Air-inlet duct having a particle separator and an agglomerator for a gas turbine engine

A gas turbine engine comprising

• an engine core including a compressor configured to compress air, a combustor configured to mix fuel with compressed air from the compressor to form a fuel-air mixture and to ignite the fuel-air mixture, and a turbine configured to extract work from combusted products of the fuel-air mixture, and
• an air-inlet duct including a particle separator and an agglomerator, the particle separator formed to include an inlet passageway for receiving a stream of air, a compressor passageway that extends downstream from the inlet passageway, and a scavenge passageway that extends downstream from the inlet passageway and that is positioned radially outward of the compressor passageway,
• wherein the particle separator is configured to receive atmospheric air laden with fine particles and large particles and to direct the large particles into the scavenge passageway while allowing the atmospheric air to move into the compressor passageway thereby reducing the number of large particles that enter the compressor, and
• wherein the agglomerator is configured to emit an electro-magnetic field into the inlet passageway to charge the fine particles in the inlet passageway to cause the fine particles to be attracted to one another and cluster together to form large particles directed into the scavenge passageway by the particle separator to reduce the number of fine particles directed into the compressor,
• wherein the particle separator includes an outer wall spaced apart from an engine rotation axis and an inner wall located between the outer wall and the engine rotation axis, the inner wall and the outer wall defining the inlet passageway therebetween, the inner wall and the outer wall include electromagnetically conductive material, and the agglomerator includes an electrical charge source configured to electrically charge the inner wall and the outer wall to cause the inner wall and the outer wall to emit electro-magnetic fields into the inlet passageway.

A method of separating particles suspended in an air-inlet duct included in a gas turbine engine, the method comprising

• charging fine particles suspended in an inlet passageway of the air-inlet duct to cause the fine particles to be attracted to one another and to cluster together to form large particles,
• collecting the large particles into a first portion of the air-inlet duct,
• separating air in the air-inlet duct into a first stream of air having an increased number of large particles suspended in the first stream of air and a second stream of air with a reduced number of large particles suspended in the second stream of air, and
• directing the first stream of air into a scavenge chamber included in the gas turbine engine and the second stream of air into a compressor included in the gas turbine engine,
• wherein the air-inlet duct includes an outer wall spaced apart from an engine rotation axis, an inner wall located between the outer wall and the engine rotation axis, and a splitter located between the outer wall and the inner wall, the inner wall and the outer wall defining the inlet passageway therebetween, and the splitter including an outer splitter surface that cooperates with the outer wall to define the scavenge passageway therebetween and an inner splitter surface cooperating with the inner wall to define the compressor passageway therebetween,
• wherein the inner wall, the outer wall, and the splitter include electromagnetically conductive material and wherein charging the fine particles in the inlet passageway includes electrically charging the electromagnetically conductive material included in at least one of the inner wall, the outer wall, and the splitter with an electrical charge source to emit an electro-magnetic field into the inlet passageway.

An air-inlet duct comprising

• a particle separator including an outer wall radially spaced apart from an engine rotation axis, an inner wall radially located between the outer wall and the engine rotation axis, and a splitter radially located between the outer wall and the inner wall, the inner wall and the outer wall define an inlet passageway therebetween for receiving atmospheric air laden with fine particles and large particles, the splitter includes an outer splitter surface that cooperates with the outer wall to define a scavenge passageway therebetween and an inner splitter surface cooperating with the inner wall to define a compressor passageway therebetween, the scavenge passageway extends downstream from the inlet passageway and is positioned radially outward of the compressor passageway so that the large particles are directed into the scavenge passageway while the atmospheric air is directed into the compressor passageway thereby reducing the number of large particles that enter the compressor passageway, and
• an agglomerator including an electrical charge source configured to charge at least one of the inner wall, the outer wall, and the splitter to cause the at least one of the inner wall, outer wall, and splitter to emit an electro-magnetic field into the inlet passageway to charge the fine particles in the inlet passageway to cause the fine particles to be attracted to one another and cluster together to form large particles directed into the scavenge passageway by the particle separator and
• a controller configured to adjust a magnitude of electric power supplied to the at least one of the inner wall, outer wall, and splitter from the electrical charge source to cause the at least one of the inner wall, outer wall, and splitter to generate heat and block ice accumulation in the air-inlet duct.