Vane assembly for open fan engine
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsSara Elizabeth Carle, Daniel L. Tweedt, Syed Arif Khalid
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure is generally related to a vane assembly for an open fan engine having a rotor and a stator. The vane assembly is a plurality of vanes each arranged about the stator. Each of the vanes of the vane assembly has a leading edge (LE) with a leading edge angle (LEA). A combination of aircraft angle of attack, sideslip, and upwash due to lifting bodies can create a flow angularity into the engine. The leading edge angle (LEA) of each of the vanes varies depending upon the circumferential location about the stator so that the impact on the flow angularity into the engine is reduced or increased in different circumferential regions.
Claims22
A vane assembly for an open fan engine having a rotor with an axis of rotation and a stator, the vane assembly comprising a plurality of vanes, each arranged about the stator at a different circumferential location θ, where θ is measured relative to a circumferential positioning vector (CPV) defined as the cross-product of V1 and V2 (V1×V2), and θ increases in the direction of rotor rotation, each of the plurality of vanes having a chord (C), and a leading edge (LE), leading edge angle (LEA) and a mean camber line (MCL) at a span of the vane, a delta in leading angle (DLEA) from an average leading edge angle (ALEA) at that span for each of the plurality of vanes being between:
- 9
- *
-
- cos
-
- (
- 0
- .
- 8
- *
-
- θ
- +
- π
- 5
- )
- +
- 7
- .
- 9
- and
- 3.5*cos(θ)−7.5
- wherein a first reference line (R1) at the span of the vane has a starting point (SP) at the LE and on the mean camber line (MCL) and an end point (EP) on the MCL at between 2% and 15% of the C measured from the LE;
- wherein a second reference line (R2) extends forward from the EP of the R1 in a direction toward the LE and parallel to the axis of rotation;
- and
- wherein the LEA is measured from the R2 to the R1 in the direction of rotor rotation.
A vane assembly for an open fan engine having a rotor with a rotor axis of rotation (RAR) and a stator, the vane assembly comprising a plurality of vanes, each arranged about the stator at a different circumferential location θ, where θ is measured relating to a circumferential positioning vector (CPV) defined as a line that extends from the RAR horizontally to the left when forward looking aft (FLA) for clockwise rotor rotation FLA and continuing in the direction of rotation and starting from a line that extends from the RAR horizontally to the right when FLA for counter-clockwise rotation FLA and continuing in the direction of rotation, each of the plurality of vanes having a chord (C), and a leading edge (LE), leading edge angle (LEA) and a mean camber line (MCL) at a span of the vane, a delta in leading angle (DLEA) from an average leading edge angle (ALEA) at that span for each of the plurality of vanes being between:
- 9
- *
-
- cos
-
- (
- 0
- .
- 8
- *
-
- θ
- +
- π
- 5
- )
- +
- 7
- .
- 9
- and
- 3.5*cos(θ)−7.5
- wherein a first reference line (R1) at the span of the vane has a starting point (SP) at the LE and on the mean camber line (MCL) and an end point (EP) on the MCL at between 2% and 15% of the C measured from the LE;
- wherein a second reference line (R2) extends forward from the EP of the R1 in a direction toward the LE and parallel to the axis of rotation;
- and
- wherein the LEA is measured from the R2 to the R1 in the direction of rotor rotation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.