GAS TURBINE ENGINE WITH LIQUID METAL COOLING

摘要

A gas turbine engine with a closed-loop liquid metal cooling fluid system for cooling stator vanes within the turbine, in which the stator vanes are made of a metallic material that will not react with the liquid metal cooling fluid. The stator vane may be made from a typical metal material such as ferrous metal alloys, nickel alloys or cobalt (Co) alloys, and an insert or liner made of molybdenum or tantalum may be placed inside to protect the outer vane material from reacting with a liquid metal such as bismuth, lead (Pb), indium, or alloy mixtures of thereof. In the case where the liquid coolant is bismuth, the liquid bismuth may be purged from the cooling system before the fluid cools and solidifies so the solidified bismuth does not expand and break the vanes.