentine cooling path.
9. The turbine vane of claim 8 , wherein the cross-sectional area of the first inflow section at 0 percent span of the serpentine cooling path is about 0.4 of the cross-sectional area of the first inflow area at 100 percent span of the serpentine cooling path.
10. The turbine vane of claim 1 , further comprising a forward cooling circuit extending from about 100 percent span of the elongated vane to about 0 percent span of the elongated vane and having a plurality of exhaust orifices in the leading edge of the elongated vane.
11. The turbine vane of claim 10 , wherein a cross-sectional area of the forward cooling circuit at about 100 percent span of the elongated vane is greater than a cross-sectional area of the forward cooling circuit at about 0 percent span of the elongated vane.
12. The turbine vane of claim 1 , wherein the first turn of the serpentine cooling path is located at about 0 percent span of the elongated vane.
13. The turbine vane of claim 1 , wherein the second turn of the serpentine cooling path is located at about 100 percent span of the elongated vane.
14. A turbine vane, comprising:
a generally elongated vane formed from at least one housing and having a leading edge, a trailing edge, a pressure side, a suction side, and a cooling system;
a serpentine cooling path formed at least from a first inflow section, a first outflow section and a second inflow section, the first inflow section extending from an opening at a first end of the turbine vane adapted to be coupled to a vane carrier and a first end at 100 percent span of the serpentine cooling path to a first turn at 0 percent span of the serpentine cooling path, the first outflow section in communication with the first inflow section and extending from the first turn generally toward the first end of the serpentine cooling path and a second turn, the second inflow section in communication with the first outflow section and extending from the second turn to an opening in a second end of the turbine vane adapted to be movably coupled to a disc;
wherein the first inflow section and the first outflow section are separated by at least one rib extending from the first end of the serpentine cooling path substantially to a second end of the serpentine cooling path, wherein than at least one rib includes a plurality of bypass orifices positioned between about 85 percent span of the serpentine cooling path and about 15 percent span of the serpentine cooling path creating a pathway between the first inflow section and the first outflow section; and
wherein the first inflow section has a larger cross-sectional area at 100 percent span than a cross-sectional area of the first inflow section at 10 percent span.
15. The turbine vane of claim 14 , wherein the first inflow section has a larger cross-sectional area at 100 percent span of the serpentine cooling path than a cross-sectional area of the first inflow section at 50 percent span of the serpentine cooling path.
16. The turbine vane of claim 15 , wherein the cross-sectional area of the first inflow section at 50 percent span of the serpentine cooling path is about 0.7 of the cross-sectional area of the first inflow area at 100 percent span of the serpentine cooling path.
17. The turbine vane of claim 14 , wherein the first inflow section has a larger cross-sectional area at 50 percent span of the serpentine cooling path than a cross-sectional area of the first inflow section at 0 percent span of the serpentine cooling path.
18. The turbine vane of claim 17 , wherein the cross-sectional area of the first inflow section at 0 percent span of the serpentine cooling path is about 0.4 of the cross-sectional area of the first inflow area at 100 percent span of the serpentine cooling path.