GAS TURBINE
20200003129 ยท 2020-01-02
Inventors
- Dominic Boniface (Berlin, DE)
- Andrew SWIFT (Staffordshire, GB)
- Stewart THORNTON (Derby, GB)
- Paul SIMMS (Leicester, GB)
- Glenn KNIGHT (Belper, GB)
- Geoff HUGHES (Bristol, GB)
Cpc classification
F02C7/36
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F05D2260/4031
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02C3/107
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F05D2220/327
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02C7/06
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02K3/06
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F05D2250/311
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F05D2260/941
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F05D2260/96
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F05D2260/40311
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F05D2220/326
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
Y02T50/60
GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
International classification
F02C7/36
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02C3/107
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02K3/06
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F01D25/16
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
Abstract
The invention relates to a gas turbine engine, in particular an aircraft engine, comprising: a turbine connected via an input shaft device to a gearbox device having a sun gear, a planet carrier having a plurality of planet gears attached thereto, and a ring gear, the sun gear is connected to the input shaft device, the planet carrier or the ring gear is connected to a propulsive fan via an output shaft device of the gearbox device, with an inter-shaft bearing system being positioned radially between the input shaft device and the planet carrier of the gearbox device.
Claims
1. A gas turbine engine, in particular an aircraft engine, comprising: a turbine connected via an input shaft device to a gearbox device having a sun gear, a planet carrier having a plurality of planet gears attached thereto, and a ring gear, the sun gear is connected to the input shaft device, the planet carrier or the ring gear is connected to a propulsive fan via an output shaft device of the gearbox device, with an inter-shaft bearing system being positioned radially between the input shaft device and the planet carrier of the gearbox device, with a carrier bearing system being located radially between the input shaft device and a static structure supporting the carrier bearing system, the support connection being axially in front of the input side of the gearbox device.
2. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein the inter-shaft bearing system is located axially within or in front of a low-pressure compressor or an intermediate compressor.
3. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein the inter-shaft bearing system is axially adjacent to the gearbox device on the input and/or the output side, in particular with an axial distance measured from the centreline of the gearbox between 0.001 and 4 times the inner radius of the inter-shaft bearing system.
4. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein the inter-shaft bearing device comprises at least one ball bearing.
5. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein a fan shaft bearing system is radially located between a fan shaft as part of the output shaft device and a static structure, in particular a static front cone structure, in particular the fan shaft bearing system being axially positioned within the width of the propulsive fan or axially behind it.
6. The gas turbine of claim 5, wherein the fan shaft bearing system has an outer diameter between 0.05 to 0.35 the diameter of the propulsive fan, in particular between 0.1 and 0.3 times the diameter of the propulsive fan.
7. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein the carrier bearing system comprises at least one roller bearing.
8. The gas turbine of claim 7, wherein the carrier bearing system is axially adjacent to the gearbox device on the input side or output side, in particular with an axial distance measured from the centreline of the gearbox between 0.1 and 4 times the inner radius of the inter-shaft bearing system.
9. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein in the planet carrier comprises a seat element extending axially to the front and/or the rear of the gearbox device providing a radial seat for the inter-shaft bearing system and/or the carrier bearing system.
10. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein the inter-shaft bearing system and the carrier bearing system are essentially located in one vertical plane or have an axial offset between 0.1 and 4 times the inner radius of the inter-shaft bearing system.
11. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein an input shaft bearing system is radially located between the input shaft device and a static structure, in particular a static rear structure, the input shaft bearing system in particular comprising at least one roller bearing.
12. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein the output shaft device comprises at least one axial cross-section with a conical, sigmoidal or logarithmical shape.
13. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein the output shaft device comprises a curvic or a spline coupling.
14. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein the load path for force and/or torque from the driving turbine to the propulsive fan exclusively extends via the input shaft device, the gearbox device and the output shaft device, in particular without a through shaft extending through the gearbox device.
15. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein the ring gear is rigidly connected to the static front cone structure.
16. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein the gearbox device comprises an epicyclic gearbox with the ring gear being fixed relative to the other parts of the gearbox device and the output shaft device being connected to the planet carrier.
17. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein the gearbox device comprises a planetary gearbox in star arrangement with the planet carrier fixed relative to the other parts of the gearbox device and the output shaft device being connected to the ring gear.
18. The gas turbine of claim 1, wherein the input shaft device comprises a bent section with folded back part of the shaft and/or a corrugated section with corrugations around the circumference of the shaft.
Description
[0067] Embodiments will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the Figures, in which:
[0068]
[0069]
[0070]
[0071]
[0072]
[0073]
[0074]
[0075]
[0076]
[0077]
[0078] In use, the core airflow A is accelerated and compressed by the low-pressure compressor 14 and directed into the high-pressure compressor 15 where further compression takes place. The compressed air exhausted from the high-pressure compressor 15 is directed into the combustion equipment 16 where it is mixed with fuel and the mixture is combusted. The resultant hot combustion products then expand through, and thereby drive, the high-pressure and low-pressure turbines 17, 19 before being exhausted through the nozzle 20 to provide some propulsive thrust. The high-pressure turbine 17 drives the high-pressure compressor 15 by a suitable interconnecting shaft 27. The fan 23 generally provides the majority of the propulsive thrust. The epicyclic gearbox 30 is a reduction gearbox.
[0079] An exemplary arrangement for a geared fan gas turbine engine 10 is shown in
[0080] Note that the terms low pressure turbine and low pressure compressor as used herein may be taken to mean the lowest pressure turbine stages and lowest pressure compressor stages (i.e. not including the fan 23) respectively and/or the turbine and compressor stages that are connected together by the interconnecting shaft 26 with the lowest rotational speed in the engine (i.e. not including the gearbox output shaft that drives the fan 23). In some literature, the low pressure turbine and low pressure compressor referred to herein may alternatively be known as the intermediate pressure turbine and intermediate pressure compressor. Where such alternative nomenclature is used, the fan 23 may be referred to as a first, or lowest pressure, compression stage.
[0081] The epicyclic gearbox 30 is shown by way of example in greater detail in
[0082] The epicyclic gearbox 30 illustrated by way of example in
[0083] It will be appreciated that the arrangement shown in
[0084] Accordingly, the present disclosure extends to a gas turbine engine having any arrangement of gearbox styles (for example star or planetary), support structures, input and output shaft arrangement, and bearing locations.
[0085] Optionally, the gearbox may drive additional and/or alternative components (e.g. the intermediate pressure compressor and/or a booster compressor).
[0086] Other gas turbine engines to which the present disclosure may be applied may have alternative configurations. For example, such engines may have an alternative number of compressors and/or turbines and/or an alternative number of interconnecting shafts. By way of further example, the gas turbine engine shown in
[0087] The geometry of the gas turbine engine 10, and components thereof, is defined by a conventional axis system, comprising an axial direction (which is aligned with the rotational axis 9), a radial direction (in the bottom-to-top direction in
[0088] In
[0089] The drive train comprises an input shaft device 50 (e.g. comprising the shaft 26 shown in
[0090] Therefore, the input torque is transmitted from the input shaft device 50 to the sun gear 28 of the gearbox device 30, and to some extent to the ring gear mount. The planet carrier 34 transmits the output torque (at a reduced rotational speed) to the output gear device 60 and eventually to the propulsive fan 23.
[0091] The input shaft device 50 and the output shaft device 60 are here shown in a simplified manner. It is possible that the shape of the shaft devices 50, 60 can be more complex and comprises more than one piece.
[0092] The shafting arrangement of the embodiment shown in
[0093] The first bearing to be described is an inter-shaft bearing system 70 being positioned radially between the input shaft device 50 and the planet carrier 34. This inter-shaft bearing system 70 here comprises one ball bearing. In alternative embodiments, more than one ball bearing (e.g. double bearings, two bearings of different design) or other bearing designs can be used. It is also possible that different bearings of the inter-shaft bearing system 70 are positioned at different locations.
[0094] The inter-shaft bearing system 70 is, in the embodiment shown in
[0095] The inter-shaft bearing system 70 is, in this embodiment, axially adjacent to the gearbox device 30 on the input side. The axial distance between the inter-shaft bearing system 70 to the gearbox device 30 can e.g. be between 0.001 and 4 times the inner radius of the inter-shaft bearing system 70. This could be in the range of 1 to 100 mm measured from the axial front side of the inter-shaft bearing system 70 to a centreline 31 of the gearbox device 30.
[0096] The fan axial load is transferred via the fan-shaft bearing system 80 (roller bearing), via the gearbox device 30 and into the input-shaft bearing 95 towards the rear. With this arrangement the support structures of the bearings can be reduced.
[0097] The similar load path would apply when the inter-shaft bearing system 70 would comprise a roller bearing and the carrier bearing system 90 would comprise a ball bearing (i.e. inverse situation to the embodiment of
[0098] If both, the inter-shaft bearing system 70 and the carrier bearing system 90, would comprise roller bearings, the fan axial load would be transferred via the static front cone section 81 and the ESS. In this case the gearbox device would not carry an axial load.
[0099] This inter-shaft bearing system 70 locates the propulsive fan 23 and transmits axial loads towards a further bearing system towards the rear of the gearbox device 30, the input shaft bearing system 95. This bearing system is radially located between the input shaft device 50 and a static rear structure 96. In the embodiment shown here, the input shaft bearing system 95 comprises at least one ball bearing. In alternative embodiments, more than one roller bearing (e.g. double bearings, two bearings of different design) or other bearing designs can be used. In a further alternative, it would be possible to transfer the fan axial load via the bearing 90 and the rear cone structure. The inter-shaft bearing 70 would then transfer only radial load to control the gears relative displacements.
[0100] At the input side of the gearbox device 30 a further bearing system, the carrier bearing system 90, is located; the carrier bearing system 90 in this case could also be rear carrier bearing system 90. The carrier bearing system 90 is positioned axially to the rear of the inter-shaft bearing 70.
[0101] It is possible that there is an axial offset between 0.1 and 4 times the inner radius of the inter-shaft bearing system 70.
[0102] In other embodiments, the inter-shaft bearing system 70 and the carrier bearing system 90 can be positioned in the same plane.
[0103] The radial seat on the inner diameter is a structure coupled to the planet carrier 34 or the planet carrier 34 itself, such as the seat element 39 axially extending into the rear part of the engine 10. The radial seat of the carrier bearing system 90 is connected to a static cone structure 91 at the support connection 92.
[0104] The axial distance between the carrier bearing system 90 measured from the centreline 41 of the gearbox device 30, can be between 0.1 and 4 times the inner radius of the inter-shaft bearing system 70. That can be between 1 mm and 400 mm.
[0105] The support connection 92 is positioned axially in front of the input side of the gearbox 30 device. This results a compact overall structure.
[0106] On the output side of the gearbox device 30, the output shaft device 60 only has one bearing system, a fan shaft bearing system 80. The radial inner seat of that bearing system is on the fan shaft 61, being a part of the output shaft device 60. The radial outer seat of the fan shaft bearing system 80 is connected to a static front cone structure 81. In the embodiment shown a roller bearing is used in the fan shaft bearing system 80. In alternative embodiments, more than one roller bearing (e.g. double bearings, two bearings of different design) or other bearing designs can be used. It would be possible to install a ball bearing and transfer the axial load to the fan 13 via the static front cone structure 81.
[0107] In the embodiment described herein, the fan shaft bearing system 80 can have an outer diameter between 0.05 to 0.35 times the diameter of the propulsive fan 13. This range can be between 175 and 1250 mm.
[0108] In an alternative embodiment (e.g.
[0109] The output shaft device 60 in the embodiment shown in
[0110] In the embodiment shown in
[0111] The ring gear 38 is rigidly connected to the static front cone structure 81 but alternatively, it can be connected to a different static part within the engine 10.
[0112] The shafting arrangement described in connection with
[0113] In the embodiment shown in
[0114] In the embodiment of
[0115] The input shaft device 50 can also be designed to be so stiff (see
[0116] In
[0117] In
[0118] Like in the other embodiment, the input shaft device 50 is a flexible structure and the fan shaft 61 is a rigid structure. The support connection 92 of the carrier bearing system is positioned axially in front of the input side of the gearbox device 30.
[0119] This embodiment differs e.g. in the connection of the output shaft device 60 to the propulsive fan 23. The fan shaft bearing system 80 is located in a plane which is axially behind the propulsive fan 23. Compared to the embodiment in
[0120] In
[0121] The embodiment shown in
[0122] The static front cone structure 81 is connected to the wall of the bypass duct 22 where a second strut 94 extending across the bypass duct 22 has a connection. Here, the front cone structure 82 and the second strut 94 are essentially collinear (e.g. less than 10 deviation from a straight line). The load from the static front cone structure 81 can be directed towards other parts of the gas turbine engine 10.
[0123] The positions of the front cone structure 81, the static structure 91 and/or the struts 93, 94 relative to each other can be used in connection with the other embodiments as well.
[0124] The struts 93, 94 and the vanes can be coupled with a de-icing device 97 which can e.g. be fed by hot scavenge oil from the gearbox device 30. In
[0125] In
[0126] As a difference to the embodiment shown in
[0127] The axial distance between the centreline of the propulsive fan 23 and the fan shaft bearing system 81 (also measured from its centreline) is denoted as A.
[0128] The axial distance between the centrelines of the fan shaft bearing system 81 and the inter-shaft bearing system 70 is denoted as B.
[0129] The axial distance between the centreline of the propulsive fan 23 and the front carrier bearing system 98 (also measured at the centreline) is denoted as C.
[0130] The axial distance between the centreline of the front carrier bearing system 98 to the rear carrier system 90 is denoted as D.
[0131] Certain geometric relationships are found to be particularly effective.
[0132] Ratio of A/Diameter of propulsive fan: 0.02 to 0.15, in particular 0.04 to 0.1, more in particular 0.05 to 0.08.
[0133] Ratio of B/Diameter of propulsive fan: 0.5 to 0.9, in particular 0.6 to 0.8, more in particular 0.6 to 0.64.
[0134] Ratio of C/Diameter of propulsive fan: 0.15 to 0.4, in particular 0.2 to 0.35.
[0135] Ratio of D/Diameter of propulsive fan: 0.2 to 0.4, in particular 0.2 to 0.5.
[0136] It is understood that all these ratios can be applied to all embodiments described herein, as far as applicable (e.g. C and D not present in all embodiments).
[0137] It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments above-described and various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the concepts described herein. Except, where mutually exclusive, any of the features may be employed separately or in combination with any other features and the disclosure extends to and includes all combinations and sub-combinations of one or more features described herein.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS
[0138] A core airflow [0139] B bypass airflow [0140] 9 principal rotational axis [0141] 10 gas turbine engine [0142] 11 engine core [0143] 12 air intake [0144] 14 low-pressure compressor [0145] 15 high-pressure compressor [0146] 16 combustion equipment [0147] 17 high-pressure turbine [0148] 18 bypass exhaust nozzle [0149] 19 low-pressure turbine [0150] 20 core exhaust nozzle [0151] 21 nacelle [0152] 22 bypass duct [0153] 23 propulsive fan [0154] 24 stationary support structure [0155] 26 shaft [0156] 27 interconnecting shaft [0157] 28 sun gear [0158] 30 gearbox (gearbox device) [0159] 32 planet gears [0160] 34 planet carrier [0161] 36 linkages [0162] 38 ring gear [0163] 39 seat element [0164] 40 linkages [0165] 41 centreline gearbox [0166] 50 input shaft device (sun shaft) [0167] 51 bent section in input shaft [0168] 52 corrugated section in input shaft [0169] 60 output shaft device [0170] 61 fan shaft [0171] 62 conical section [0172] 63 gearbox device oil feed [0173] 70 inter-shaft bearing system [0174] 70 second part of the inter-shaft bearing system [0175] 80 fan shaft bearing system [0176] 81 static front cone structure [0177] 90 carrier bearing system [0178] 91 static structure [0179] 92 support connection [0180] 95 input shaft bearing system [0181] 96 static rear structure [0182] 97 de-icing device