TY - JOUR
TI - Investigation of enhanced heat transfer in hollow blade by diamond-inspired structure for dehumidification in steam turbine
AU - Ping Yan
AU - Wen Xiaoyuan
AU - Hu Xiaodan
AU - Chen Shuo
AU - Sun Qi
AU - Zhong Zhuhai
AU - Han Pengfei
AU - Wang Cun
AU - Jiang Wei
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2025
VL - 29
IS - 3
SP - 2491
EP - 2506
PT - Article
AB - Wet steam erosion plays a pivotal role in influencing the efficient and safe operation of steam turbines. The dehumidification technique, which combines hollow blade heating and purging, exhibits significant performance in the low pressure, long-blade stages. However, the hollow structure has a pronounced impact on blade strength and often results in low heat transfer efficiency. In this study, we introduce a turbulence generator inspired by the diamond lattice bonding to modify the internal channel structure of hollow long blades. This diamond-inspired structure aims to enhance turbulence within the blades, thereby increasing surface area and heat transfer coefficients, ultimately reducing erosion caused by secondary water droplets on downstream blades. Our findings indicate that incorporating a diamond-inspired structure as a framework within the conventional slot cavity blades results in a notable temperature increase on the blade surfaces. Specifically, at 100% rated flow conditions, the average blade surface temperature rises from 352-357 K. The diamond-inspired structure enhances heat transfer without significantly compromising the blades’ power output. Furthermore, reducing the bond length from 30-20 mm leads to an additional temperature increase from 357- 359 K. This suggests that a denser diamond lattice structure is more favorable for heating the stator blades.