Air supply control during motoring of a gas turbine engine
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsJesse W. Clauson, David Gelwan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for motoring a gas turbine engine of an aircraft is provided. The system includes an air turbine starter, a starter air valve operable to deliver compressed air to the air turbine starter, and a controller. The controller is operable to control motoring of the gas turbine engine, detect a fault condition that prevents the controller from maintaining a motoring speed below a threshold level, and command a mitigation action that reduces delivery of the compressed air to the air turbine starter based on detection of the fault condition.
Claims20
A system for motoring a gas turbine engine of an aircraft, the system comprising:
- an air turbine starter;
- a starter air valve operable to deliver compressed air to the air turbine starter;
- and
- a controller operable to control motoring of the gas turbine engine, detect a fault condition that prevents the controller from maintaining a motoring speed below a threshold level, and command a mitigation action that reduces delivery of the compressed air to the air turbine starter based on detection of the fault condition.
A system of an aircraft, the system comprising:
- an auxiliary power unit operable to supply compressed air to the aircraft;
- an engine control interface operable to communicate with the auxiliary power unit on a digital communication bus;
- an air turbine starter operable to drive rotation of a starting spool of a gas turbine engine of the aircraft in response to the compressed air;
- a starter air valve operable to deliver the compressed air to the air turbine starter;
- and
- a controller operable to control motoring of the starting spool by the air turbine starter, detect a fault condition that prevents the controller from maintaining a motoring speed below a threshold level, and send a command to the engine control interface to initiate a mitigation action that reduces delivery of the compressed air to the air turbine starter based on detection of the fault condition.
A method for air supply control during motoring of a gas turbine engine, the method comprising:
- commanding, by a controller, a starter air valve to control delivery of compressed air to an air turbine starter during motoring of the gas turbine engine;
- detecting a fault condition that prevents the controller from maintaining a motoring speed below a threshold level;
- and
- commanding a mitigation action that reduces delivery of the compressed air to the air turbine starter based on detecting the fault condition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.