Gas turbine engine with a variable exit area fan nozzle, nacelle assembly of such a engine, and corresponding operating method
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsConstantine Baltas, Joseph R. Hauser
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A turbofan engine includes a fan variable area nozzle having a multiple of vents through a fan nacelle and a sleeve system movable relative to the vents by an actuator system. The fan variable area nozzle changes the effective area of the fan nozzle exit area to permit efficient operation at predefined pressure ratios. The vents include a grid structure which directs and smoothes the airflow therethrough as well as to reduce noise generation.
Claims16
A nacelle assembly for a gas turbine engine comprising:
- a core nacelle defined about an axis;
- a fan nacelle mounted at least partially around said core nacelle, said fan nacelle having a multiple of vents adjacent a fan nacelle end segment, said multiple of vents in communication with a fan bypass flow;
- and
- a sleeve movable relative to said multiple of vents to vary an effective fan nozzle exit area.
A gas turbine engine comprising:
- a core engine defined about an axis;
- a gear system driven by said core engine;
- a fan section driven by said gear system about said axis;
- a core nacelle defined at least partially about said core engine;
- a fan nacelle mounted at least partially around said core nacelle, said fan nacelle having a multiple of vents adjacent a fan nacelle end segment, said multiple of vents in communication with a fan bypass flow;
- and
- a sleeve movable relative to the multiple of vents to vary a fan nozzle exit area.
A method of varying an effective fan nozzle exit area of a gas turbine engine comprising the steps of:
- (A) selectively moving a sleeve relative a multiple of vents adjacent a fan nacelle end segment, the multiple vents in communication with a bypass flow to vary a fan nozzle exit area in response to a flight condition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.