Gas Turbine Engine

This invention relates to gas turbine engines of the kind having an annular duct for combustion products, the duct having a fixed wall whose interior surface is directly exposed to the combustion products. It is an object of this invention to provide an improved arrangement for cooling of the wall.

It is known to cool the wall by causing jets of cooling air to impinge on the outer surface of the wall but such arrangements have the disadvantage that air, having impinged on the outer surface and having become heated by contact therewith, has to travel along that surface before reaching an outlet. Insofar as the heated air remains at the outer surface, or insofar as the heated air mixes with fresh cooling air, the efficiency of the cooling process is reduced.

According to this invention there is provided a gas turbine engine comprising a duct for combustion products, a chamber for cooling fluid, a wall common to the chamber and the duct, a partition dividing the chamber into an inlet region spaced from the wall and an outlet region open to the wall, the partition having portions projecting towards the wall and being spaced apart to define therebetween spaces included in said outlet region, the projections having at their free ends nozzle openings directed towards the wall, a source of cooling air connected to the inlet region of the chamber, and an outlet from the outlet region of the chamber.

In operation, heated air rebounds from the wall and by passing into the spaces between the projections has an opportunity to come away from the wall without mixing with the fresh cooling air.

An example of an engine according to this invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a part-sectional elevation of the engine,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged detail of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a section on the line III--III in FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing a modification, and

FIG. 5 is a section on the line V--V in FIG. 4.

The engine comprises (Fig. 1) a compressor 1 for delivering air to an air casing 2 from which the air enters a combustion chamber 3. Combustion products from the chamber pass through an annular duct 10 embracing an annular array of blades 5 of a turbine 6 which drives the compressor. The duct has an inner wall defined by root platforms 7 of the blades and an outer fixed wall 11. The flow axis of the duct is denoted A.

The wall 11 (FIGS. 2 and 3) has an inner surface 11A facing the hot flow of combustion products and an outer surface 11B facing the interior of a chamber 12 so that the wall is common to the chamber and the duct. The chamber contains tubes 13 which constitute a partition dividing the chamber into an inlet region 12A being the interior of the tubes and an outlet region 12B surrounding the tubes. The tubes extend in the direction of the axis A and lie parallel to the surface 11B and in spaced parallelism to each other. Portions 13A of the tubes near the surface 11B define projections having spaces 14 between them. At their extremities nearest the surface 11B the portions 13A have nozzle openings 15 positioned for directing jets J of cooling air on to the surface 11B. The air is derived from the compressor 1 through inlets 16 to the region 12A, and the region 12B has outlets 17 from the chamber 12. After impingement on the surface 11B the air passes into the spaces 14, as shown by flow lines F, and thence to the outlets 17. By virtue of this arrangement the return of heated air from the surface 11B does not interfere with fresh flow from the nozzles, i.e. with the jets J.

The outlet 17 is shown as entering a nozzle guide vane 8 upstream of the blades 5, the air finally discharging into the duct 10 through openings 9 in the trailing edge of the vane 8. However, the outlets 17 may be in the wall 11 anywhere upstream of the blades 5, e.g. as shown at 17A.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show the chamber 12 as being divided into inlet and outlet regions 12A, 12B by a partition having the form of a corrugated sheet 20 defining projections 20A separated by spaces 21 and containing the nozzle openings 15. Cooling air enters the region 12A through the inlet 16 and returns from the surface 11B via the spaces 21 to the outlets 17.

In the examples described the chamber 12 extends primarily in the region of the blades 5. In a modification (not shown) the chamber extends in the region of the vanes 8 for cooling the part of the wall 10 from which these vanes extend.