Patent ID: 7870742

Claim:
A gas turbine engine comprising: a multistage axial compressor including rows of compressor blades for pressurizing air; an annular combustor disposed in flow communication with said compressor for mixing fuel with said pressurized air to generate combustion gases; a high pressure (HP) turbine including a row of first stage HP turbine blades having dovetails mounted in corresponding dovetail slots in the perimeter of a supporting HP rotor disk joined by a shaft to said compressor blades; said HP disk including a web extending inwardly from said perimeter with a forward face terminating in a wider hub, and a forward seal plate extending radially along said forward face to define an annular manifold in flow communication with said dovetail slots; and an interstage cooling circuit joined in flow communication from a bleed inlet extending radially inwardly between adjacent rows of said compressor blades in an intermediate stage of said compressor to said manifold for channeling interstage bleed cooling air thereto.