Axial Cooling Holes
The power generation industry must also react positively towards environmental concerns and the need to improve engine efficiencies. A key factor will be deploying the latest technology gains in aero-engine features to land-based turbines to enhance performance and emissions improvements as well as extending component lifetimes.
IGT Turbine blades will have one or more central cooling channels (between the concave and convex faces) that run from the root, up through the aerofoil, exiting through the tip. The Axial Cooling channels or holes, can have a large hole length to diameter ratio of up to 600:1. Therefore they can only be machined using a process called STEM (Shaped Tube Electrolytic Machining).
Winbro offers this technology to electrochemically remove material (often bi-directionally) in order to produce multiple cooling holes simultaneously and often with turbulator ridges to further improve cooling.