Patent ID: 8016564

Claim:
An air cooled turbine rotor blade comprising: an airfoil having an airfoil cross sectional shape with a leading edge and a trailing edge, and a pressure side wall and a suction side wall both extending between the two edges; a first aft flowing 3-pass serpentine flow cooling circuit with a first leg located adjacent to a leading edge region of the airfoil; a leading edge impingement cavity located along the leading edge of the airfoil; a row of metering and impingement holes connecting the first leg of the first aft flowing 3-pass serpentine flow cooling circuit to the leading edge impingement cavity; and, a second aft flowing 3-pass serpentine flow cooling circuit with a first leg being the leading edge impingement cavity and the second and third legs being located in the trailing edge region of the airfoil to supply cooling air to a trailing edge region cooling circuit.