Patent ID: 8176720

Claim:
An air cooled component for use in a combustion turbine engine, the air cooled component comprising: a cooling air inlet wherein a volume of cooling air enters the air cooled component; a centrifugal particle separator that receives and separates the volume of cooling air into a filtered portion and an unfiltered portion, the centrifugal particle separator being arranged within the air cooled component and proximate the cooling air inlet, comprising; a substantially cylindrical body; a separator inlet arranged on a periphery of the substantially cylindrical body; a conical portion arranged near a first end of the centrifugal particle separator; an outlet tube arranged near a second end of the centrifugal particle separator that receives the filtered portion, wherein particles having a particle size greater than or equal to a minimum particle size have been removed from the filtered portion by the centrifugal particle separator; a cooling air network arranged within the air cooled component and receiving the filtered portion of the volume of cooling air, the cooling air network comprising a plurality of flow channels having a cross sectional size reduced by an amount proportional to the minimum particle size removed from the filtered portion of the volume of cooling air; and an air outlet in communication with the conical portion that receives the unfiltered portion of the volume of cooling air and exhausts the unfiltered portion from the cooled component to the flow-path.