Patent ID: 7954324

Claim:
A gas turbine engine comprising: a compressor to compress ambient air; fuel supply apparatus comprising a fuel source, a cooling apparatus including a heat exchanger and first structure for defining a first path for fuel to travel from said fuel source to said heat exchanger and a second path for fuel to travel away from said heat exchanger; a combustor to receive the compressed air from said compressor and the fuel from said heat exchanger, combine the air and fuel to create an air/fuel mixture and ignite the air/fuel mixture to create combustion products; a turbine comprising a plurality of stationary vanes, a plurality of rotatable blades and a rotatable shaft and disc assembly coupled to said blades, said turbine receiving said combustion products from said combustor such that the combustion products expand in said turbine causing said blades and shaft and disc assembly to rotate; and wherein said cooling apparatus further comprises second structure coupled to and extending between said heat exchanger and at least one of said vanes in said turbine for circulating a coolant fluid through said at least one vane and said heat exchanger, said second structure comprising a pipe structure including a first path extending from said at least one vane to said heat exchanger and including a second path extending from said heat exchanger to said at least one vane, said coolant fluid passing through said second path for cooling said at least one vane as said coolant fluid passes through said at least one vane and said coolant fluid passing through said first path providing an exclusive flow of coolant fluid for transferring energy in the form of heat to said fuel as said coolant fluid passes through said heat exchanger.