Jet engine with active-magnetic bearing
AssigneeMTU Aero Engines AG
InventorJohn Sharp
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A jet engine includes a shaft rotatably supported in a bearing arrangement, a compressor and a turbine arranged on the shaft, and an electromechanical unit arranged centrally about the shaft axis to provide a motor function for starting the jet engine and/or a generator function for a power supply, and a function of an active magnetic bearing arrangement. The electromechanical unit is embodied as a transverse flux machine. The electromechanical unit preferably includes a rotor carrying permanent magnets and a stator with an undulating profiled stator surface.
Claims20
Jet engine, with at least one hollow shaft and/or low pressure shaft rotatably supported in at least one bearing arrangement about a center axis, on which shaft at least one compressor as well as at least one turbine is arranged, whereby the jet engine comprises an electromechanical unit centrally arranged about the center axis, which electromechanical unit is embodied as a starter and/or a generator, and whereby the electromechanical unit is further embodied as an active magnetic bearing arrangement, which supports the hollow shaft and/or low pressure shaft,
- characterized in that the electromechanical unit is embodied as a transverse flux machine,
- wherein the electromechanical unit comprises a rotor carrying permanent magnet segments, and further comprises a stator having a profiled stator surface, and
- wherein the rotor moves about the stator, whereby the profiled stator surface, which stands below the permanent magnet segments rotating thereover, is embodied wave-shaped with stator surface peaks.
A jet engine comprising:
- a shaft extending along an axis;
- a compressor arranged on said shaft;
- a turbine arranged on said shaft;
- and
- an electromechanical transverse flux machine arranged centrally about said axis and comprising an active magnetic bearing arrangement that rotatably supports said shaft to be rotatable about said axis;
- wherein:
- said electromechanical transverse flux machine is further selectively operable as at least one of a starter motor and a generator for said jet engine;
- said electromechanical transverse flux machine comprises a rotatable rotor that carries permanent magnets and is connected to said shaft, and a stator that is mounted stationary relative to said rotor with a spacing gap therebetween;
- and
- adjacent to said rotor, said stator has an undulating profiled stator surface with alternating wave-shaped surface peaks and wave-shaped surface troughs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.