The present disclosure generally relates to turbomachines. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to rotor blades for turbomachines.
A gas turbine engine generally includes a compressor section, a combustion section, a turbine section, and an exhaust section. The compressor section progressively increases the pressure of a working fluid entering the gas turbine engine and supplies this compressed working fluid to the combustion section. The compressed working fluid and a fuel (e.g., natural gas) mix within the combustion section and burn in a combustion chamber to generate high pressure and high temperature combustion gases. The combustion gases flow from the combustion section into the turbine section where they expand to produce work. For example, expansion of the combustion gases in the turbine section may rotate a rotor shaft connected, e.g., to a generator to produce electricity. The combustion gases then exit the gas turbine via the exhaust section.
The turbine section generally includes a plurality of rotor blades. Each rotor blade includes an airfoil positioned within the flow of the combustion gases. In this respect, the rotor blades extract kinetic energy and/or thermal energy from the combustion gases flowing through the turbine section. Certain rotor blades may include a tip shroud coupled to the radially outer end of the airfoil. The tip shroud reduces the amount of combustion gases leaking past the rotor blade. A fillet may transition between the airfoil and the tip shroud.
The rotor blades generally operate in extremely high temperature environments. As such, the airfoils and tip shrouds of rotor blades may define various passages, cavities, and apertures through which cooling fluid may flow. Nevertheless, conventional configurations of the various passages, cavities, and apertures may limit the service life of the rotor blades and require expensive and time consuming manufacturing processes. Furthermore, conventional fillet configurations may also limit the service life of the rotor blades.
Aspects and advantages of the technology will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the technology.
In one aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a rotor blade for a turbomachine. The rotor blade includes an airfoil defining at least one cooling passage. The rotor blade also includes a tip shroud coupled to the airfoil. The tip shroud and the airfoil define a core fluidly coupled to the cooling passage. A maximum radial depth of the core is at least six times greater than a minimum hydraulic diameter of a largest cooling passage of the at least one cooling passage.
In another aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a rotor blade for a turbomachine. The rotor blade includes an airfoil. The rotor blade also includes a tip shroud coupled to the airfoil. The tip shroud includes a first rib and at least partially defines a cooling core and a central plenum. The first rib defines a first plurality of cross-over apertures fluidly coupling the central plenum and the cooling core. The first plurality of cross-over apertures is arranged in a first arcuate pattern.
In a further embodiment, the present disclosure is directed to a rotor blade for a turbomachine. The rotor blade includes an airfoil having a span extending from a root of the airfoil to the tip shroud. The rotor blade also includes a tip shroud coupled to the airfoil, and tip shroud includes a side surface. The tip shroud and the airfoil collectively define a fillet. A runout of the fillet extends beyond the side surface of the tip shroud and/or below ninety percent of the span.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present technology will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the technology and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the technology.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present technology, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures, in which:
Repeat use of reference characters in the present specification and drawings is intended to represent the same or analogous features or elements of the present technology.
Reference will now be made in detail to present embodiments of the technology, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The detailed description uses numerical and letter designations to refer to features in the drawings. Like or similar designations in the drawings and description have been used to refer to like or similar parts of the technology. As used herein, the terms “first”, “second”, and “third” may be used interchangeably to distinguish one component from another and are not intended to signify location or importance of the individual components. The terms “upstream” and “downstream” refer to the relative direction with respect to fluid flow in a fluid pathway. For example, “upstream” refers to the direction from which the fluid flows, and “downstream” refers to the direction to which the fluid flows.
Each example is provided by way of explanation of the technology, not limitation of the technology. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made in the present technology without departing from the scope or spirit thereof. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be used on another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present technology covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
Although an industrial or land-based gas turbine is shown and described herein, the present technology as shown and described herein is not limited to a land-based and/or industrial gas turbine unless otherwise specified in the claims. For example, the technology as described herein may be used in any type of turbomachine including, but not limited to, aviation gas turbines (e.g., turbofans, etc.), steam turbines, and marine gas turbines.
Referring now to the drawings, wherein identical numerals indicate the same elements throughout the figures,
The turbine section 18 may generally include a rotor shaft 24 having a plurality of rotor disks 26 (one of which is shown) and a plurality of rotor blades 28 extending radially outward from and being interconnected to the rotor disk 26. Each rotor disk 26, in turn, may be coupled to a portion of the rotor shaft 24 that extends through the turbine section 18. The turbine section 18 further includes an outer casing 30 that circumferentially surrounds the rotor shaft 24 and the rotor blades 28, thereby at least partially defining a hot gas path 32 through the turbine section 18.
During operation, air or another working fluid flows through the inlet section 12 and into the compressor section 14, where the air is progressively compressed to provide pressurized air to the combustors (not shown) in the combustion section 16. The pressurized air mixes with fuel and burns within each combustor to produce combustion gases 34. The combustion gases 34 flow along the hot gas path 32 from the combustion section 16 into the turbine section 18. In the turbine section, the rotor blades 28 extract kinetic and/or thermal energy from the combustion gases 34, thereby causing the rotor shaft 24 to rotate. The mechanical rotational energy of the rotor shaft 24 may then be used to power the compressor section 14 and/or to generate electricity. The combustion gases 34 exiting the turbine section 18 may then be exhausted from the gas turbine engine 10 via the exhaust section 20.
As illustrated in
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As mentioned above, the rotor blade 100 includes the tip shroud 116. As illustrated in
Referring particularly to
During operation of the gas turbine engine 10 (
As illustrated in
The maximum depth 164 of the core 162 may be a function of a minimum hydraulic diameter 168 of the largest cooling passage 142 (i.e., the cooling passage 142 exhibiting the largest minimum hydraulic diameter). In some embodiments, the maximum depth 164 of the core 162 may be at least six times greater than the minimum hydraulic diameter 168 of the largest cooling passage 142. In other embodiments, the maximum depth 164 of the core 162 may be at least nine times greater than the minimum hydraulic diameter 168 of the largest cooling passage 142. Nevertheless, the maximum depth 164 of the core 162 may have suitable size relative to the minimum hydraulic diameter 168 of the largest cooling passage 142.
As mentioned above, the cooling passages 142 may be formed via shaped tube electrolytic manufacturing. During this process, an electrolyte (not shown) may splash out of the cooling passage 142 being formed. In conventional configurations, the maximum depth of the core is generally much less than six times greater than the maximum diameter of the cooling passages. In such configurations, the electrolyte may contact and arc on the tip shroud, thereby undesirably and unintentionally removing material therefrom. This may require expensive and time consuming repairs, which increase the overall cost of manufacturing conventional rotor blades. As discussed above, however, the maximum depth 164 of the core 162 is at least six times greater than the minimum hydraulic diameter 168 of the largest cooling passages 142. In this respect, any electrolyte that splashes out of the cooling passages 142 does not contact the tip shroud 116. As such, material is not undesirably and unintentionally removed from the tip shroud 116. Accordingly, expensive and time consuming repairs are unnecessary and the overall cost of manufacturing the rotor blades 100 is less than that of conventional rotor blades.
Referring now to
Referring now to
The arcuate pattern of the cross-over apertures 158A, 158B facilitates a longer service life for the rotor blade 100 than conventional rotor blades. More specifically, the radially outer surface 144 of the tip shroud 116 is typically one of the hottest portions of the rotor blade. In conventional rotor blades, the cross-over apertures are generally arranged in a linear manner. That is, all of the cross-over apertures are positioned the same radial distance from the radially outer surface of tip shroud. In this respect, all of the cross-over apertures are positioned in close proximity to the radially outer surface of tip shroud. The close proximity of apertures (i.e., the cross-over apertures) to the radially outer surface of tip shroud reduces the service life of the rotor blade. Conversely, the arcuate pattern of the cross-over apertures 158A, 158B permits at least some of the cross-over apertures 158A, 158B to be moved radially inward from the radially outer surface 146 of the tip shroud 116. In this respect, the rotor blade 100 include fewer apertures positioned in close proximity of the radially outer surface 146 of the tip shroud 116 than in conventional rotor blades. As such, the rotor blade 100 has a longer service life than the conventional rotor blades.
As mentioned above, the fillet 150 transitions between the airfoil 114 and the tip shroud 116. In this respect, the airfoil 114 and the tip shroud 116 collectively define the fillet 150. As illustrated in
The runout 176 of the fillet 150 discussed above may facilitate a longer service life for the rotor blade 100 compared to conventional rotor blades. More specifically, the fillet between the airfoil and the tip shroud is typically the portion of the rotor blade subjected to the greatest stress. By extending the runout of the fillet 150 below ninety percent 134 of the span 128 and/or beyond the side surface 144 of the tip shroud 116, the fillet 150 is larger than conventional fillets. The larger fillet 150 is able to better resist stress than the smaller conventional fillets. As such, the rotor blade 100 having the fillet 150 has a longer service life than conventional rotor blades having conventional fillets. This longer service life outweighs the reduced aerodynamic efficiency caused by the fillet 150. Furthermore, the fillet 150 may enable other features of the rotor blade 100 such as the core 162 having the maximum depth 164 of at least six times the minimum hydraulic diameter 168 of the cooling passages 142 and/or the arcuate arrangement of cross-over apertures 158.
Various features disclosed herein may be combined into a single embodiment of the rotor blade 100. In one embodiment, for example, the rotor blade 100 may include the core 162 having the maximum depth 164 of at least six times the minimum hydraulic diameter 168 of the cooling passages 142 and the fillet 150 having the runout thereof extending beyond the side surface 144 of the tip shroud 116 or below ninety percent 134 of the span 128. In another embodiment, the rotor blade 100 may include the core 162 having the maximum depth 164 of at least six times the minimum hydraulic diameter 168 of the cooling passages 142 and at least some cross-over apertures 158 arranged in an arcuate pattern. In a further embodiment, the rotor blade 100 may include the fillet 150 having the runout thereof extending beyond the side surface 144 of the tip shroud 116 or below ninety percent 134 of the span 128 and at least some cross-over apertures 158 arranged in an arcuate pattern. In another embodiment, the rotor blade 100 may include the core 162 having the maximum depth 164 of at least six times the minimum hydraulic diameter 168 of the cooling passages 142, the fillet 150 having the runout thereof extending beyond the side surface 144 of the tip shroud 116 or below ninety percent 134 of the span 128, and at least some cross-over apertures 158 arranged in an arcuate pattern. Alternately, the rotor blade 100 may include only one of the aforementioned features.
Combining two or more of the aforementioned features may provide additional benefits. For example, combining the core 162 having the maximum depth 164 of at least six times the minimum hydraulic diameter 168 of the cooling passages 142 and the fillet 150 having the runout thereof extending beyond the side surface 144 of the tip shroud 116 or below ninety percent 134 of the span 128 may result in improved cooling of the fillet 150. As illustrated in
This written description uses examples to disclose the technology, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the technology, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the technology is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.