Oil supply system for a gas turbine engine
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorFiras Younes
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An oil supply system and a method for operating the same to provide oil to a gas turbine engine in a variety of harsh operating conditions is provided. The oil supply system includes a main oil tank and an auxiliary oil tank which share oil through a tank sharing valve that may be closed if a depressurization event occurs in the main oil tank. The oil supply system further includes an auxiliary supply conduit and an auxiliary oil pump for providing oil to the gas turbine engine in the event of main oil tank depressurization or in negative gravity conditions where the oil within the auxiliary oil tank rises to the top of the tank and uncovers the oil pump supply.
Claims19
An oil supply system for a gas turbine engine, the oil supply system comprising:
- a main oil tank for receiving oil;
- an auxiliary oil tank;
- a tank sharing valve fluidly coupling the main oil tank and the auxiliary oil tank, the tank sharing valve being movable to a closed position to prevent the oil from flowing from the auxiliary oil tank to the main oil tank;
- an auxiliary supply conduit providing fluid communication between the auxiliary oil tank and the gas turbine engine;
- and
- an auxiliary oil pump fluidly coupled to the auxiliary supply conduit for providing a flow of auxiliary oil to the gas turbine engine,
- wherein the tank sharing valve is a pressure controlled valve that moves to the closed position when a depressurization event occurs in the main oil tank.
An oil supply system for a gas turbine engine, the oil supply system comprising:
- a main oil tank for receiving oil;
- an auxiliary oil tank;
- a tank sharing valve fluidly coupling the main oil tank and the auxiliary oil tank, the tank sharing valve being movable to a closed position to prevent the oil from flowing from the auxiliary oil tank to the main oil tank;
- an auxiliary supply conduit providing fluid communication between the auxiliary oil tank and the gas turbine engine;
- an auxiliary oil pump fluidly coupled to the auxiliary supply conduit for providing a flow of auxiliary oil to the gas turbine engine;
- and
- a tank pressurizing valve in fluid communication with the main oil tank and the auxiliary oil tank, wherein the tank pressurizing valve regulates a flow of air to an accessory system.
A method of supplying oil to a gas turbine engine using an oil supply system, the oil supply system comprising a main oil tank and an auxiliary oil tank fluidly coupled by a tank sharing conduit, a primary supply conduit fluidly coupling both the main oil tank and the auxiliary oil tank to the gas turbine engine, and an auxiliary supply conduit fluidly coupling the auxiliary oil tank to the gas turbine engine, the method comprising:
- providing the oil to the gas turbine engine through both the primary supply conduit and the auxiliary supply conduit;
- detecting a depressurization event in the main oil tank;
- stopping a flow of shared oil through the tank sharing conduit in response to detecting the depressurization event;
- isolating the main oil tank from the primary supply conduit in response to detecting the depressurization event;
- and
- operating an auxiliary oil pump to urge a flow of auxiliary oil through the auxiliary supply conduit to the gas turbine engine in response to detecting the depressurization event.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.