Turbine engine and method of cooling thereof
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsThomas Ory Moniz, Jeff Glover, Joseph Rose, Jeffrey Donald Clements
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A turbine engine including a core engine cowl including a compartment, a cooling airflow source positioned within the compartment, and a full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system coupled in communication with the cooling airflow source. The FADEC system is configured to determine a flight status of the turbine engine, and actuate the cooling airflow source when the turbine engine is not in flight, and before the turbine engine has been shut down, such that heat is exhausted from the compartment.
Claims17
A turbine engine comprising:
- a fan assembly;
- a core engine cowl comprising a compartment;
- a cooling fan positioned within said compartment aft of the fan assembly;
- and
- a full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system coupled in communication with said cooling fan, wherein said FADEC system is configured to:
- determine a flight status of the turbine engine;
- and
- actuate said cooling fan when the turbine engine is not in flight, and before the turbine engine has been shut down, such that heat is exhausted from said compartment, wherein said cooling fan comprises a timer device configured to shut down said cooling fan at a time after actuation of said cooling fan, said timer device configured to operate independent of FADEC system control.
A cooling system for use within a core engine cowl of a turbine engine, said cooling system comprising:
- a cooling fan positioned within a compartment of the core engine cowl aft of a fan assembly;
- and
- a full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system coupled in communication with said cooling fan, wherein said FADEC system is configured to:
- determine a flight status of the turbine engine;
- and
- actuate said cooling fan when the turbine engine is not in flight, and before the turbine engine has been shut down, such that heat is exhausted from the compartment, wherein said cooling fan is configured to operate for a preset time after the turbine engine has been shut down.
A method of cooling a turbine engine, said method comprising:
- determining a flight status of the turbine engine;
- and
- actuating, via full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system control, a cooling fan when the turbine engine is not in flight, and before the turbine engine has been shut down, wherein the cooling fan is positioned aft of a fan assembly within a compartment of a core engine cowl such that heat is exhausted from the compartment, and wherein actuating a cooling fan comprises operating the cooling fan for a preset time after the turbine engine has been shut down.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.