Gas turbine engine with attached nosecone

#This application is a non-provisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 61/746,784, filed Dec. 28, 2012. All references are incorporated herein.

#The present disclosure relates generally to gas turbine engines and, more particularly, to nosecones for gas turbine engines.

#A gas turbine engine is a type of power plant commonly used for generating thrust for aircrafts, power for land or sea based operations, or other applications. A typical gas turbine engine includes an inlet section for drawing in a large mass of air, a compressor section for receiving and compressing the large mass of air to provide high-pressure air, a combustion section for mixing and combusting air and fuel, and a turbine section for receiving combustion gases and causing turbine blades to rotate to generate the aforementioned thrust or power.

#FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a gas turbine engine.

#FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view showing a nosecone attached to an inlet guide vane (IGV) inner shroud of a gas turbine engine via a support ring, in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure.

#FIG. 3 shows a portion of FIG. 2 in an enlarged form.

#Referring now to the drawings, and with specific reference to FIG. 1, a gas turbine engine is generally referred to by reference numeral 2. As depicted and described herein, gas turbine engine 2 may be an industrial gas turbine engine such as those used in land-based power generation or the like. As shown herein, gas turbine engine 2 may generally include compressor section 3A mounted to central shaft 4A. Downstream of compressor section 3A is an annular combustion chamber 5. Downstream of combustion chamber 5 is turbine section 6A also mounted to central shaft 4A.

#In the illustrated embodiment, gas turbine engine 2 also includes compressor section 3B and turbine section 6B connected by shaft 4B. Compressor section 3A can be a low pressure compressor section, compressor section 3B can be a high pressure compressor section, turbine section 6B can be a high pressure turbine section, and turbine section 6A can be a low pressure turbine section. Shafts 4A and 4B are concentric and can rotate about centerline axis CL. Turbine section 6C is a power turbine section rotating independently from and positioned downstream of turbine sections 6A and 6B. Turbine section 6C may, for example, drive an electrical generator, pump, or gearbox (not shown).

#Accordingly, it can be seen that, generally speaking, gas turbine engine 2 works by having compressor sections 3A and 3B draw in ambient air and compressing the same. That compressed air is then delivered to combustion chamber 5 where it is ignited, with the resulting hot combustion gases then being delivered to turbine sections 6A, 6B, and 6C. The hot expanding combustion gases cause the blades of turbine section 6A to rotate, and as they are mounted on the same shaft 4A as the blades of compressor section 3A, compressor section 3A rotates as well to create a self-sustaining cycle. Similarly, the hot expanding combustion gases cause the blades of turbine section 6B to rotate, and as they are mounted on the same shaft 4B as the blades of compressor section 3B, compressor section 3B rotates as well to create a self-sustaining cycle. The hot expanding combustion gases then flow downstream to cause the blades of turbine section 6C to rotate, driving the connected electrical generator, pump, gearbox, or other load.