Patent ID: 7273351

Claim:
A component having a film cooling arrangement comprising: a plurality of film cooling holes formed by exits of a plurality of cooling fluid passages formed through a wall of the component, the passages being formed to communicate with a source of cooling fluid in the interior of the component, the passage exits being spaced apart over at least part of the surface of the component, such that, in operation, a cooling film is maintained over the surface by fluid issuing from the passage exits, wherein selected ones of the cooling fluid passages are formed with passage branches in which an additional passage is formed from a point of intersection with an original passage to a new fluid exit hole in the surface of the component, whereby the performance of individual cooling holes is optimized by adjusting a design parameter chosen from a range of parameters comprising blowing rate, momentum flux ratio and suction rate, by adapting a different internal configuration for at least one of the cooling fluid passages compared to remaining passages in either a span-wise or chord-wise direction such that, in use on the basis of a selected performance parameter, all of the film cooling holes reach a chosen level of performance.