Patent ID: 7390168

Claim:
An airfoil for use in a gas turbine engine, the airfoil having a pressure side and a suction side, and a leading edge and a trailing edge, the airfoil also having an internal coolant supply passage to direct a coolant through the airfoil for cooling and a wall defining an outer airfoil surface, the improvement comprising: A first cylindrical chamber located in the wall of the airfoil; A second cylindrical chamber located in the wall of the airfoil; A radially spaced slot fluidly connecting the internal coolant supply passage to the first cylindrical chamber; A film cooling slot to fluidly connect the second cylindrical chamber to an external surface of the airfoil; Coolant fluid connecting means to fluidly connect the first cylindrical chamber to the second cylindrical chamber; and, The radially spaced slot and the coolant fluid connecting means being radially offset from each other in order to promote a vortex flow of the coolant within the first and second cylindrical chambers.