Air-oil separator

An air-oil separator for an aircraft engine, comprising:

• a housing rotatable about a central axis, the housing having an outer and an inner circumferential wall extending axially from a first end wall to a second end wall, the outer and inner circumferential walls and the first and second end walls defining an annular chamber around the central axis, the annular chamber having an inlet defined in the first end wall for receiving an air-oil mixture, and an oil outlet defined in the outer circumferential wall;
• an annular separation plate projecting axially from the first end wall towards the second end wall inside the annular chamber radially inwardly from the inlet relative to the central axis, the annular separation plate dividing the annular chamber into a radially outer flow path segment and a radially inner flow path segment, the radially inner flow path segment serially connected in flow communication to the radially outer flow path segment and having an air outlet for discharging air extracted from the air-oil mixture received from the radially outer flow path segment;
• a porous separator matrix disposed in both the radially outer flow path segment and the radially inner flow path segment;
• and
• oil collector tubes projecting radially outwardly from the annular separation plate into the radially outer flow path segment towards the oil outlet in the outer circumferential wall of the housing, the oil collector tubes having respective oil inlets defined at a radially inner surface of the annular separation plate.

A gearbox de-oiler for an aircraft engine, comprising:

• a shaft mounted for rotation about an axis;
• a housing mounted to the shaft for rotation therewith, the housing having an outer circumferential wall, an inner circumferential wall, a first end wall and a second end wall axially opposite to the first end wall, the outer circumferential wall, the inner circumferential wall, the first end wall and the second end wall defining a chamber therebetween, the chamber having an air-oil mixture inlet defined in the first end wall, a series of oil outlet holes defined in the outer circumferential wall, and an air outlet defined in the inner circumferential wall adjacent to the first end wall;
• a porous separator matrix disposed in the chamber;
• an annular separation plate extending axially from the first end wall through the porous separator matrix, the annular separation plate disposed radially inwardly from the air-oil mixture inlet, the annular separation plate and the outer circumferential wall defining therebetween a primary flow path segment extending axially from the air-oil mixture inlet towards the second end wall, the annular separation plate and the inner circumferential wall defining therebetween a secondary flow path segment, the secondary flow path segment extending axially from the second end wall to the first end wall and leading to the air outlet;
• and
• oil collector tubes extending radially outwardly from the annular separation plate towards the oil outlet holes in the outer circumferential wall, the oil collector tubes configured to collect oil centrifuged against the annular separation plate in the secondary flow path segment and to direct the oil to the oil outlet holes in the outer circumferential wall.