Gear systems with variable speed drive
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsJonathan Hodgson, Vlastislav Fric
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An epicyclic gear system includes an input sun gear configured to receive rotational input from a turbine of a turbo charger. A first set of planet gears is distributed around and meshes with the input sun gear. A carrier holds the first set of planet gears and defines a rotational axis about which the carrier rotates. A second set of planet gears is mounted to the carrier. An output sun gear is included, wherein the second set of planet gears are distributed around and mesh with the output sun. The output sun gear is configured to deliver rotational power to an internal combustion engine. The carrier is configured to selectively be driven by a variable speed drive to regulate output to the output sun over a range of input rotational speeds of the input sun gear.
Claims14
An epicyclic gear system for an aircraft power plant, the epicyclic gear system comprising:
- an input sun gear receiving rotational input and an output sun gear delivering rotational output;
- a plurality of planet gears rotatably mounted to a carrier and coupling the input sun gear to the output sun gear, the carrier rotatable about a rotational axis;
- a variable speed drive driving the carrier to regulate rotational speed of the carrier to regulate the rotational speed outputted to the output sun gear over a range of input rotational speeds of the input sun gear;
- and
- one or more accessory gears operatively connected to the output sun gear to drive accessory devices.
An epicyclic gear system for an aircraft power plant, the epicyclic gear system comprising:
- an input sun gear receiving rotational input and an output sun gear delivering rotational output;
- a plurality of planet gears rotatably mounted to a carrier and coupling the input sun gear to the output sun gear, the carrier rotatable about a rotational axis;
- a variable speed drive driving the carrier to regulate rotational speed of the carrier to regulate the rotational speed outputted to the output sun gear over a range of input rotational speeds of the input sun gear, the variable speed drive including an input gear operatively connected to the output sun gear to provide input drive to the variable speed drive.
A method of transmitting rotational power from a rotational input to an rotational output in an aircraft power plant, the method comprising:
- receiving the rotational power from the rotational input to an input sun gear of an epicyclic gear system;
- driving planet gears of the epicyclic gear system with the input sun gear, wherein the planet gears are operatively connected to a carrier to revolve around the input sun gear;
- controlling revolution speed of the carrier with a variable speed drive, including driving the variable speed drive with at least one gear operatively connected to the output sun gear;
- and
- driving an output sun gear of the epicyclic gear system by the planet gears to deliver the rotational power to the rotational output, wherein the rotational power is speed regulated by controlling revolution speed and direction of the carrier and variable speed drive to regulate the output sun gear over a range of input rotational speeds of the input sun gear.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.