Vortex cooling system for a turbine blade

1. A turbine blade, comprising:

a generally elongated blade having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and a tip at a first end, a root coupled to the blade at a platform generally opposite the first end for supporting the blade and for coupling the blade to a disc, at least one cavity forming a cooling system in the blade, and at least one outer wall defining the at least one cavity forming at least a portion of the cooling system;

wherein the cooling system comprises at least one leading edge cooling chamber having at least one metering hole controlling the flow of cooling fluids into the leading edge cooling chamber generally tangent to an inner surface forming a portion of the leading edge cooling chamber;

at least one trailing edge cooling chamber having at least one trailing edge supply orifice positioned to pass cooling fluids into the trailing edge cooling chamber to form a vortex in the trailing edge cooling chamber;

at least one suction side mid-chord cooling chamber positioned between the at least one leading edge cooling chamber and the at least one trailing edge cooling chamber, positioned proximate to a suction side of the generally elongated blade, and including at least one bleed slot positioned to pass cooling fluids into the suction side mid-chord cooling chamber to form a vortex in the suction side mid-chord cooling chamber; and

at least one pressure side mid-chord cooling chamber positioned between the at least one leading edge cooling chamber and the at least one trailing edge cooling chamber, positioned proximate to the pressure side of the generally elongated blade, and including at least one bleed slot positioned to pass cooling fluids into the pressure side mid-chord cooling chamber to form a vortex in the pressure side mid-chord cooling chamber.

2. The turbine blade of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of trip strips positioned on inner wall surfaces forming the at least one leading edge cooling chamber.

3. The turbine blade of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of trip strips positioned on inner wall surfaces forming the at least one trailing edge cooling chamber.

4. The turbine blade of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of trip strips positioned on inner wall surfaces forming the at least one suction side mid-chord cooling chamber.

5. The turbine blade of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of trip strips positioned on inner wall surfaces forming the at least one pressure side mid-chord cooling chamber.

6. The turbine blade of claim 1 , wherein the at least one trailing edge cooling chamber comprises four trailing edge cooling chambers and three ribs extending radially along the trailing edge of the generally elongated blade, wherein the three ribs include bleed slots configured to emit cooling fluids tangent to an inner surface for a trailing edge cooling chamber.

7. The turbine blade of claim 6 , wherein the bleed slots between adjacent ribs are offset radially.

8. The turbine blade of claim 1 , wherein the at least one suction side mid-chord cooling chamber comprises at least five suction side mid-chord cooling chambers extending radially in the elongated blade proximate to the suction side of the blade and including bleed slots in ribs separating the suction side mid-chord cooling chambers and located proximate to an inner surface of the outer wall such that cooling fluids flowing through the bleed slots exit generally tangent to a surface forming the suction side mid-chord cooling chamber to form a vortex.

9. The turbine blade of claim 1 , wherein the at least one pressure side mid-chord cooling chamber comprises at least three pressure side mid-chord cooling chambers extending radially in the elongated blade proximate to the pressure side of the blade and including bleed slots in ribs separating the pressure side mid-chord cooling chambers and located proximate to an inner surface of the outer wall such that cooling fluids flowing through the bleed slots exit generally tangent to a surface forming the pressure side mid-chord cooling chamber to form a vortex.

10. The turbine blade of claim 1 , wherein the ax least one metering hole in communication with the at least one leading edge cooling chamber comprises two metering holes providing a fluid pathway between the cooling system and the leading edge cooling chamber for supplying cooling fluids to the leading edge cooling chamber and for passing cooling fluids substantially tangent to an inner surface of the leading edge cooling chamber to form a vortex.

11. The turbine blade of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of purge holes in the tip of the turbine blade, wherein each purge hole is positioned generally along a longitudinal axis of a cooling chamber into which the purge hole provides a fluid pathway.

12. The turbine blade of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of film cooling holes in the outer wall providing a cooling fluid pathway between the cooling system and an outer surface of the outer wall.

13. A turbine blade, comprising:

a generally elongated blade having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and a tip at a first end, a root coupled to the blade at a platform generally opposite the first end for supporting the blade and for coupling the blade to a disc, at least one cavity forming a cooling system in the blade, and at least one outer wall defining the at least one cavity forming at least a portion of the cooling system;

wherein the cooling system comprises at least one leading edge cooling chamber having at least two metering holes controlling the flow of cooling fluids into the cooling system generally tangent to an inner surface forming a portion of the leading edge cooling chamber;

at least four trailing edge cooling chambers separated by three ribs and having trailing edge bleed slots positioned in each rib to pass cooling fluids into the trailing edge cooling chambers to form vortices in the trailing edge cooling chambers;

at least five suction side mid-chord cooling chambers positioned between the leading edge cooling chambers and the trailing edge cooling chambers, positioned proximate to the suction side of the generally elongated blade, and including suction side supply orifices positioned to pass cooling fluids into the suction side mid-chord cooling chambers to form vortices in the suction side mid-chord cooling chambers;

at least three pressure side mid-chord cooling chambers positioned between the at least one leading edge cooling chamber and the trailing edge cooling chambers, positioned proximate to the suction side of the generally elongated blade, and including pressure side bleed slots positioned to pass cooling fluids into the suction side mid-chord cooling chambers to form a vortices in the suction side mid-chord cooling chambers;

a plurality of purge holes in the tip of the turbine blade, wherein each purge hole is positioned generally along a longitudinal axis of a cooling chamber into which the purge hole provides a fluid pathway; and

a plurality of film cooling holes in the outer wall providing a cooling fluid pathway between the cooling system and an outer surface of the outer wall.

14. The turbine blade of claim 13 , further comprising a plurality of trip strips positioned on inner wall surfaces forming the at least one leading edge cooling chamber, the trailing edge cooling chambers, the suction side mid-chord cooling chambers, and the pressure side mid-chord cooling chambers.

15. The turbine blade of claim 13 , wherein the trailing edge bleed slots between adjacent ribs are offset radially.