Gas turbine engine control system having integral flight Mach number synthesis method
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorJoseph D'Onofrio
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Abstract
A gas turbine engine digital electronic control is disclosed which is capable of maintaining safe, efficient engine thrust levels in the event of loss of communication with an aircraft flight computer. Specifically, a limited number of engine sensor inputs are used in combination with an engine performance schedule to derive total inlet pressure. A compressible flow calculation yields flight Mach number which is used in a power management module to control engine power settings, such as corrected fan speed in a turbofan engine. Various correction factors and scalars are provided to configure the control for a variety of installation configurations, as well as improve system accuracy.
Claims10
For an aircraft installed gas turbine engine having a compressor driven by a high pressure turbine and a thrust producing fan driven by a low pressure turbine, a control system of said engine for modulating engine thrust based on an aircraft flight Mach number (Mn) value computed in said control system comprising:
- means for measuring a first operating parameter of said engine;
- means for generating a system ratio parameter based on said first operating parameter according to a predetermined engine schedule;
- means for measuring a second operating parameter of said engine;
- means for dividing said second operating parameter by said system ratio parameter to yield a calculated first quotient;
- means for measuring a third operating parameter of said engine;
- means for dividing said first quotient by said third operating parameter to yield a calculated second quotient;
- means for generating an aircraft Mn value based on said second quotient according to a predetermined relationship;
- and
- means for utilizing said aircraft Mn value in a power management module of said engine control to regulate said first operating parameter to produce a predetermined thrust value.
For an aircraft installed gas turbine engine having a compressor driven by a high pressure turbine and a thrust producing fan driven by a low pressure turbine, a method of modulating engine thrust based on an aircraft flight Mach number (Mn) value computed in a control of said engine, comprising the steps of:
- measuring a first operating parameter of said engine;
- generating a system ratio parameter based on said first operating parameter according to a predetermined engine schedule;
- measuring a second operating parameter of said engine;
- dividing said second operating parameter by said system ratio parameter to yield a calculated first quotient;
- measuring a third operating parameter of said engine;
- dividing said first quotient by said third operating parameter to yield a calculated second quotient;
- generating an aircraft Mn value based on said second quotient according to a predetermined relationship;
- and
- utilizing said aircraft Mn value in a power management module of said engine control to regulate said first operating parameter to produce a predetermined thrust value.
For an aircraft installed gas turbine engine having a compressor driven by a high pressure turbine and a thrust producing fan driven by a low pressure turbine, a method of modulating engine thrust based on an aircraft flight Mach number (Mn) value computed in a control of said engine, comprising the steps of:
- measuring a first operating parmameter of said engine;
- measuring a second operating parameter of said engine;
- generating a first correction factor based on said second operating parameter according to a first predetermined relationship;
- multiplying said first operating parameter by said correction factor to produce a first corrected operating parameter;
- generating a system ratio parameter based on said first corrected operating parameter according to a predetermined engine schedule;
- measuring a third operating parameter of said engine;
- dividing said third operating parameter by said system ratio parameter to yield a calculated first quotient;
- measuring a fourth operating parameter of said engine;
- dividing said first quotient by said fourth operating parameter to yield a calculated second quotient;
- generating an aircraft Mn value based on said second quotient according to a second predetermined relationship;
- and
- utilizing said aircraft Mn value in a power management module of said engine control to regulate said first corrected operating parameter to produce a predetermined thrust value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.