Back to results
US 11,629,651 B2Granted
Gas turbine engine having a turbomachine and an electric motor coupled to a propeller
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorWilliam Joseph Bowden
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A gas turbine engine including: a turbomachine coupled to a propeller of the gas turbine engine, the turbomachine being in fluid communication with an external environment through an air inlet; and an electric motor coupled to the propeller, wherein the air inlet is in fluid communication with a bypass duct having a selectively variable geometry.
Claims18
A gas turbine engine comprising:
- a propeller;
- a turbomachine coupled to the propeller, the turbomachine being in fluid communication with an external environment through an air inlet;
- and
- an electric motor coupled to the propeller,
- wherein the air inlet is in fluid communication with a bypass duct having a selectively variable geometry downstream of the propeller,
- wherein the bypass duct comprises an adjustable flap configured to selectively adjust a fluid flow rate of air passing through the bypass duct, in which the adjustable flap increases an opening size of the bypass duct automatically in response to switching operation from the turbomachine to the electric motor.
3 more elements
A hybrid electric gas turbine engine comprising:
- a propeller;
- an electric motor configured to selectively drive the propeller of the gas turbine engine when a secondary drive element of the hybrid electric gas turbine engine is operating at a reduced capacity;
- and
- a bypass duct comprising an adjustable flap downstream of the propeller configured to increase a fluid volumetric flow rate capability of the bypass duct when the electric motor is active,
- wherein the secondary drive element comprises a turbomachine, and
- wherein the adjustable flap is configured to increase an opening size of the bypass duct automatically in response to switching operation from the turbomachine to the electric motor.
3 more elements
A method of using a gas turbine engine, the method comprising:
- driving a propeller of the gas turbine engine using a turbomachine;
- switching from the turbomachine to an electric motor for driving the propeller;
- and
- increasing an opening size of a bypass duct of the gas turbine engine downstream of the propeller to increase volumetric flow rate of air through the bypass duct when the electric motor is active,
- wherein increasing the opening size is performed automatically in response to switching from the turbomachine to the electric motor.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.