Patent ID: 7435053

Claim:
A turbine blade, comprising: a generally elongated blade having a leading edge, a trailing edge, a tip section at a first end, a root coupled to the blade at an end generally opposite the first end for supporting the blade and for coupling the blade to a disc, and at least one cavity forming a cooling system in the blade; at least one first serpentine trailing edge cooling channel that is at least a three pass channel positioned proximate to the trailing edge of the generally elongated blade for receiving cooling fluids from a cooling fluid source, passing the cooling fluids through the at least one first serpentine trailing edge cooling channel, and exhausting the cooling fluids through the trailing edge of the blade; and at least one second serpentine trailing edge cooling channel that is at least a three pass channel positioned proximate to the trailing edge of the generally elongated blade and in parallel with the at least one first serpentine trailing edge cooling channel for receiving cooling fluids from a cooling fluid source, passing the cooling fluids through the at least one second serpentine trailing edge cooling channel, and exhausting the cooling fluids through the trailing edge of the blade; at least one third serpentine trailing edge cooling channel that is at least a three pass channel positioned proximate to the trailing edge of the generally elongated blade and parallel with the at least one first and second serpentine trailing edge cooling channels for receiving cooling fluids from a cooling fluid source, passing the cooling fluids through the at least one third serpentine trailing edge cooling channel, and exhausting the cooling fluids through the trailing edge of the blade; wherein the at least one second serpentine trailing edge cooling channel is positioned between the at least one first and the at least one third serpentine trailing edge cooling channels and is a five pass serpentine cooling channel, and the at least one first and the at least one third serpentine trailing edge cooling channels are three pass serpentine cooling channels.