Patent Grant
9151173
The present invention relates to gas turbine engines such as those used for electrical power generation and aircraft engines and, more particularly, to a system for cooling nozzles and associated vanes using a nozzle cavity and vane design with improved convection and impingement cooling capabilities. The invention can also be used for other engine components, such as shrouds, buckets, combustors, as well as with different airfoils and the inner and outer nozzle sidewalls.
Over the years, various cooling mechanisms have been employed to protect hot gas path components of gas turbine engines during extended operation, particularly stage one nozzles which often encounter the highest temperature exhaust gases. Most closed circuit cooling systems include a plurality of nozzle vane segments extending between inner and outer side walls of the nozzle. Typically, the vanes include cavities in fluid communication with compartments in the outer and inner side walls to accommodate the flow of cooling media within a closed circuit for cooling the outer and inner walls. The cooling media feeds into a plenum in the outer wall for distribution to the different chambers and flow passages defined by impingement openings allowing for the flow of coolant onto the outer wall surface of the vane. The spent impingement cooling media then flows into the leading edge and aft cavities extending radially through the vane.
In the past, steam has been used as a cooling medium for certain types of nozzle vanes. Even though steam has a higher heat capacity than air at nominal operating temperatures, steam cooling designs for turbine vanes and other engine components exhibit certain thermodynamic inefficiencies. For example, the steam must be maintained inside a closed circuit in order to avoid mixing with the hot gas stream. As a result, some components in the hot gas path cannot be cooled as efficiently with steam inside a closed circuit because, for example, the relatively thin structure of the trailing edges of the nozzle vanes precludes effective steam cooling of certain portions of the vanes.
Another known approach for cooling gas turbine engine blades and nozzles involves the use of a partial feed of high pressure cooling air, normally provided by an internal source such as an intermediate or final stage of a gas turbine compressor. Typically, a series of internal flow passages in and around the nozzle provide the desired supplemental cooling of the vanes using air film cooling and external piping supplies the compressed air to the nozzles which is eventually discharged into the hot gas stream of the gas turbine.
Most current gas turbines also rely on some form of impingement heat transfer to cool the nozzle vanes by placing a bank of round holes against the vane surface and introducing a relatively high velocity jet of fluid (steam or air) directly against the solid surface. The higher the velocity of the cooling fluid, the longer the molecules tend to remain in contact with the surface and exchange heat. For that reason, impingement cooling fluid jets normally introduce air perpendicular to the metal surface to maximize the incident velocity against the surface. In some recent designs, impingement air cooling has been used in combination with steam to lower the operating temperature of specific portions of the nozzle vanes that would not otherwise be effectively cooled by steam alone. However, virtually all impingement cooling systems for gas turbines using air alone rely on a prescribed number and arrangement of round holes in the vanes to accommodate the fluid flow.
Although relatively high levels of heat transfer can be achieved in a first stage nozzle using impingement cooling with round openings, once the impingement contact occurs, the fluid molecules tend to move parallel to the solid vane surface and the fluid velocity becomes significantly reduced with fewer molecules contacting the solid surface, ultimately resulting in reduced heat transfer. The cooling fluid velocity also becomes much lower due to fluid entering from neighboring round impingement holes which can collide, mix and eventually reduce the coolant throughput. Similarly, localized pressure sinks tend to redirect fluid flow, reducing the fluid velocity even further. This heat transfer degradation in nozzle vanes (called “cross flow effect”) decreases the level of heat transfer due to the phenomena invariably associated with round impingement openings.
Thus, it has been found that the use of compressed air and/or steam using round impingement holes for cooling purposes comes at a price of somewhat reduced thermodynamic efficiency due to the resulting air flow characteristics. The amount of heat transfer between coolant and the vane surface is directly proportional to the coolant velocity as it impinges and then turns parallel to the surface being cooled. Thus, a discrete set of varying heat transfer coefficients exist over the hot surface to be cooled. The highest heat transfer is achieved directly opposite the impinging hole but becomes lower as the coolant velocity decreases away from the hole. The cooling effect is also reduced by the cross flow interactions from adjacent round holes because the coolant from neighboring holes mixes with coolant from the round impingement hole, lowering its velocity and reducing the heat transfer potential.
A significant need therefore still exists to identify methods of maximizing the heat transfer potential of compressed air or steam used for vane cooling and thereby maintain component temperatures within strict operational requirements. A need also exists to increase the coolant velocity while making the flow more uniform over the largest area of the vane surface being cooled, thereby providing superior overall heat transfer efficiency.
As noted above, the current state of the art addressing impingement cooling issues relies almost exclusively on round impingement holes to produce a desired cooling effect. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,031 (describing a nozzle using round impingement holes to increase the heat transfer on the internal face of the airfoil). Similarly, EP1247940A1 describes the use of round impingement holes having variable diameters to prevent clogging without reducing heat transfer between the coolant and nozzle surfaces.
The present invention provides an improved nozzle vane for a gas turbine using distinctly different impingement openings and resulting air flow. As noted above, the invention can also be used in connection with other gas turbine engine components that may benefit from impingement cooling, including shrouds, buckets, and combustors, as well as other types of airfoils and even the inner and outer nozzle sidewalls.
In an exemplary embodiment relating to a nozzle vane, the invention comprises (1) a vane wall having inner and outer surfaces, with the wall surfaces spaced from one another to define a fluid passageway for a cooling medium (typically compressed ambient air); (2) a plurality of discreet cavities formed by interior wall members in the vane disposed between the inner and outer wall surfaces and within the fluid passageway for the cooling medium; (3) a plurality of impingement cooling sleeves disposed in the discreet cavities defined by the inner and outer wall surfaces and the interior wall members; and (4) a plurality of non-round openings in each of the impingement cooling sleeves, with the openings being sufficient in size and number to accommodate the flow of a high pressure cooling media.
In the embodiments described herein, each of a plurality of impingement openings are formed as small circumferential fluid passages having a radial array of projections emanating from the center of each opening. Taken together, the projections form, by way of example, a radial array of substantially uniform fluid pathways, e.g., star-like in form, that emanate from the center of the opening. The projections may take various forms, including projections that are equidistant or, alternatively, of different sizes and varying distances of separation one from another.
As discussed below, the non-round openings in the impingement cooling sleeves described herein provide much more efficient mixing and heat transfer potential as compared to round openings. That is, it has now been found that the non-round impingement openings increase the cooling fluid velocity and minimize cross flow effects, thereby increasing heat transfer between the cooling fluid and vane surface. The new geometric patterns also generate a vortex field in and around the impingement openings which provide for more efficient mixing and improved air velocity distribution at each opening. This characteristic of the discreet fluid pathways emanating from the center of each opening (e.g., openings having a star-like configuration) significantly improve the heat transfer capabilities of existing nozzle designs due to improved mixing and higher velocity characteristics of the openings.
In addition, the use of the new impingement openings are economically viable since they can be formed without requiring any significant design or operational changes to other parts of the gas turbine engine. The invention thus enhances the impingement heat transfer potential for various types of nozzles, vanes, shrouds, buckets, combustors and airfoils with only minimal additional manufacturing cost and complexity. The increase in heat transfer also improves the anticipated life of key engine components, particularly those exposed to the high gas path temperatures in the gas turbine. In particular, the use of a plurality of circumferential fluid passages with a radial array of projections emanating from the center ultimately translates to lower metal temperatures and a longer life for key hot gas path components. Depending on the specific application, this heat transfer enhancement reduces engine coolant requirements and eventually improves overall performance and thermodynamic efficiency of the engine.
The use of multi-faceted impingement openings according to the invention can be implemented in various components such as nozzles, buckets, shrouds, combustors, and casings. The specific geometric dimensions of the star-like openings may also vary slightly, depending on the particular end use application, target component and cooling flow requirements. The invention thus contemplates using various shapes of non-round impingement openings, including for example “chevron” type holes or other symmetric configurations. When applied to early stage nozzles, first stage buckets, combustor liners and/or casing temperature control devices, the design can improve the heat transfer capability of those components.
These, as well as other objects and advantages of this invention, will be more completely understood and appreciated by the following more detailed description of the presently preferred exemplary embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
As noted above, the impingement openings according to the invention improve heat transfer and increase the effective use of cooling air and/or steam to reduce nozzle and other engine component temperatures. The multiple geometric edges that define an opening have a size and configuration that result in a higher impingement jet velocity and increased heat transfer as compared to round openings with a comparable cross sectional area. The use of such multi-faceted impingement holes allows for greater throughput and a net reduction in metal temperatures. It has also been found that the star-like configuration has the capability to develop a vortex flow field that provides for a more efficient mixing of the cooling air before it impacts the vane. The more efficient mixing allows for a higher velocity distribution of the cooling air, and hence higher heat transfer between the fluid and the surface.
The general form of an exemplary insert sleeve is illustrated in
In the leading edge cavity 30 of
The sleeves in cavities 30, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13 and 12 are spaced from the walls of the cavities to enable the cooling media, e.g., compressed air, flowing into and through the impingement openings to impact against the interior wall surfaces of the cavities, thereby cooling the wall surfaces in the manner described above. As the impingement coolant progresses down from the upstream end of the cavity, cross-flow degradation tends to increase and normally would cause lower heat transfer. However, the new impingement cooling openings exhibit a lower pressure drop over the length of the vane while providing more efficient cooling.
As
Insert sleeve 23 illustrated in
As illustrated in
Referring to
The extent of the insert sleeve 60 with impingement holes 61, 62 depends upon whether the insert sleeve side wall faces the pressure side or suction side of the airfoil. While the extent of the impingement holes on each side can be varied as deemed necessary or desirable to achieve the objectives of the invention, the extent of the holes generally is greater on the pressure side of the insert sleeve than on the suction side.
In
While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
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