Reliable gearbox for gas turbine engine
AssigneeROLLS-ROYCE plc
InventorMark Spruce
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An engine for an aircraft has an engine core having a turbine, a compressor, and a core shaft connecting the turbine to the compressor; a fan located upstream of the engine core, the fan having a plurality of fan blades; and a gearbox. The gearbox is arranged to receive an input from a gearbox input shaft portion of the core shaft and to output drive to the fan so as to drive the fan at a lower rotational speed than the core shaft. The gearbox is an epicyclic gearbox and has a sun gear, a plurality of planet gears, a ring gear, and a planet carrier. The planet carrier and the gearbox support each have a torsional stiffness, and a carrier to gearbox support torsional stiffness ratio is greater than or equal to 2.3.
Claims20
A gas turbine engine for an aircraft comprising:
- an engine core comprising a turbine, a compressor, and a core shaft connecting the turbine to the compressor;
- a fan located upstream of the engine core, the fan comprising a plurality of fan blades;
- a gearbox that receives an input from a gearbox input shaft that is a portion of the core shaft and outputs drive to the fan so as to drive the fan at a lower rotational speed than the core shaft, the gearbox being an epicyclic gearbox comprising a sun gear, a plurality of planet gears, a ring gear, and a planet carrier on which the plurality of planet gears are mounted;
- and
- a gearbox support arranged to support the gearbox in a fixed position within the gas turbine engine and having a torsional stiffness, wherein
- a planet carrier to gearbox support torsional stiffness ratio of:
- a
-
-
- torsional
-
-
- stiffness
-
-
- of
-
-
- the
-
-
- planet
-
-
- carrier
- the
-
-
- torsional
-
-
- stiffness
-
-
- of
-
-
- the
-
-
- gearbox
-
-
- support
- is in the range from 2.3 to 300.
A propulsor for an aircraft comprising:
- a fan comprising a plurality of fan blades;
- a gearbox;
- a motor for driving the fan via the gearbox, wherein the gearbox is arranged to receive an input from a gearbox input shaft that is a portion of the core shaft driven by the motor and to output drive to the fan so as to drive the fan at a lower rotational speed than the core shaft, the gearbox being an epicyclic gearbox comprising a sun gear, a plurality of planet gears, a ring gear, and a planet carrier on which the plurality of planet gears are mounted;
- and
- a gearbox support arranged to support the gearbox in a fixed position within the propulsor and having a torsional stiffness, wherein
- a planet carrier to gearbox support torsional stiffness ratio of:
- a
-
-
- torsional
-
-
- stiffness
-
-
- of
-
-
- the
-
-
- planet
-
-
- carrier
- the
-
-
- torsional
-
-
- stiffness
-
-
- of
-
-
- the
-
-
- gearbox
-
-
- support
- is in the range from 2.3 to 300.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.