Patent ID: 8870537

Claim:
A turbine airfoil comprising: a pressure side wall and a suction side wall connected to each other along leading and trailing edges; a cavity disposed between the pressure and suction side walls; a continuous serpentine cooling flow path formed by first and second inner walls in the cavity; wherein: the continuous serpentine cooling flow path routes a coolant flow in the following sequence as seen in a transverse section of the airfoil: a) a cooling inlet channel that extends span-wise along at least a portion of the pressure side wall; b) a forward pressure side near-wall channel along a forward portion of the pressure side wall; c) a leading edge near-wall channel; d) a forward suction side near-wall channel along a forward portion of the suction side wall; and e) a loop channel routed between the first and second inner walls; the cooling inlet channel, as seen in the transverse section, is adjacent to the pressure side wall at position between 30% and 70% of a chord length from the leading edge of the airfoil; the first inner wall comprises a first end joined to an inner surface of the pressure side wall at a position between 50% and 75% of a chord length from the leading edge; the cavity is partitioned by one or more transverse partitions into a plurality of continuous serpentine cooling flow streams each having a respective coolant inlet; and the first inner wall extends span-wise along at least a portion of the airfoil.