Coolant supply system
AssigneeROLLS-ROYCE plc
InventorMarko BACIC
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cooling system for a gas turbine engine (10) having a compressor (14), a combustor (16) and a turbine section arranged to receive combustion products from the combustor. The cooling system includes ducting (32,44) defining a flow path from the compressor to a component, such as a turbine blade (26) to be cooled within the turbine section. The ducting (32) bypasses the combustor (16). A heat exchanger (34) may be arranged in the flow path to extract heat from the flow between the compressor and the component. One or more valves (36;64;66) in the flow path are actuated under the control of a controller (48;60) at a predetermined frequency of actuation so as to pulse the flow between the heat exchanger and the component, typically to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of turbine blades in use.
Claims19
A cooling system for a gas turbine engine having a compressor, a combustor and a turbine section arranged to receive combustion products from the combustor, the cooling system comprising:
- ducting defining a flow path from the compressor to a component to be cooled within the turbine section, wherein said ducting bypasses the combustor and includes at least one heat exchanger for cooling the air received from the compressor in use;
- one or more valves in said flow path;
- and
- a controller arranged to control actuation of the valve at a predetermined frequency so as to modify the flow in the flow path to the component in an oscillating manner wherein the component has a fluid washed surface and the predetermined frequency of actuation of the valve is set by the controller according to one or more gas turbine engine operating parameters in order to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the component in use.
A method of cooling in a gas turbine engine having a compressor, a combustor and a turbine section arranged to receive combustion products from the combustor, the method comprising:
- ducting compressed gas from the compressor to a component to be cooled within the turbine section, wherein said ducting bypasses the combustor;
- delivering at least a portion of the compressed gas to the component through a valve and controlling actuation of the valve at a predetermined frequency so as to modify the supply of cooling flow to said component in an oscillating manner.
A gas turbine engine cooling system controller, the controller comprising machine readable instructions for actuation of a valve in a flow path between a compressor and a turbine of the gas turbine engine at a predetermined actuation frequency.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.