Variable pitch rotor assembly for a gas turbine engine inlet

Abstract

A cospander for extending the high efficiency range of a turbine engine is described. A cospander, in one aspect, is a turbomachinery device including at least one stage wherein stator vane and rotor blade rows are continuously variable to an extent that each stage can be operated in compression, expansion, or null modes depending on the blade and vane angles at any specific operating point. Such a device placed ahead or within a typical compressor has the effect of reducing, increasing, or maintaining the through flow of the primary working fluid. Such flow variation control can be used to achieve the desired overall turbomachinery thermal efficiency improvements over a wider operating range than is otherwise possible. In one specific embodiment, for example, the cospander includes a variable stator vane and a variable pitch rotor blade in series flow relationship.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.