Aircraft engine including diffuser secured to a bearing housing
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsGuy Lefebvre, Lorenzo Sanzari
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A compressor assembly has: an impeller rotatable about a central axis, the impeller mounted on a shaft; a bearing housing extending around the central axis and radially supporting the shaft; and a diffuser downstream of the impeller, the diffuser having: an annular member extending circumferentially around the central axis, vanes circumferentially distributed around the central axis and protruding from one of the annular member and the bearing housing, the vanes extending from bases at the one of the annular member and the bearing housing to tips at the other of the annular member and the bearing housing, and lug and slot connections defined between the annular member and the bearing housing to secure the annular member to the bearing housing.
Claims20
A compressor assembly comprising:
- an impeller rotatable about a central axis, the impeller mounted on a shaft;
- a bearing housing extending around the central axis and radially supporting the shaft;
- and
- a diffuser downstream of the impeller, the diffuser having:
- an annular member extending circumferentially around the central axis,
- vanes circumferentially distributed around the central axis and protruding from one of the annular member and the bearing housing, the vanes extending from bases at the one of the annular member and the bearing housing to tips at the other of the annular member and the bearing housing, and
- lug and slot connections defined between the annular member and the bearing housing to secure the annular member to the bearing housing, the lug and slot connections including lugs defined by one of the annular member and the bearing housing and slots defined by the other of the annular member and the bearing housing, braze or weld joints within gaps extending around the lugs, the lugs secured within the slots via the braze or weld joints.
An aircraft engine, comprising:
- an internal combustion engine;
- a compressor including an impeller rotatable about a central axis, the impeller mounted on a shaft;
- a bearing housing extending around the central axis and radially supporting the shaft;
- and
- a diffuser downstream of the impeller, the diffuser fluidly connecting the compressor to the internal combustion engine, the diffuser having:
- an annular member extending circumferentially around the central axis and axially facing the bearing housing to define a flow path therebetween,
- vanes circumferentially distributed around the central axis and protruding axially from one of the annular member and the bearing housing across the flow path, the vanes extending from bases at the one of the annular member and the bearing housing to tips at the other of the annular member and the bearing housing, the vanes dividing the flow path into a plurality of inter-vane flow passages, and
- lugs protruding from the tips of the vanes outside of the flow path, the lugs received within correspondingly-shaped slots defined by the other of the annular member and the bearing housing, the lugs secured within the slots.
A compressor assembly comprising:
- an impeller rotatable about a central axis, the impeller mounted on a shaft;
- a bearing housing extending around the central axis and radially supporting the shaft;
- and
- a diffuser downstream of the impeller, the diffuser having:
- an annular member extending circumferentially around the central axis,
- vanes circumferentially distributed around the central axis and protruding from one of the annular member and the bearing housing, the vanes extending from bases at the one of the annular member and the bearing housing to tips at the other of the annular member and the bearing housing, and
- lug and slot connections defined between the annular member and the bearing housing to secure the annular member to the bearing housing, a connection between the annular member and the bearing housing is devoid of bolt.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.