GAS TURBINE ENGINE WITH HIGH SPEED LOW PRESSURE TURBINE SECTION AND BEARING SUPPORT FEATURES

Abstract

A gas turbine engine includes a compressor section including a first compressor, a turbine section including a first turbine and a second turbine, a first shaft and a second shaft, the first shaft interconnecting the first turbine and the second compressor, and a geared architecture. The first shaft is supported on a first bearing in an overhung manner. A performance ratio is between 0.5 and 1.5.

Claims

1. A gas turbine engine comprising: a propulsor including a plurality of propulsor blades; a compressor section including a first compressor and a second compressor; a turbine section including a first turbine and a second turbine aft of the first turbine relative to an engine longitudinal axis, wherein the first compressor includes a plurality of stages, the first turbine includes a plurality of stages, and the second turbine includes at least three stages; a first shaft and a second shaft, the first shaft interconnecting the first turbine and the second compressor; a geared architecture between the propulsor and the second shaft driven by the second turbine such that the propulsor rotates at a lower speed than the second turbine; wherein the first shaft is supported on a first bearing in an overhung manner, including the first bearing mounted on an outer periphery of the first shaft at a location that is forward of a point where the first shaft connects to a hub carrying turbine rotors associated with the first turbine, and the location of the first bearing is aft of the second compressor relative to the engine longitudinal axis; wherein the first turbine has a first exit area at a first exit point and is rotatable at a first speed, and the second has a second exit area at a second exit point and is rotatable at a second speed, the first speed being faster than the second speed; and wherein a first performance quantity is defined as the product of the first speed squared and the first exit area, a second performance quantity is defined as the product of the second speed squared and the second exit area, and a performance ratio of the second performance quantity to the first performance quantity is between 0.5 and 1.5.

2. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 1, wherein the geared architecture includes an epicyclic gear train, and a gear reduction ratio of the geared architecture is greater than 2.5.

3. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 2, wherein the performance ratio is above or equal to 0.8.

4. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 3, wherein there is no bearing support structure positioned intermediate the first turbine and the second turbine.

5. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 3, wherein the second turbine has no more than six stages.

6. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 5, wherein the performance ratio is above or equal to 1.0.

7. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 6, wherein the geared architecture is a star gear system.

8. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 7, wherein: a forward end of the first shaft is supported by a second bearing at a position forward of the second compressor relative to the engine longitudinal axis; a forward end of the second shaft is supported by a third bearing at a position forward of the first compressor relative to the engine longitudinal axis; and an aft end of the second shaft is supported by a fourth bearing at a position aft of the second turbine relative to the engine longitudinal axis.

9. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 7, wherein the first compressor has a greater number of stages than the first turbine.

10. The gas turbine engine as set forth in claim 6, wherein the geared architecture is a planetary gear system.

11. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 10, wherein: a forward end of the first shaft is supported by a second bearing at a position forward of the second compressor relative to the engine longitudinal axis; a forward end of the second shaft is supported by a third bearing at a position forward of the first compressor relative to the engine longitudinal axis; and an aft end of the second shaft is supported by a fourth bearing at a position aft of the second turbine relative to the engine longitudinal axis.

12. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 11, wherein there is no bearing support structure positioned intermediate the first turbine and the second turbine.

13. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 10, wherein the first compressor has a greater number of stages than the first turbine.

14. The gas turbine engine as set forth in claim 10, wherein the first turbine and the second turbine are rotatable in opposed directions.

15. The gas turbine engine as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first turbine and the second turbine are rotatable in opposed directions.

16. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 15, wherein the performance ratio is above or equal to 1.0.

17. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 16, wherein the second turbine has no more than six stages.

18. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 16, wherein: a forward end of the first shaft is supported by a second bearing at a position forward of the second compressor relative to the engine longitudinal axis; a forward end of the second shaft is supported by a third bearing at a position forward of the first compressor relative to the engine longitudinal axis; and an aft end of the second shaft is supported by a fourth bearing at a position aft of the second turbine relative to the engine longitudinal axis.

19. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 1, wherein the propulsor is a fan, the propulsor blades are fan blades, an outer duct surrounds the fan blades to define a bypass flow path, and the compressor section drives air along a core flow path.

20. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 19, wherein a bypass ratio is defined as a volume of air passing into the bypass flow path compared to a volume of air passing into the compressor section, and the bypass ratio is greater than 10 at cruise at 0.8 Mach and 35,000 feet.

21. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 20, wherein the geared architecture includes an epicyclic gear train, and a gear reduction ratio of the geared architecture is greater than 2.5.

22. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 21, wherein the performance ratio is above or equal to 0.8.

23. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 22, further comprising a low fan pressure ratio of less than 1.45 measured across the fan blades alone at cruise at 0.8 Mach and 35,000 feet.

24. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 23, wherein the fan has a low corrected fan tip speed of less than 1150 ft/second.

25. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 23, wherein the geared architecture is a star gear system.

26. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 25, wherein the second turbine has no more than six stages.

27. The gas turbine engine as set forth in claim 23, wherein the geared architecture is a planetary gear system.

28. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 27, wherein the performance ratio is above or equal to 1.0.

29. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 28, wherein the second turbine has no more than six stages.

30. The gas turbine engine as recited in claim 28, wherein there is no bearing support structure positioned intermediate the first turbine and the second turbine.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] FIG. 1 shows a gas turbine engine.

[0027] FIG. 2 schematically shows the arrangement of the low and high spool, along with the fan drive.

[0028] FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of a mount arrangement for an engine such as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a gas turbine engine 20. The gas turbine engine 20 is disclosed herein as a two-turbine turbofan that generally incorporates a fan section 22, a compressor section 24, a combustor section 26 and a turbine section 28. Alternative engines might include an augmentor section (not shown) among other systems or features. The fan section 22 drives air along a bypass flow path B while the compressor section 24 drives air along a core flow path C for compression and communication into the combustor section 26 then expansion through the turbine section 28. Although depicted as a turbofan gas turbine engine in the disclosed non-limiting embodiment, it should be understood that the concepts described herein are not limited to use with turbofans as the teachings may be applied to other types of turbine engines including three-turbine architectures.

[0030] The engine 20 generally includes a low speed spool 30 and a high speed spool 32 mounted for rotation about an engine central longitudinal axis A relative to an engine static structure 36 via several bearing systems 38. It should be understood that various bearing systems 38 at various locations may alternatively or additionally be provided.

[0031] The low speed spool 30 generally includes an innermost shaft 40 that interconnects a fan 42, a low pressure (or first) compressor section 44 and a low pressure (or first) turbine section 46. Note turbine section 46 will also be known as a fan drive turbine section. The inner shaft 40 is connected to the fan 42 through a geared architecture 48 to drive the fan 42 at a lower speed than the low speed fan drive turbine 46. The high speed spool 32 includes a more outer shaft 50 that interconnects a high pressure (or second) compressor section 52 and high pressure (or second) turbine section 54. A combustor 56 is arranged between the high pressure compressor section 52 and the high pressure turbine section 54. As used herein, the high pressure turbine section experiences higher pressures than the low pressure turbine section. A low pressure turbine section is a section that powers a fan 42. The inner shaft 40 and the outer shaft 50 are concentric and rotate via bearing systems 38 about the engine central longitudinal axis A which is collinear with their longitudinal axis.

[0032] The core airflow C is compressed by the low pressure compressor section 44 then the high pressure compressor section 52, mixed and burned with fuel in the combustor 56, then expanded over the high pressure turbine section 54 and low pressure turbine section 46.

[0033] The engine 20 in one example is a high-bypass geared aircraft engine. The bypass ratio is the amount of air delivered into bypass path B divided by the amount of air into core path C. In a further example, the engine 20 bypass ratio is greater than about six (6), with an example embodiment being greater than ten (10), the geared architecture 48 is an epicyclic gear train, such as a planetary gear system or other gear system, with a gear reduction ratio of greater than about 2.3 and the low pressure turbine section 46 has a pressure ratio that is greater than about 5. In one disclosed embodiment, the engine 20 bypass ratio is greater than about ten (10:1), the fan diameter is significantly larger than that of the low pressure compressor section 44, and the low pressure turbine section 46 has a pressure ratio that is greater than about 5:1. In some embodiments, the high pressure turbine section may have two or fewer stages. In contrast, the low pressure turbine section 46, in some embodiments, has between 3 and 6 stages. Further the low pressure turbine section 46 pressure ratio is total pressure measured prior to inlet of low pressure turbine section 46 as related to the total pressure at the outlet of the low pressure turbine section 46 prior to an exhaust nozzle. The geared architecture 48 may be an epicycle gear train, such as a star gear system or other gear system, with a gear reduction ratio of greater than about 2.5:1. It should be understood, however, that the above parameters are only exemplary of one embodiment of a geared architecture engine

[0034] A significant amount of thrust is provided by the bypass flow B due to the high bypass ratio. The fan section 22 of the engine 20 is designed for a particular flight condition—typically cruise at about 0.8 Mach and about 35,000 feet. The flight condition of 0.8 Mach and 35,000 ft, with the engine at its best fuel consumption—also known as “bucket cruise Thrust Specific Fuel Consumption (“TSFC”). TSFC is the industry standard parameter of the rate of lbm of fuel being burned per hour divided by lbf of thrust the engine produces at that flight condition. “Low fan pressure ratio” is the ratio of total pressure across the fan blade alone, before the fan exit guide vanes. The low fan pressure ratio as disclosed herein according to one non-limiting embodiment is less than about 1.45. “Low corrected fan tip speed” is the actual fan tip speed in ft/sec divided by an industry standard temperature correction of [(Ram Air Temperature deg R)/518.7){circumflex over ( )}0.5]. The “Low corrected fan tip speed” as disclosed herein according to one non-limiting embodiment is less than about 1150 ft/second. Further, the fan 42 may have 26 or fewer blades.

[0035] An exit area 400 is shown, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, at the exit location for the high pressure turbine section 54 is the annular area of the last blade of turbine section 54. An exit area for the low pressure turbine section is defined at exit 401 for the low pressure turbine section is the annular area defined by the last blade of that turbine section 46. As shown in FIG. 2, the turbine engine 20 may be counter-rotating. This means that the low pressure turbine section 46 and low pressure compressor section 44 rotate in one direction (“−’), while the high pressure spool 32, including high pressure turbine section 54 and high pressure compressor section 52 rotate in an opposed direction (“+”). The gear reduction 48, which may be, for example, an epicyclic transmission (e.g., with a sun, ring, and star gears), is selected such that the fan 42 rotates in the same direction (“+”) as the high spool 32. With this arrangement, and with the other structure as set forth above, including the various quantities and operational ranges, a very high speed can be provided to the low pressure spool. Low pressure turbine section and high pressure turbine section operation are often evaluated looking at a performance quantity which is the exit area for the turbine section multiplied by its respective speed squared. This performance quantity (“PQ”) is defined as:

PQ.sub.ltp=(A.sub.lpt×V.sub.lpt.sup.2)   Equation 1:

PQ.sub.hpt=(A.sub.hpt×V.sub.hpt.sup.2)   Equation 2:

where A.sub.lpt is the area of the low pressure turbine section at the exit thereof (e.g., at 401), where V.sub.lpt is the speed of the low pressure turbine section, where A.sub.hpt is the area of the high pressure turbine section at the exit thereof (e.g., at 400), and where V.sub.hpt is the speed of the high pressure turbine section.

[0036] Thus, a ratio of the performance quantity for the low pressure turbine section compared to the performance quantity for the high pressure turbine section is:

(A.sub.lpt×V.sub.lpt.sup.2)/(A.sub.hpt×V.sub.hpt.sup.2)=PQ.sub.ltp/PQ.sub.hpt   Equation 3:

In one turbine embodiment made according to the above design, the areas of the low and high pressure turbine sections are 557.9 in.sup.2 and 90.67 in.sup.2, respectively. Further, the speeds of the low and high pressure turbine sections are 10179 rpm and 24346 rpm, respectively. Thus, using Equations 1 and 2 above, the performance quantities for the low and high pressure turbine sections are:

PQ.sub.ltp=(A.sub.lpt×V.sub.lpt.sup.2)=(557.9 in.sup.2)(10179 rpm).sup.2=57805157673.9 in.sup.2rpm.sup.2   Equation 1:

PQ.sub.hpt=(A.sub.hpt×V.sub.hpt.sup.2)=(90.67 in.sup.2)(24346 rpm).sup.2=53742622009.72 in.sup.2rpm.sup.2   Equation 2:

[0037] and using Equation 3 above, the ratio for the low pressure turbine section to the high pressure turbine section is:

Ratio=PQ.sub.ltp/PQ.sub.hpt=57805157673.9 in.sup.2rpm.sup.2/53742622009.72 in.sup.2rpm.sup.2=1.075

[0038] In another embodiment, the ratio was about 0.5 and in another embodiment the ratio was about 1.5. With PQ.sub.ltp/PQ.sub.hpt ratios in the 0.5 to 1.5 range, a very efficient overall gas turbine engine is achieved. More narrowly, PQ.sub.ltp/PQ.sub.hpt ratios of above or equal to about 0.8 are more efficient. Even more narrowly, PQ.sub.ltp/PQ.sub.hpt ratios above or equal to 1.0 are even more efficient. As a result of these PQ.sub.ltp/PQ.sub.hpt ratios, in particular, the turbine section can be made much smaller than in the prior art, both in diameter and axial length. In addition, the efficiency of the overall engine is greatly increased.

[0039] The low pressure compressor section is also improved with this arrangement, and behaves more like a high pressure compressor section than a traditional low pressure compressor section. It is more efficient than the prior art, and can provide more compression in fewer stages. The low pressure compressor section may be made smaller in radius and shorter in length while contributing more toward achieving the overall pressure ratio design target of the engine.

[0040] As shown in FIG. 3, the engine as shown in FIG. 2 may be mounted such that the high pressure turbine 54 is “overhung” bearing mounted. As shown, the high spool and shaft 32 includes a bearing 142 which supports the high pressure turbine 54 and the high spool 32 on an outer periphery of a shaft that rotates with the high pressure turbine 54. As can be appreciated, the “overhung” mount means that the bearing 142 is at an intermediate location on the spool including the shaft, the high pressure turbine 54, and the high pressure compressor 52. Stated another way, the bearing 142 is supported upstream of a point 501 where the shaft 32 connects to a hub 500 carrying turbine rotors associated with the high pressure turbine (second) turbine section 54. Notably, it would also be downstream of the combustor 56. Note that the bearing 142 can be positioned inside an annulus 503 formed by the shaft 32 and the hub assembly 500 so as to be between the shaft and the feature numbered 106 and it still would be an “overhung” configuration.

[0041] The forward end of the high spool 32 is supported by a bearing 110 at an outer periphery of the shaft 32. The bearings 110 and 142 are supported on static structure 108 associated with the overall engine casings arranged to form the core of the engine as is shown in FIG. 1. In addition, the shaft 30 is supported on a bearing 100 at a forward end. The bearing 100 is supported on static structure 102. A rear end of the shaft 30 is supported on a bearing 106 which is attached to static structure 104.

[0042] With this arrangement, there is no bearing support struts or other structure in the path of hot products of combustion passing downstream of the high pressure turbine 54, and no bearing compartment support struts in the path of the products of combustion as they flow across to the low pressure turbine 46.

[0043] As shown, there is no mid-turbine frame or bearings mounted in the area 402 between the turbine sections 54 and 46.

[0044] While this invention has been disclosed with reference to one embodiment, it should be understood that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. For that reason, the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.