US Patent 9249730 Integrated inducer heat exchanger for gas turbines

An integrated inducer heat exchanger is provided. The integrated inducer heat exchanger includes multiple airfoil devices disposed in an annular array within an inner circular casing and an outer circular casing forming multiple passages for allowing a flow of fluid from a forward side to an aft side of the integrated inducer heat exchanger. The integrated inducer heat exchanger also includes multiple annular manifolds arranged about the outer circular casing configured for supplying a flow of coolant at low temperature from one or more coolant sources and returning the flow of coolant at high temperature to the one or more coolant sources via an external heat exchanger for dissipating heat and multiple transfer tubes connecting the multiple annular manifolds with the multiple airfoil devices for transferring the flow of coolant within the airfoil devices for exchanging heat between the coolant and the fluid passing through the multiple passages.