Hybrid helicopter power plant
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsEric S. DUROCHER, Michel LABRECQUE
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A compact hybrid helicopter power plant includes a thermal engine including a rotatable output shaft, a main gearbox drivingly connecting the output shaft of the thermal engine to a main rotor of a helicopter, and an electric machine operable as a motor and as a generator drivingly connected to the output shaft of the thermal engine. The main gearbox has an input shaft drivingly connected to the output shaft of the thermal engine for common rotation with the output shaft of the thermal engine. A rotor of the electric machine is drivingly connected to the output shaft of the thermal engine for common rotation with the output shaft of the thermal engine. The thermal engine is disposed between the main gearbox and the electric machine.
Claims20
A hybrid helicopter power plant comprising:
- a thermal engine including an output shaft rotatable about a shaft axis;
- a main gearbox drivingly connecting the output shaft of the thermal engine to a main rotor of a helicopter, the main gearbox having an input shaft drivingly connected to the output shaft of the thermal engine for common rotation with the output shaft of the thermal engine;
- and
- an electric machine operable as a motor and as a generator, a rotor of the electric machine being drivingly connected to the output shaft of the thermal engine for common rotation with the output shaft of the thermal engine, the thermal engine being disposed axially between the main gearbox and the electric machine relative to the shaft axis.
A helicopter comprising:
- a main rotor;
- an anti-torque rotor;
- a gas turbine engine including a turbine shaft having a turbine disk mounted thereto for extracting energy from combustion gas;
- a main gearbox drivingly connecting the turbine shaft of the gas turbine engine to the main rotor, the helicopter being devoid of a speed-reducing gear train drivingly connecting the turbine shaft to the main gearbox;
- an electric machine operable as a motor and as a generator, the electric machine being drivingly connected to the turbine shaft, the turbine disk being disposed axially between the main gearbox and the electric machine;
- and
- an electric anti-torque motor drivingly connected to the anti-torque rotor and operable using electric energy generated by the electric machine.
A method of operating a hybrid helicopter power plant including:
- a gas turbine engine;
- a main gearbox drivingly connecting the gas turbine engine to a main rotor of the helicopter;
- an electric machine drivingly connected to the gas turbine engine;
- and an electric motor drivingly connected to an anti-torque device of the helicopter, the method comprising:
- driving a rotatable turbine shaft of a gas turbine engine at a shaft speed;
- driving, with a first axial end of the turbine shaft, an input shaft of the main gearbox at the shaft speed;
- driving, with a second axial end of the turbine shaft axially opposite the first axial end of the turbine shaft, the electric machine at the shaft speed;
- while the electric machine is driven at the shaft speed, operating the electric machine as a generator to generate electric energy;
- and
- driving the electric motor drivingly connected to the anti-torque device using the electric energy that is generated by the electric machine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.