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AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsGuy Lefebvre, Nicolas Grivas, Richard Bouchard, Denis Leclair, Eric Durocher
Estimating the term…
An exhaust mixer for a gas turbine engine includes an annular wall having upstream end adapted to be fastened to an engine case and a downstream end forming a plurality of inner and outer mixer lobes. A support member interconnects at least a number of the inner lobes, and includes a circumferentially extending stiffener ring located radially inwardly from the inner lobes and a series of circumferentially spaced apart mixer struts radially extending from the inner lobes to the stiffener ring. The mixer struts have a radial length at least equal to a width of a main gas path defined between the inner lobes and the exhaust cone such that the mixer struts extend entirely through the main gas path. The stiffener ring being fixed solely to the mixer struts such as to float with respect to the exhaust cone and permit relative movement therebetween.
A gas turbine engine comprising an exhaust mixer cantilevered from an aft end of the gas turbine engine, the exhaust mixer having lobes which are circumferentially distributed and surround an exhaust cone to define a portion of a gas path of the gas turbine engine therebetween, a support member for the exhaust mixer including a stiffener ring disposed radially inward from the lobes, the stiffener ring extending circumferentially and connected to at least some of the lobes, and the stiffener ring being spaced apart from the exhaust cone such that the stiffener ring is not fastened to the exhaust cone so as to be able to move axially and radially relative to the exhaust cone, the stiffener ring being located radially inward of an outer surface of the exhaust cone and outside the gas path.
A method of reinforcing an exhaust mixer cantilevered from an aft end of a gas turbine engine, the exhaust mixer having a plurality of circumferentially alternating inner lobes and outer lobes surrounding an exhaust cone of the gas turbine engine to define an exhaust gas path therebetween, the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.