US 12,078,081 B1
Airfoil with CMC ply cutouts for cooling channels
Jonas Banhos, West Hartford, CT (US); Russell Kim, Temecula, CA (US); and James T. Roach, Vernon, CT (US)
Assigned to RTX CORPORATION, Farmington, CT (US)
Filed by RAYTHEON TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION, Farmington, CT (US)
Filed on May 9, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/195,149.
Int. Cl. F01D 5/28 (2006.01); F01D 5/18 (2006.01); C04B 35/80 (2006.01)
CPC F01D 5/284 (2013.01) [F01D 5/187 (2013.01); F01D 5/282 (2013.01); C04B 35/80 (2013.01); F05D 2300/6033 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An airfoil comprising:
an airfoil wall circumscribing a main cavity and defining radially inner and outer ends, leading and trailing edges, and pressure and suction sides, the airfoil wall including a lay-up of ceramic matrix composite (CMC) plies spanning the radially inner and outer ends and having an inner-most CMC ply bounding at least a portion of the main cavity, an exterior skin CMC ply, and intermediate CMC plies between the inner-most CMC ply and the exterior skin CMC ply, at least one of the intermediate CMC plies having cutout voids that define cooling channels in the airfoil wall, the cooling channels being bound on lateral channel sides by the at least one of the intermediate CMC plies, bound on an inner channel side by a first adjacent one of the CMC plies, and bound on an outer channel side by a second, different adjacent one of the CMC plies, the cooling channels arranged in a plurality of rows, the plurality of rows including a first row adjacent the inner-most CMC ply, a second row adjacent the exterior skin CMC ply, and an intermediate row between the first and second rows in a thickness direction through the airfoil wall, the airfoil wall including intra-connection channels that connect the cooling channels in the intermediate row to each other, and inter-connection channels that connect the cooling channels in the intermediate row to the cooling channels in the second row.