Cooled turbine vane assembly

• Main Authors: PLANK, WILLIAM L, HALL, KENNETH B, SOECHTING, FRIEDRICH O
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 13.06.2001
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: AIR INTAKES FOR JET-PROPULSION PLANTS; BLASTING; COMBUSTION ENGINES; CONTROLLING FUEL SUPPLY IN AIR-BREATHING JET-PROPULSION PLANTS; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; GAS-TURBINE PLANTS; HEATING; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS; LIGHTING; MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; NON-POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT MACHINES OR ENGINES, e.g. STEAMTURBINES; STEAM ENGINES; WEAPONS

A vane assembly (14) for a gas turbine engine (12) includes a plurality of vanes (28), each having a forward compartment (44) and an aft compartment (46), an inner vane support (30), a casing (16), and apparatus (50,54) for maintaining a pressure difference between the compartments. The casing (16), which includes an annulus (18), is positioned radially outside of the vanes. The vanes (28) extend between the inner vane support (30) and the casing (16). The apparatus for maintaining a pressure difference may comprise a flow meter (50,54) at the entrance to the aft compartment. A modulating valve (22) may be provided to control the flow of cooling air into the annulus, and thus into the vanes.