Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an axial flow gas turbine having cooling devices for the turbine rotor and its moving blade rings, the cooling air being tapped from the compressor and accelerated in a known manner by a swirl device in the peripheral direction in such a way that it has zero velocity in the peripheral direction relative to cooling-air bores at the turbine rotor through which the cooling air flows into the cooling-air system.
In gas turbines of high performance density, special importance is attached to the cooling of the components subjected to high temperature--these are the blades, in particular the moving blades, which, apart from high temperatures and gas forces, are also subjected to centrifugal forces--and also of the rotor. This is with regard to the efficiency, which, inter alia, depends on the inlet temperature of the fuel gases. The maximum permissible inlet temperature is limited by the durability to be achieved of the thermally stressed components.
Compared with a gas turbine without cooling of these parts, a gas turbine having cooling of the same permits a higher gas inlet temperature, which increases the efficiency and the performance.