Back to results
US 2014/0271118 A1Published application
Gas turbine engine lubrication system
AssigneeROLLS-ROYCE plc
InventorLarry A. Junod
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A lubrication system for a gas turbine engine is disclosed. The lubrication system is configured to provide pressurized air and lubricant to a bearing sump of the gas turbine engine to cool and lubricate a bearing included in the bearing sump.
Claims20
A gas turbine engine comprising
- an engine core including an inlet, a compressor, a turbine, and an exhaust,
- a bearing sump arranged in the engine core, and
- a non-recirculating lubrication system including a lubricant reservoir coupled to the bearing sump to provide lubricant to the bearing sump, an air system coupled to the bearing sump and configured to provide pressurized air to the bearing sump to cool a bearing included in the bearing sump and to blow lubricant onto the bearing, and a vent coupled to the bearing sump and to the atmosphere, wherein the vent is sized to conduct the lubricant provided by the lubricant reservoir and pressurized air provided by the air system to the atmosphere after the lubricant and pressurized air enter the bearing sump so that lubricant is not recirculated in the bearing sump.
A gas turbine engine comprising
- an engine core including an inlet, a compressor, a turbine, and an exhaust
- a bearing sump arranged in the engine core, and
- an air system coupled to the bearing sump and configured to provide pressurized air to the bearing sump to cool a bearing included in the bearing sump, the air system including (i) a delivery line coupled to the bearing sump to deliver pressurized air to the bearing sump, (ii) a first bleed line coupled to the engine core to receive pressurized air from the engine core for transportation to the bearing by the delivery line, (iii) a heat exchanger filled with a coolant coupled between the delivery line and the first bleed line to cool air before delivery to the bearing sump, and (iv) a vent valve coupled to the heat exchanger, the vent valve configured to vent coolant to the atmosphere during operation of the gas turbine engine based on the temperature of the coolant to control pressure and phase of the coolant in the heat exchanger in order to provide a predetermined amount of cooling to pressurized air passing through the heat exchanger.
A method of operating a gas turbine engine comprising
- conducting lubricant from a lubricant reservoir to a bearing sump included in the gas turbine engine,
- conducting pressurized air to the bearing sump from an engine core included in the gas turbine engine to blow the lubricant onto a bearing included in the bearing sump, and
- venting substantially all the lubricant and pressurized air from the bearing sump to the atmosphere without recirculating the lubricant so that heat absorbed from the bearing sump by the lubricant and the pressurized air is removed from the bearing sump.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.