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US 12,435,674 B2Granted
System and method for operating a turboprop engine
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsNicolas Des Roches-Dionne, Sylvain Lamarre, Alexandre Charest
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Abstract
There is provided a method and system for operating a turboprop engine of an aircraft. When a resulting value for Ng is between at least one upper limit and at least one lower limit, the output power is governed as a function of the target power. When the resulting value for Ng is on or outside of the at least one upper limit and the at least one lower limit, the output power is governed as a function of the maximum Ng and the minimum Ng.
Claims20
A method for transitioning a turboprop engine of an aircraft out of and into an idle operating regime of the turboprop engine, the method comprising:
- obtaining a power governing schedule defining at least one upper gas generator speed (Ng) limit and at least one lower Ng limit of the turboprop engine, the at least one upper Ng limit defining a maximum Ng that varies as a function of a power lever position of the aircraft for producing forward thrust with a propeller of the turboprop engine and beyond an idle power lever position, the at least one lower Ng limit defining a minimum Ng that varies as a function of the power lever position, the at least one upper Ng limit and the at least one lower Ng limit diverging from the idle power lever position to define a progressive transition out of and into the idle operating regime of the turboprop engine;
- receiving a target power for the turboprop engine corresponding to a current power lever position, the current power lever position corresponding to forward thrust operation of the propeller of the turboprop engine and being beyond the idle power lever position;
- selecting, from the power governing schedule, a maximum Ng corresponding to the current power lever position and a minimum Ng corresponding to the current power lever position;
- and
- in response to receiving the target power:
- governing output power for the turboprop engine to achieve the target power, governing the output power including determining a requested Ng;
- when the requested Ng is between the maximum Ng corresponding to the current power lever position and the minimum Ng corresponding to the current power lever position, using the requested Ng to govern the output power for the turboprop engine;
- when the requested Ng is above the maximum Ng corresponding to the current power lever position, using the maximum Ng instead of the requested Ng to govern the output power for the turboprop engine;
- and
- when the requested Ng is below the minimum Ng corresponding to the current power lever position, using the minimum Ng instead of the requested Ng to govern the output power for the turboprop engine.
7 more elements
A system for transitioning a turboprop engine of an aircraft out of and into an idle operating regime of the turboprop engine, the system comprising:
- a processing unit;
- and
- a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon program instructions executable by the processing unit for:
- obtaining a power governing schedule defining at least one upper gas generator speed (Ng) limit and at least one lower Ng limit of the turboprop engine, the at least one upper Ng limit defining a maximum Ng that varies as a function of a power lever position of the aircraft for producing forward thrust with a propeller of the turboprop engine and beyond an idle power lever position, the at least one lower Ng limit defining a minimum Ng that varies as a function of the power lever position, the at least one upper Ng limit and the at least one lower Ng limit diverging from the idle power lever position to define a progressive transition out of and into the idle operating regime of the turboprop engine;
- receiving a target power for the turboprop engine corresponding to a current power lever position, the current power lever position corresponding to forward thrust operation of the propeller of the turboprop engine and being beyond the idle power lever position;
- selecting, from the power governing schedule, a maximum Ng corresponding to the current power lever position and a minimum Ng corresponding to the current power lever position;
- and
- in response to receiving the target power:
- governing output power for the turboprop engine to achieve the target power, governing the output power including determining a requested Ng;
- when the requested Ng is between the maximum Ng corresponding to the current power lever position and the minimum Ng corresponding to the current power lever position, using the requested Ng to govern the output power for the turboprop engine;
- when the requested Ng is above the maximum Ng corresponding to the current power lever position, using the maximum Ng instead of the requested Ng to govern the output power for the turboprop engine;
- and
- when the requested Ng is below the minimum Ng corresponding to the current power lever position, using the minimum Ng instead of the requested Ng to govern the output power for the turboprop engine.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.