Patent ID: 7967566

Claim:
A turbine blade comprising: an airfoil including an airfoil outer wall extending radially outwardly from a blade root to a blade tip; said airfoil outer wall including a pressure sidewall and a suction sidewall, said pressure and suction sidewalls joined together at chordally spaced leading and trailing edges of said airfoil; a pressure side serpentine cooling path extending adjacent said pressure sidewall and comprising a plurality of cavities, each cavity extending in a spanwise direction between said blade root and said blade tip; a suction side serpentine cooling path extending adjacent said suction sidewall and comprising a plurality of cavities, each cavity extending in a spanwise direction between said blade root and said blade tip; a central partition extending chordally from said leading edge through said airfoil and defining an inner surface of each of said cavities of said pressure side cooling path and said suction side cooling path; wherein said pressure side cooling path includes a first pressure side cooling cavity at said leading edge receiving cooling fluid entering said airfoil from a supply of cooling fluid and said pressure side cooling path conducts cooling fluid in a first chordal direction between said leading and trailing edges, and said suction side cooling path conducts cooling fluid in a second chordal direction, opposite said first chordal direction, between said leading and trailing edges; said suction side cooling path includes a first suction side cooling cavity located adjacent to said first pressure side cooling cavity in the chordal direction wherein a chordal portion of said central partition defines an inner surface for both said first pressure side cooling cavity and said first suction side cooling cavity for effecting a transfer of heat from said first suction side cooling cavity through said chordal portion of said central partition to said first pressure side cooling cavity; and a transverse passage extending through said central partition and connecting said pressure side cooling path to said suction side cooling path, and including a trailing edge cavity in fluid communication with said pressure side cooling path, said trailing edge cavity including a plurality of openings for providing cooling fluid to said outer wall at said trailing edge, said transverse passage extending to a cooling cavity in said suction side cooling path from a cooling cavity in said pressure side cooling path adjacent to said trailing edge cavity.