Patent ID: 8057163

Claim:
A method of providing for cooling a gas turbine engine, comprising: a. providing for flowing a fluid along at least one first flow path from a first side of a rotor of said gas turbine engine to a second side of said rotor; and b. providing for thermosiphon flow of said fluid within at least one second flow path, wherein said at least one second flow path is in fluid communication with said at least one first flow path, said at least one second flow path is in thermal communication with at least one blade operatively couple to or a part of said rotor; said at least one first flow path is adapted so that said fluid can flow therealong without necessarily flowing along said at least one second flow path, and said at least one second flow path comprises a plurality of said second flow paths within at least one said blade; and c. providing for said plurality of said second flow paths to communicate with one another proximate to a second end of said second flow paths that is near a tip of said at least one blade, distal to a first end that is in communication with said at least one first flow path.