Aircraft turbomachine with reduction gear

Abstract

An aircraft turbomachine with a reduction gear has a first shaft and a second shaft having one same axis of rotation, the second shaft being rotationally driven by the first shaft via the reduction gear, the first shaft having elastically deformable means having bellows section(s) and being connected to the reduction gear by a connecting system likewise having elastically deformable means involving a hairpin or bellows section(s).

Claims

1. An aircraft turbomachine with a reduction gear, comprising: a first shaft and a second shaft having a same axis of rotation, the second shaft being driven in rotation via the reduction gear by the first shaft, the first shaft comprising first elastically deformable means comprising at least one first annular bellow extending around the axis of rotation, wherein the first shaft comprises a portion coupled to the reduction gear by a connecting system comprising an input shaft, the input shaft comprising first splines for coupling to the reduction gear and second splines for coupling to third splines complementary to said portion of the first shaft, said second and third splines being located upstream of the reduction gear, said portion of the first shaft having a tubular shape around the axis of rotation, said portion of the first shaft comprising a downstream part comprising the at least one first bellow and a cylindrical upstream part which is surrounded by the input shaft, the input shaft comprising at least one annular part which extends around the axis and which has a U- or C-shaped cross-section and defines an annular opening around the axis, the annular part forming second elastically deformable means.

2. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein the at least one annular part with a U- or C-shaped cross-section defines an annular opening which opens in a direction of the axis of rotation.

3. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein the at least one first bellow extends radially between a first diameter equal to that of the third splines and a second diameter equal to that of the first splines.

4. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein the input shaft comprises an external annular leg for coupling to the reduction gear, and an internal annular leg for coupling to the cylindrical upstream part of the first shaft.

5. The turbomachine according to claim 4, wherein the internal and external annular legs are connected to each other by an annular web having a thinning in thickness at its connection to the external leg.

6. The turbomachine according to claim 4, wherein the external annular leg has at least one of a downstream end located facing an upstream end of the at least one first bellow, or a diameter which is greater than an external diameter of the at least one first bellow.

7. The turbomachine according to claim 4, wherein at least one part of the at least one first bellow is surrounded by the external annular leg.

8. The turbomachine according to claim 4, wherein the inner annular leg extends upstream beyond a web and carries external annular sealing elements which cooperate by labyrinth effect with an inner periphery of an annular cowl carried by the second shaft.

9. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein said first elastically deformable means comprise more than two first annular bellows extending around the axis of rotation.

10. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein the at least one annular part with a U- or C-shaped cross-section defines an annular opening which opens radially inwards, the at least one annular part forming a second bellow.

11. The turbomachine according to claim 10, wherein the at least one first bellow is located downstream of the reduction gear, and the second bellow is located upstream of the reduction gear.

12. The turbomachine according to claim 10, wherein the at least one annular part is an intermediate axial part of the input shaft which comprises an upstream cylindrical part comprising the second splines and a downstream cylindrical part comprising the first splines.

13. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein at least some of the first, second, or third splines have truncated longitudinal ends.

14. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein at least some of the first, second, or third splines comprise curved side faces.

15. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein the first bellow comprises an annular bottom which comprises a plurality of oil passage orifices.

16. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein the first shaft is a low pressure compressor shaft.

17. A method of mounting the aircraft turbomachine according to claim 1, comprising: connecting the second shaft, which is a fan shaft, to an output shaft of the reduction gear and axially engaging on fan shaft bearings and supports of the fan shaft bearings; engaging an input shaft axially inside the reduction gear until the first splines of the input shaft cooperate with splines of a sun gear of the reduction gear; securing the fan shaft, the output shaft, and the input shaft in an intermediate casing; mounting means for supplying oil to the fan shaft bearings, and engaging the first shaft by axial translation in the input shaft until they are coupled by the second and third splines and fixing the supports of the fan shaft bearings to the intermediate casing.

18. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein said second elastically deformable means are located upstream of the reduction gear.

19. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein the entire axial extent of the input shaft surrounds said first shaft.

20. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein said second splines are located at an upstream end of the input shaft and said third splines are located at an upstream end of the first shaft.

21. The turbomachine according to claim 1, wherein said second splines and said third splines are located upstream of said second elastically deformable means, wherein said second elastically deformable means are located upstream of the reduction gear.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

(1) The invention shall be better understood and other details, features and advantages of the invention shall appear when reading the following description made by way of non-limitative example and with reference to the annexed drawings in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic axial cross-sectional view of an aircraft turbomachine with reduction gear,

(3) FIG. 2 is a half schematic view on a larger scale of a part of FIG. 1 and represents the technique prior to the invention,

(4) FIG. 3 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2 and represents a schematic embodiment of the invention,

(5) FIG. 4 is a larger scale view of part of FIG. 3 and illustrates a more concrete example of the embodiment of the invention,

(6) FIGS. 5 to 9 are similar views to FIG. 3 and illustrate steps in the mounting of the turbomachine,

(7) FIG. 10 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2 and represents a schematic embodiment of the invention,

(8) FIG. 11 is a schematic view of the alternative embodiment of FIG. 10,

(9) FIG. 11a is a detailed view of splines of the alternative embodiment of FIG. 10,

(10) FIG. 12 is a view similar to that of FIG. 10 and showing the lubricating oil circulation, and

(11) FIG. 13 is a partial schematic perspective view of a detail of the embodiment of FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(12) Referring to FIG. 1, we see a turbomachine 1 with reduction gear, which conventionally consists of a fan S, a low-pressure compressor 1a, a high-pressure compressor 1b, a combustor chamber 1c, a high-pressure turbine 1d and a low-pressure turbine 1e. The rotors of the high-pressure compressor 1b and of the high-pressure turbine 1d are connected by a high-pressure shaft 5 and form a high-pressure (HP) body with it.

(13) The rotors of the low-pressure compressor 1a and the low-pressure turbine 1e are connected by a low-pressure shaft 4 and form a low-pressure (LP) body. The shaft 3 of the fan S is driven via a reduction gear 7 by the LP shaft 4.

(14) The HP 5 and LP 4 shafts extend along an axis which is the axis of rotation of the turbomachine 1. In the rest of the description, the notions of longitudinal or radial, and inside or outside, are relative to this axis and the notions of upstream and downstream refer to the flow of gases in the turbomachine.

(15) The turbomachine 1 comprises structural casings. The HP body is held by two structural casings: the inter-compressor casing and the inter-turbine casing, and the LP body is held by at least two structural casings: the intermediate casing 2 and the inter-turbine casing and/or the exhaust casing 6.

(16) The intermediate casing 2 supports bearings of the LP turbine shaft 4 which are housed in a front or upstream enclosure marked E1. The exhaust casing 6 supports bearings of the LP turbine shaft 4 which are housed in a rear or downstream enclosure marked E2.

(17) The reduction gear 7 is here of the epicyclic type. FIG. 2 shows the dimensions of the reduction gear very schematically. The reduction gear 7 comprises an input shaft 8 extending upstream of the LP 4 shaft and which is guided by a downstream bearing 10.

(18) More precisely, the input shaft 8 comprises an axial end, here upstream, which is engaged in the reduction gear 7 and meshed with a sun gear of the reduction gear, which in turn is meshed with the planet gears of the reduction gear. The input shaft 8 has its downstream end engaged with the shaft 15 of the low pressure compressor which is itself engaged with the shaft 4. The bearing 10 extends here around the shaft 15.

(19) The output torque of the reduction gear 7 is transmitted to the fan shaft 3 via a conventional connection, e.g. by fastening this fan shaft to the planet carrier forming an output shaft of the reduction gear, in the case of an epicyclic reduction gear. In the case of a planetary reduction gear, the fan shaft would be driven by the ring gear. The reduction gear is placed inside the front lubrication enclosure E1.

(20) The enclosure E1 consists of fixed and movable walls. The fixed walls of the enclosure E1 comprise an inner wall of the primary flow path, an upstream bearing support 11 and a downstream bearing support 12. The supports 11 and 12 extend towards the inside of the turbomachine and carry the bearings 13 and the bearing 10 respectively. They provide the structure between the casings and the fixed external rings of the bearings. The moving walls of the enclosure E1 comprise the inlet shaft 8 and fan shaft 3. The bearings 10, 13, 14 are housed in the enclosure E1. Seals, not visible in the diagrams, are provided between the fixed and movable walls and are e.g. labyrinth joints, brush joints, segmented radial joints, etc.

(21) The bearings 10, 13 and 14 as well as the reduction gear 7 are lubricated for proper operation. The oil is supplied by suitable means such as nozzles, oil supply ducts, etc. The bearing support 11 has ventilation holes which allow ventilation air to pass through from the enclosure. The enclosure E1 is configured so that the air-oil mixture, which forms an oil mist inside the enclosure, is contained therein. Between the rotor and stator walls of the enclosure, for example here at the upstream and downstream ends of the enclosure, seals (such as labyrinths) are placed to contain the oil, and an air circuit pressurizes these seals to prevent oil leakage. The sealing means can be between a movable wall and a fixed wall of the enclosure or between two movable walls, as in the case of a seal between two shafts, and in particular between the shafts 3, 8 (visible in FIG. 3). A gas flow is taken from the LP or HP compressor of the turbomachine and feeds all the seals of the enclosure E1.

(22) The enclosure E1 is then pressurised (air is continuously entering therein, pushing back the oil that may have escaped from the seals by capillary action) and the bearings operate in a mixed oil and air environment. The oil remains contained in the lubrication circuit. The supply of the bearings are provided by a supply tube 25 and the recovery is ensured by a specific recovery tube generally located at a low point in the enclosure. To avoid overpressure in the enclosure, and to allow a constant flow of incoming air, the inside of the enclosure is pressurised with air at a lower pressure than the pressure of the air entering the seals. This air loaded with oil particles, which is evacuated at the level of a pressure well, must first be treated to recover almost all of the oil it carries. To do this, the oiled air will be brought to an oil separator which will separate the air from the oil it carries and discharge the reject the oil-free air outside the engine. This is the principle of removing oil from an enclosure.

(23) FIG. 2 represents the technique prior to the invention in which the input shaft 8 of the reduction gear 2 comprises elastically deformable means, here with bellows 16, giving a certain flexibility to the shaft 8 and thus to the connection system between the shafts 4, 15 and the reduction gear 7.

(24) However, in order to respect the high flexibility values of the shaft 8, it would be necessary to provide several adjacent bellows, which would result in excessive radial and axial dimensions and would prohibit its integration in the turbomachine.

(25) FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which the connection system between the shafts 4, 15 and the reduction gear 7 comprises deformable means with bellows 16 and hairpin 17.

(26) The bellow(s) 16 are here carried by a shaft portion 15a of the shaft 15, which is advantageously formed in one piece with the latter. The hairpin 17 is formed by the input shaft 8 and extends radially between the shaft portion 15a and the reduction gear 7.

(27) The bellows 16 can extend on one side of the reduction gear 7, here downstream, and the hairpin connection can extend on the other side of the reduction gear, here upstream. As can be seen in FIG. 3, the bellows can extend partly radially inside the reduction gear 7.

(28) Reference is now made to FIG. 4, which represents a more concrete example of the embodiment of the invention.

(29) The portion 15a of the shaft 15 has a generally tubular shape around the axis of the turbomachine, and comprises a downstream part 15ab comprising the bellows(s) 16 and a substantially cylindrical upstream part 15aa which is at least partly surrounded by the input shaft 8. This upstream part 15aa comprises at an upstream end of the coupling splines 18 which are engaged in complementary coupling splines 19 of the input shaft 8.

(30) In the example shown, the number of bellows 16 is greater than two. The bellows are preferably identical.

(31) The portion 15a comprises an external diameter defined by the maximum diameter DM of the bellows 16, and an internal diameter defined by the minimum diameter Dm of these bellows. The downstream part 15ab is connected to the rest of the shaft 15 by a cylindrical wall of maximum diameter DM, and the upstream part 15aa has a diameter Dm.

(32) The input shaft 8 comprises an external annular leg 8b for coupling to the reduction gear 7, and an internal annular leg 8a for coupling to the portion 15a of the shaft 15. The external leg 8b thus comprises splines 20 for coupling to the sun gear of the reduction gear and its internal leg 8a comprises the above-mentioned splines 19.

(33) The legs 8a, 8b are connected to each other by an annular web 21 located upstream and having a thinning of thickness 22 at the level of its connection to the external leg 8a. The web 21 may have a radial cross-sectional orientation, extending from the downstream to the upstream radially outwards.

(34) As shown in the drawings, the external leg 8b has a downstream end located near an upstream end of the bellows 16. This external leg 8b has a diameter which is larger than the diameter DM. In the case where the number of bellows 16 is large, as in the example shown, or if these bellows have a large cumulative axial dimension, they can be housed at least partly in the annular space E bounded by the external leg 8b.

(35) Preferably, the internal leg 8a extends the upstream beyond the web 21 and carries external annular sealing elements 23 which cooperate by labyrinth effect with the internal periphery of an annular cowl 24 carried by the fan shaft 3 (see FIG. 3). The sealing elements 23 thus form the sealing means of the enclosure E1, here between the shafts 3 and 8.

(36) Reference is now lade to FIGS. 5 to 9, which show the mounting steps of the turbomachine.

(37) The first step illustrated in FIG. 5 consists of connecting the fan shaft 3 to the output shaft of the reduction gear and axially engaging 11 on the fan shaft the bearings 13, 14 and their support 11.

(38) The input shaft 8 of the reduction gear is then engaged axially inside the reduction gear until its splines 20 cooperate with those of the sun gear of the reduction gear (FIG. 6).

(39) The assembly is then mounted in the intermediate casing 2 of the turbomachine and secured to this casing by suitable means, e.g. by means of flanges 2a and a set of screw nuts (FIG. 7).

(40) The means 25 for supplying oil to the lubrication enclosure E1 of the reduction gear 7 are then fitted (FIG. 8).

(41) Finally, the shafts 4 and 15 are engaged by axial translation from downstream, the shaft 15 being intended to be engaged in the shaft 8 until their splines 18, 19 engage in one another. The bearing support 12 is then attached to the intermediate casing 2 by suitable means, e.g. by means of flanges 2b and a set of screw nuts (FIG. 9).

(42) The deformable means according to the invention provide the connection system between the shafts 4, 15 and the reduction gear 7 with optimised flexibility, in particular in the axial, radial and bending directions. By way of example, the radial flexibility can be of the order of 2×10.sup.−8 m/N to 2.10.sup.−5 m/N and preferably 2.10.sup.−6 m/N, and the angular flexibility of the order of 4.10.sup.−5 to 3.10.sup.−7 and preferably 3×10.sup.−6 rad/N.m.

(43) FIGS. 10 to 13 illustrate an alternative embodiment of the invention in which the elements already described in the foregoing are designated by the same references.

(44) The shaft 15 comprises a single bellows 16, the annular base 16a of which is pierced with orifices 30 for the passage of lubricating oil during operation. The downstream end of the shaft 15 has splines 32 for coupling to a support trunnion 15c of the bearing 10, this trunnion being coupled by splines 34 to the LP shaft 4.

(45) The upstream end of the shaft 15 comprises splines 18. The splines 18 are located between, on the upstream side, a screw thread of a nut 35 and, on the downstream side, an external cylindrical centering surface 36. A similar external cylindrical surface 38 may be located on the shaft 15 just upstream of the splines 32.

(46) The bellows 16 extends radially between the diameters Dm and DM, with splines 18 and 32 located approximately at the level of the diameter Dm.

(47) The hairpin of the shaft 8 is replaced here by a bellows 40, the annular bottom 40a of which is pierced with lubrication oil passage orifices 42 during operation. The downstream end of the shaft 8 comprises the splines 20 and the upstream end comprises the splines 19.

(48) The shaft 8 is coaxially engaged on the shaft 15 by axial translation from the upstream until the splines 18, 19 are engaged in each other. The surface 36 is then in contact with an internal cylindrical surface of the shaft 8, located here upstream of the bellows 40. In addition, the surface 38 abuts an inner cylindrical surface of the trunnion 15c. The nut 35 is then screwed onto the thread of the shaft 15 and is supported axially on the shaft 8 to hold it securely on the shaft 15.

(49) As shown in FIG. 13, a lock washer 43 and a locking ring 44 are then fitted to the shaft 15. The lock washer 43 interlocks with the nut 35 to prevent accidental loosening of the nut 35 and the locking ring 44 axially locks the lock washer 43 on the shaft 15.

(50) The splines 18, 19, 20 or even 32 and 34 preferably comprise truncated longitudinal ends which can be produced by grinding, for example. The splines are preferably curved, i.e. their side faces, extending axially between their longitudinal ends, have a convexity, as can be seen in FIG. 11a. The curved shape of the splines gives them a certain freedom of movement by swivelling, limiting the stresses in the splines.

(51) The splines 20 cooperate with complementary splines 46 of a sun gear 48 of the reduction gear 7, these splines 46 being interrupted by an annular groove in which an annular joint 50 is housed (FIG. 11). The groove and the joint 50 are located close to the upstream end of the sun gear 48. The downstream end of the sun gear 48 comprises at least one annular rim 52 facing radially towards the inside and located axially between two annular lips 54 protruding from the shaft 15 (FIGS. 10 and 11).

(52) The reduction gear 7 may carry at least one oil nozzle 56 for projecting a jet of lubricating oil 58 between the two lips 54. The nozzle 56 is located at the downstream and radially inner end of the reduction gear 7.

(53) FIG. 12 shows the oil flow during operation.

(54) The oil thrown between the lips 54 is centrifuged and thrown towards the splines 20, 46. The joint 50 limits the passage of this oil axially upstream. In addition, oil flows into shaft 8 and can escape through the orifices 42 of the bellows 40. In addition, oil flows into the shaft 15 and can escape through the orifices 30 of the bellows 16.

(55) FIG. 11 shows the axial length or dimension L1 between the bellows 16, 40 and the axial dimension L2 between the bellows 40 and the middle of the splines 20, 46 or of the sun gear 48. Increasing the dimension L2 reduces the angle α2 of elastic deformation of the shaft 8 between its cylindrical position in the free state and its deformed position shown in the drawing in which its downstream end is spread radially towards the outside. Increasing the dimension L1 makes it possible to reduce the angle α1 of elastic deformation of the shaft 15, between its cylindrical position in the free state and its deformed position shown in the drawing in which its downstream end is spread radially towards the inside. The curved shape of the splines makes it possible to maintain a coupling of the shafts 15, 8 in these deformed positions. During these deformations, the bellows 16, 40 deform by compressing or expanding.