EAGER: Integration of Heat Pipes in Gas Turbines using Artificial Intelligence and Additive Manufacturing

University Of Connecticut, Storrs CT

Investigators

Abstract

Gas turbines power almost all modern aircraft and generate about 21% of the electricity used in the United States from natural gas. However, major losses of efficiency and reliability in turbines are caused by the tremendous amount of excess heat that turbines create. Current air-cooling technology has limited success in getting rid of this excess heat. This project uses an advanced cooling technology called heat pipes, which can dissipate significantly greater amounts of heat than air cooling. Using this technology will significantly improve fuel consumption, efficiency and reliability of gas turbines resulting in significant cost savings. The project involves constructing the vane or blade interior as a heat pipe and extending it into an adjacent heat sink, thus transferring incident heat through the heat pipe to the heat sink. This design provides an extremely high heat transfer rate and a uniform temperature along the vane due to the internal changes of the phase of the heat pipe working fluid. Furthermore, this technology eliminates hot spots at the vane leading and trailing edges and increases the vane life by preventing thermal fatigue cracking. There is also the possibility of requiring no bleed air from the compressor, eliminating engine performance losses resulting from the diversion of compressor discharge air. Combined air cooling with radially rotating heat pipes is also considered for a better cooling method. The proposed heat pipe is an innovative cooling system that includes non-conventional geometries, evaporation, condensation, vapor flow, and interaction of the liquid/vapor. These complex transport processes of heat transfer and two-phase flow of a liquid metal working fluid under high centrifugal forces and accelerations are all coupled. A detailed design analysis of integrated gas turbine heat pipe vanes and blades is made using artificial intelligence and additive manufacturing. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.