Patent ID: 8500396

Claim:
A turbine blade comprising: a hollow airfoil, platform, and integral dovetail; said airfoil including opposite pressure and suction sides extending in span from root to tip and in chord between leading and trailing edges; said tip including first and second ribs extending outwardly from a tip floor along said pressure and suction sides, respectively, and joined together at said leading and trailing edges; and a cascade tip baffle transversely bridging said first and second ribs in a one-piece metal casting above said tip floor forward of the maximum width of said tip to partition said tip chordally into corresponding tip pockets on opposite sides of said baffle wherein said tip baffle is spaced aft from said leading edge along both said first and second ribs to define a forward tip pocket directly behind said leading edge, and said baffle is disposed obliquely to said leading edge to transversely distribute flow streamlines in a cascade aft over said baffle toward said trailing edge wherein said tip baffle obliquely joins said first and second ribs behind said leading edge, and said forward tip pocket diverges in width aft from said leading edge, and an aft tip pocket converges in width between said baffle and trailing edge; and wherein said first and second ribs and tip baffle are coplanar in elevation above said tip floor and fully surround said tip pockets.