Patent ID: 9562475
Date: 2017-02-07
CPC Classifications: F02C

Claim:
1. A vane carrier temperature control system in a gas turbine engine that includes a compressor section including a plurality of compressor stages, a combustion section, a turbine section including a plurality of turbine stages, and a rotatable rotor, the vane carrier temperature control system comprising: a rotor cooling air source that supplies rotor cooling air to the rotor; a first vane carrier cooling air source that supplies a first portion of vane carrier cooling air extracted from the compressor section to a first section of a vane carrier, the vane carrier supporting a plurality of rows of vanes within the turbine section; a second vane carrier cooling air source that supplies a second portion of vane carrier cooling air extracted from the compressor section to a second section of the vane carrier, the second section being spaced from the first section in an axial direction defined by a direction of hot working gas flow through the turbine section; and an air temperature control system for controlling a temperature of at least one of the first and second portions of vane carrier cooling air, the air temperature control system comprising: wherein the first heat exchanger is upstream from the secondary cooler and the first portion of vane carrier cooling air is used as a coolant to cool the second portion of vane carrier cooling air within the first heat exchanger prior to the second portion of vane carrier cooling air entering the secondary cooler; and the secondary cooler is used to cool the second portion of vane carrier cooling air to a desired temperature if the first portion of vane carrier cooling air does not have the capacity to cool the second portion of vane carrier cooling air in the first heat exchanger all the way down to the desired temperature without the first portion of vane carrier cooling air being heated above a preferred temperature.