Gas turbine engine with a variable exit area fan nozzle, nacelle assembly of such a engine, and corresponding operating method
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsConstantine Baltas, Joseph R. Hauser
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A turbofan engine includes a fan variable area nozzle having a multiple of vents through a fan nacelle and a sleeve system movable relative to the vents by an actuator system. The fan variable area nozzle changes the effective area of the fan nozzle exit area to permit efficient operation at predefined pressure ratios. The vents include a grid structure which directs and smoothes the airflow therethrough as well as to reduce noise generation.
Claims15
A nacelle assembly for a gas turbine engine comprising:
- a core nacelle defined about an axis;
- a fan nacelle mounted at least partially around said core nacelle, said fan nacelle having a multiple of vents within or directly adjacent to an aftmost fan nacelle end segment relative to a direction of flow though the fan nacelle, said multiple of vents in communication with a fan bypass flow;
- and
- a sleeve movable relative to said multiple of vents and said fan nacelle end segment to vary an effective fan nozzle exit area.
A method of varying an effective fan nozzle exit area of a gas turbine engine comprising the steps of:
- (A) selectively moving a sleeve relative to an aftmost fan nacelle end segment and a multiple of vents within or directly adjacent to the fan nacelle end segment, the multiple vents in communication with a bypass flow to vary a fan nozzle exit area in response to a flight condition, the multiple of vents are entirely aft all fan supporting structures extending from the core nacelle to the fan nacelle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.