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US 12,655,766 B1Granted
Fan inlet case strut
AssigneeRtx Corporation
InventorsKen F. Blaney, Kerrin Elizabeth Morgan Connors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fan inlet case strut including a strut structural section; a strut cover disposed over a portion of the strut structural section; a strut airfoil section formed with a high pressure surface and a low pressure surface connected at a leading edge and a trailing edge and extending from a first end to a second end, a camber line that extends between the leading edge and the trailing edge and a flow feature formed at a strut cover termination.
Claims17
A fan inlet case strut comprising:
- a strut structural section;
- a strut cover disposed over a portion of the strut structural section;
- a strut airfoil section formed with a high pressure surface and a low pressure surface connected at a leading edge and a trailing edge and extending from a first end to a second end;
- a camber line that extends between the leading edge and the trailing edge;
- a flow feature formed at a strut cover termination;
- and
- wherein the strut airfoil section comprises a surface that is within a distance aft of the flow feature that extends to the trailing edge;
- the surface also extends spanwise between the first end and the second end, wherein a thickness of the airfoil along the distance tapers to a minimum thickness such that the surface is flat up to a minimum radius of the trailing edge.
5 more elements
A gas turbine engine having a fan inlet case comprising:
- a fan inlet case strut formed within the fan inlet case, the fan inlet case strut includes a span dimension extending between and connected with an inner surface and an outer surface of a bypass duct of the gas turbine engine;
- the fan inlet case strut comprising a strut structural section;
- a strut cover disposed over a portion of the strut structural section;
- a strut airfoil section formed with a high pressure surface and a low pressure surface connected at a leading edge and a trailing edge and extending from a first end to a second end;
- a camber line that extends between the leading edge and the trailing edge;
- and
- a flow feature formed at a strut cover termination;
- wherein flow feature is formed at the strut cover termination at a predetermined cut back length;
- wherein the strut structural section comprises a nominal cross sectional thickness and the fan inlet case strut comprises an extended thickness located beyond and external of the strut cover;
- wherein the extended thickness is larger than the nominal cross sectional thickness.
7 more elements
A process for forming a fan inlet case strut comprising:
- forming a strut structural section;
- forming a strut cover disposed over a portion of the strut structural section;
- forming a strut airfoil section with a high pressure surface and a low pressure surface connected at a leading edge and a trailing edge and extending from a first end to a second end, a camber line that extends between the leading edge and the trailing edge;
- forming a flow feature at a strut cover termination, wherein the flow feature comprises a discontinuous surface between the strut cover and the strut structural section;
- and
- locating the flow feature at greater than 50% of a chord length of the fan inlet case strut.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.