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AssigneeROLLS-ROYCE plc
InventorsStephen J. BRADBROOK, Martin N. GOODHAND, Paul M. HIELD, Andrew PARSLEY, Natalie C. WONG, Robert J. CORIN, Thomas S. BINNINGTON
Estimating the term…
A turbofan gas turbine engine includes heat exchanger module, fan assembly, compressor, turbine and exhaust modules. The fan includes a plurality of fan blades. The heat exchanger in fluid communicates with the fan assembly by an inlet duct, and the heat exchanger includes a plurality of radially-extending hollow vanes arranged in a circumferential array, with a channel extending axially between each pair of adjacent hollow vanes. An airflow entering the heat exchanger is divided between a set of vane airflows and a set of channel airflows. Each vane airflow has a vane mass flow rate FlowVane, and each channel air flow has a channel mass flow rate FlowChan. Each hollow vane includes, an inlet, heat transfer, and exhaust portions, with the inlet portion comprising a diffuser element and the heat transfer portion including at least one heat transfer element. The diffuser element causes FlowVane to be lower than FlowChan.
A turbofan gas turbine engine comprising, in axial flow sequence, a heat exchanger module, a fan assembly, a compressor module, a turbine module, and an exhaust module, the fan assembly comprising a plurality of fan blades defining a fan diameter (D), the heat exchanger module being in fluid communication with the fan assembly by an inlet duct, the heat exchanger module comprising a plurality of radially-extending hollow vanes arranged in a circumferential array, with a channel extending axially between each pair of adjacent hollow vanes, an airflow entering the heat exchanger module being divided between a set of vane airflows through each hollow vane, each vane airflow having a vane mass flow rate FlowVane, and a set of channel airflows through each channel, each channel air flow having a channel mass flow rate FlowChan, each of the hollow vanes accommodating at least one heat transfer element for the transfer of heat from a first fluid contained within the or each heat transfer element to the corresponding vane airflow passing over a surface of the or each heat transfer element;
A method of operating a turbofan gas turbine engine, the gas turbine engine comprising, in axial flow sequence, a heat exchanger module, an inlet duct, a fan assembly, a compressor module, a turbine module, and an exhaust module, and wherein the method comprises the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.