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US 2016/0258440 A1Published application
Gas turbine engine with airfoil dampening system
OwnerMark S. Henryinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gas turbine engine includes a central wheel and a plurality of blades that extend outwardly from the central wheel. The gas turbine system includes a flutter control system that is adapted to use blade tip timing to determine blade flutter and to direct high pressure air from the compressor to the fan blade row to alter the surface unsteady pressure so that it is out of phase with the blade motion to reduce or eliminate fan blade flutter.
Claims20
A fan assembly for a gas turbine engine, comprising:
- a compressor for compressing air entering the gas turbine engine;
- a fan case for encasing the compressor;
- a central fan wheel positioned within the fan case and having a central axis,
- a plurality of fan blades that extend outward from the central fan wheel in a radial direction away from the central axis, each of the fan blades formed to include a leading edge, a trailing edge and a mid chord positioned between the leading and trailing edges;
- a flutter control system comprising at least one optical tip timing sensor positioned within the fan case and a digital controller electrically coupled to the at least one optical tip timing sensor, wherein the flutter control system is adapted to measure blade tip timing of the fan blades and determine when a flutter condition exists, the flutter control system is adapted to direct high pressure air from the compressor toward the fan blades to create a disturbance out of phase with unsteady pressures acting upon the fan blades.
2 more elements
A flutter control system for a gas turbine engine comprising:
- at least one optical tip timing sensor adapted to sense at least the leading edge of a fan blade of the gas turbine engine;
- a digital controller electrically coupled to a plurality of optical tip timing sensor,
- at least one nozzle adapted to direct high pressure air at the fan blades;
- a nozzle actuator in fluid communication with the nozzle and a compressor of the gas turbine engine, the nozzle actuator adapted to selectively allow for the passage of high pressure air from the compressor to the nozzle as directed by the digital controller, wherein the digital controller determines if a flutter or potential flutter condition exists based upon the acquired data from the optical tip timing sensor and causes the nozzle actuator to open to permit high pressure air to flow from the nozzle to dampen the flutter or potential flutter of the fan blade.
1 more element
A method of controlling flutter in a fan included in a gas turbine engine, the method comprising
- measuring blade tip timing of fan blades included in the fan as they rotate about an axis,
- determining when a flutter condition or pre-flutter condition exists, and
- directing high pressure air from a compressor included in the gas turbine engine toward the fan blades to create a disturbance out of phase with unsteady pressures acting upon the fan blades.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.