Abstract: A small gas turbine engine for use in an UAV such as a cruise missile, the gas turbine having a combustor forming a primary burn zone and a secondary burn zone, and in which fuel is injected into both the primary and the secondary burn zones by either a rotary cup injector or a plurality of fuel injector nozzles. The secondary burn zone with separate fuel injection allows for the diameter of the engine to be reduced in size but still allow for adequate power and efficiency to be reached for powering the vehicle. Air flow from the compressor is used to cool the combustor walls before being injected into the combustor, and to pass through and cool the guide nozzles and a main bearing located near the hot section of the combustor prior to being introduced into the combustor.

Abstract: The present invention is a vane for us in a gas turbine engine, in which the vane is made of an exotic, high temperature material that is difficult to machine or cast. The vane includes a shell made from Tungsten, and is formed from a wire electric discharge process. The shell is positioned in grooves between the outer and inner shrouds, and includes a central passageway within the spar, and forms a cooling fluid passageway between the spar and the shell. Both the spar and the shell include cooling holes to carry cooling fluid from the central passageway to an outer surface of the vane for cooling. This cooling path eliminates a serpentine pathway, and therefore requires less pressure and less amounts of cooling fluid to cool the vane.

Abstract: The present invention is a vane for us in a gas turbine engine, in which the vane is made of an exotic, high temperature material that is difficult to machine or cast. The vane includes a shell made from either Molybdenum, Niobium, alloys of Molybdenum or Niobium (Columbium), Oxide Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC), or SiC—SiC ceramic matrix composite, and is formed from a wire electric discharge process. The shell is positioned in grooves between the outer and inner shrouds, and includes a central passageway within the spar, and forms a cooling fluid passageway between the spar and the shell. Both the spar and the shell include cooling holes to carry cooling fluid from the central passageway to an outer surface of the vane for cooling. This cooling path eliminates a serpentine pathway, and therefore requires less pressure and less amounts of cooling fluid to cool the vane.

Abstract: The present invention is a vane for us in a gas turbine engine, in which the vane is made of an exotic, high temperature material that is difficult to machine or cast. The vane includes a shell made from either Molybdenum, Niobium, alloys of Molybdenum or Niobium (Columbium), Oxide Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC), or SiC-SiC ceramic matrix composite, and is formed from a wire electric discharge process. The shell is positioned in grooves between the outer and inner shrouds, and includes a central passageway within the spar, and forms a cooling fluid passageway between the spar and the shell. Both the spar and the shell include cooling holes to carry cooling fluid from the central passageway to an outer surface of the vane for cooling. This cooling path eliminates a serpentine pathway, and therefore requires less pressure and less amounts of cooling fluid to cool the vane.

Abstract: A small gas turbine engine for use in an UAV such as a cruise missile, the gas turbine having a combustor forming a primary burn zone and a secondary burn zone, and in which fuel is injected into both the primary and the secondary burn zones by either a rotary cup injector or a plurality of fuel injector nozzles. The secondary burn zone with separate fuel injection allows for the diameter of the engine to be reduced in size but still allow for adequate power and efficiency to be reached for powering the vehicle. Air flow from the compressor is used to cool the combustor walls before being injected into the combustor, and to pass through and cool the guide nozzles and a main bearing located near the hot section of the combustor prior to being introduced into the combustor.

Abstract: A small gas turbine engine with a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine located downstream of the combustor. The compressor and turbine are supported on a rotary shaft, and a main bearing is support on the rotary shaft, the main bearing being located in a hot zone of the combustor. The main bearing includes cooling air passages within the races to provide cooling for the bearing. A cooling air is diverted from the compressor and passed through the bearing cooling passages for cooling the bearing, and then the cooling air is directed into the combustor. The cooling air is also passed through a guide nozzle before being passed through the bearing to cool both the guide nozzle and the bearing. A swirl cup injector is sued to deliver the compressed air from the compressor and the cooling air from the bearing into the combustor, the swirl cup injector also acting to draw the cooling air through the bearing.

Abstract: The present invention is a vane for us in a gas turbine engine, in which the vane is made of an exotic, high temperature material that is difficult to machine or cast. The vane includes a shell made from Tungsten, and is formed from a wire electric discharge process. The shell is positioned in grooves between the outer and inner shrouds, and includes a central passageway within the spar, and forms a cooling fluid passageway between the spar and the shell. Both the spar and the shell include cooling holes to carry cooling fluid from the central passageway to an outer surface of the vane for cooling. This cooling path eliminates a serpentine pathway, and therefore requires less pressure and less amounts of cooling fluid to cool the vane.

Abstract: A blade for a rotor of a gas turbine engine is constructed with a spar and shell configuration. The spar is constructed in an integral unit or multi-portions and includes a first wall adjacent to the pressure side and a second wall adjacent to the suction side, a tip portion extending in the spanwise direction and extending beyond the first wall and the second wall and a root portion extending longitudinally, an attachment portion having a central opening for receiving the foot portion and a platform portion. The root portion fits into the central opening and is secured therein by a pin extending transversely through the attachment and the foot portion. The shell fits over the spar and is supported thereto by a plurality of complementary hooks extending from the spar and, shell. The ends of the shell fit into grooves formed on the tip .portion and the platform, The shell is made from a high temperature resistant material, such as Molybdenum or Niobium, and is formed from a wife EDM process.

Abstract: A gas turbine whose blades are cooled with cooling air has in its turbine part a device for the removal of dirt particles from the cooling air. The device consists of a first chamber in which the cooling air is collected, and a second chamber into which the cooling air from the first chamber is fed through conduit, and in which the dirt particles are removed from the cooling air. The conduit, above which a drop in pressure occurs, are oriented at an angle (&phgr;) in relation to the rotor axis so that the cooling air is accelerated in the tangential direction in relation to the rotor and moves in the circumferential direction of the rotor within the second chamber. Dirt particles are removed in the second chamber by centrifugal force from the cooling air in that they are driven outward and pass through the outlet openings into the gas stream of the turbine. The clean cooling air exits through radially further inward outlet openings into the cooling channels of the blades.

Abstract: A meter plate formed from a depending member extending from the root of a turbine blade just short of the edge of the bottom of the broach in the disk in the live rim area is cast integrally with the blade and serves to meter coolant flow from the on board injector to internally of the blade. The final dimension can be configured in the machining operation of the blade to attain the desired amount of coolant flow for internal blade cooling.

Abstract: The flow rate of the cooling air at the trailing edge of the airfoil of a turbine blade for a gas turbine engine is established by casting the blade to include judiciously located radially spaced projections adjacent to or in the ribs in the trailing edge which serve to meter the flow in the channels formed between the ribs. The holes for forming the projections in the core that are used to form the internal cooling passages in the trailing edge are intentionally undersized. After the core is cleaned and flashed, the blade is cast in a mold and the ceramic core is leached out. The internal cooling passages in the trailing edge are flow tested to obtain the flow rate and pressure and this data is used to resize the projection. Resizing the projection is made by reforming the core with the same die, and with the information previously obtained in the flow test, the holes that form the projections are enlarged by drilling to obtain the desired flow rate.

Abstract: Damping of a turbine rotor is attained by a weighted member trapped between pockets formed in the neck of adjacent blades at one end and a space between the disk and TOBI rotor seal and forward extending blade lug at the other end. The feather seal which is a curved plate fits over the top of the weighted member and is trapped between nubs formed on the front and rear underside of the blade platform. The front face of the rim of the disk at the disk cavity is open ended and blocked off at the rear face. This assembly allows for individual blade removal and viewing from the rear face by removing a single rim cavity cover without disturbing the remaining components of the assembly. The inverted ring supports take up the axial loads alleviating the loads heretofore taken up by the TOBI rotor seal, allowing for a lighter weight installation.

Abstract: Dirt removal means for an internally air cooled blade for a gas turbine engine of the type that includes multi passes some of which are serpentine as made in situ by casting the ribs so as to be angularly disposed at the root of the blade and a straight through passageway with an opening at the tip. The velocity of the airstream in the straight through passageway being sufficiently high to carry the dirt through the opening and the angularly disposed ribs overlying the entrance to the other passageway so as to divert the dirt entrained airstream into the straight through passageway while allowing relatively dirt-free air to turn the angle of the rib to enter the serpentine passes.