Ge Avio S.r.l.

C.r.f. Societa Consortile Per Azioni

General Electric Company

Ge Aviation Czech S.r.o.

Osmo S.r.l.

Andrea Piazza

Marco Garabello

Gianluigi Pregnolato

Bugra Han Ertas

Valter Pastorello

Fabio De Bellis

Ravindra Shankar Ganiger

Pietro Molesini

Fabio Pesola

Brandon Wayne Miller

Arthur William Sibbach

Miriam Manzoni

Jeffrey Donald Clements

Xiaohua Zhang

Flavia Turi

Juraj Hrubec

Gianni Piacenza

Narayanan Payyoor

Weize Kang

Sanjeev Kumar Jha

Lawrence Laba

Gontla Nagashiresha

Diana Di Gioia

Lorenzo Rigo

Darek Tomasz Zatorski

Stefan Joseph Cafaro

David Marion Ostdiek

Eric Richard Westervelt

Michele Gravina

Andrew Hudecki

Kevin Richard Graziano

Dario Caenazzo

Leonardo Coviello

Inenhe Mohammed Khalid

Carlo Emilio Baret

Gian Luigi Pregnolato

Davide Lercara

Lucia Azzini

Fabrizio Nicoletti

Ludovico Massignan

A gas turbine engine includes a fan, a combustor positioned in a core air flowpath that generates combustion gases, a steam system that extracts water from the combustion gases and generates steam, and a gearbox assembly. The steam system includes water storage devices that store the water therein. The water storage devices include a first state in which a level of the water increases or is maintained and a second state in which the level of the water decreases as the water flows through the water storage devices. The gearbox assembly includes a gearbox and a gutter for collecting a gearbox lubricant scavenge flow from the gearbox. The gutter is characterized by a lubricant extraction volume ratio between 0.01 and 0.3, inclusive of the endpoints. The lubricant extraction volume ratio defined by: is a gutter volume of the gutter and Vis a gearbox volume.

Gearbox assembly with lubricant extraction volume ratio

A component includes a metallic substrate having a tribological surface and a coating. The coating includes a first layer disposed on the tribological surface and a second layer disposed on the first layer. The first layer includes titanium, chromium, or a diamond-like carbon (DLC). The second layer includes a disulfide.

Coating for a tribological surface of a component

A lubrication system for a turbine engine. The turbine engine includes a propulsor and rotating components. The lubrication system includes a sump, a primary lubrication system, an auxiliary lubrication system, and a kinetic energy storage system. The sump stores lubricant. The primary lubrication system supplies the lubricant from the sump to the rotating components during normal operation of the turbine engine. The auxiliary lubrication system includes an auxiliary pump. The kinetic energy storage system includes a rotating lubricant accumulator. The auxiliary pump pumps the lubricant from the sump to the rotating lubricant accumulator to at least partially fill the rotating lubricant accumulator with the lubricant during the normal operation of the turbine engine to store kinetic energy. The rotating lubricant accumulator releases the kinetic energy when the propulsor is windmilling to supply the lubricant from the rotating lubricant accumulator to the rotating components.

Lubrication system for a turbine engine

A mounting assembly for a gearbox assembly of a gas turbine engine includes at least one mounting member configured to mount a gear of the gearbox assembly to a component of the gas turbine engine, the at least one mounting member characterized by a lateral impedance parameter, a bending impedance parameter, and a torsional impedance parameter. A gas turbine engine includes the mounting assembly. The at least one mounting member may be a flex mount, a fan frame, or a flex coupling. The gear includes a first gear that is a split sun gear including a forward sun gear and an aft sun gear separate from the forward sun gear. The forward sun gear and the aft sun gear are each rotationally coupled to a rotating shaft of the gas turbine engine.

Mounting assembly for a gearbox assembly

A gas turbine engine includes a fan section having a fan rotatable with a fan shaft, a turbomachinery section having a turbine and a turbomachine shaft rotatable with the turbine, a power gearbox mechanically coupled to the fan shaft and the turbomachine shaft such that the fan shaft is rotatable by the turbomachine shaft across the power gearbox, a grounded structure coupled to and supporting the power gearbox, and a torque monitoring system. The torque monitoring system includes a gearbox sensor. The gearbox sensor is coupled to the grounded structure and the torque monitoring system configured to determine a torque across the power gearbox using the gearbox sensor.

System and method for detecting and reducing torque in a turbine engine

A lubrication system for a turbine engine. The turbine engine includes a propulsor and one or more rotating components. The lubrication system includes a sump, a primary lubrication system, an auxiliary lubrication system, and a kinetic energy storage system. The sump stores lubricant therein. The primary lubrication system supplies the lubricant from the sump to the one or more rotating components during normal operation of the turbine engine. The auxiliary lubrication system includes an auxiliary pump including an auxiliary pump shaft. The kinetic energy storage system includes a flywheel that engages the auxiliary pump shaft to power the auxiliary pump when the propulsor is windmilling such that the auxiliary pump pumps the lubricant from the sump to the one or more rotating components.

A lubrication system for a turbine engine. The turbine engine includes a propulsor and one or more rotating components. The lubrication system includes a sump, a primary lubrication system, an auxiliary lubrication system, and a strain energy storage system. The sump stores lubricant therein. The primary lubrication system supplies the lubricant from the sump to the one or more rotating components during normal operation of the turbine engine. The auxiliary lubrication system includes an auxiliary pump including an auxiliary pump shaft. The strain energy storage system includes a spring drivingly coupled to the auxiliary pump shaft. The spring stores strain energy during normal operation of the turbine engine and releases the strain energy when the propulsor is windmilling to rotate the auxiliary pump shaft to power the auxiliary pump such that the auxiliary pump pumps the lubricant from the sump to the one or more rotating components.

A gearbox assembly includes a gearbox and a gutter for collecting a gearbox lubricant scavenge flow from the gearbox. The gutter is characterized by a lubricant extraction volume ratio between 0.01 and 0.3, inclusive of the endpoints. The lubricant extraction volume ratio is defined by Vis a gutter volume of the gutter and Vis a gearbox volume of the gearbox. A gas turbine engine includes the gearbox assembly and a lubrication system. The lubrication system includes a tank that stores a lubricant therein, one or more lubricant pumps for generating a flow of lubricant from the tank to the gearbox assembly, and a flow rate control valve. The flow rate control valve has a flow inlet and a flow outlet and defines a variable throughput from the flow inlet to the flow outlet for controlling a flowrate of the lubricant to the gearbox assembly.

A mounting assembly for a gearbox assembly of a gas turbine engine includes at least one mounting member configured to mount a gear of the gearbox assembly to a component of the gas turbine engine, the at least one mounting member characterized by a lateral impedance parameter, a bending impedance parameter, and a torsional impedance parameter. A gas turbine engine includes the mounting assembly. The at least one mounting member may be a flex mount, a fan frame, or a flex coupling. The gas turbine engine includes an electric power system including at least one electric machine. The electric power system includes a plurality of power converters and a plurality of power distribution management units. At least two of the plurality of power converters or the plurality of power distribution management units are integrated together in a single housing.

A turbomachine engine can include a fan assembly, a vane assembly, a core engine, and a gearbox. The fan assembly can include a plurality of fan blades. The vane assembly can include a plurality of vanes, and the vanes can, in some instances, be disposed aft of the fan blades. The core engine can include one or more compressor sections and one or more turbine sections. The gearbox includes an input and an output. The input is coupled to the one or more turbine sections of the core engine and comprises a first rotational speed, the output is coupled to the fan assembly and has a second rotational speed. A gear ratio of the first rotational speed to the second rotational speed is within a range of 4.1-11.0, and a gearbox oil flow rate at an inlet of the gearbox within a range of 5-25 gallons per minute at a max takeoff condition.

Gearbox efficiency rating for turbomachine engines

A gearbox assembly for a turbine engine. The turbine engine includes an engine static structure. The gearbox assembly includes a gear assembly, an input shaft coupled to the gear assembly, an output shaft drivingly coupled to the input shaft through the gear assembly, and a gearbox assembly disengagement system. The gearbox assembly disengagement system includes a one-way clutch that engages the gearbox assembly to the engine static structure during a normal operation of the turbine engine and disengages the gearbox assembly from the engine static structure during a reverse torque condition.

Gearbox assembly for a turbine engine

A mounting assembly for a gearbox assembly of a gas turbine engine includes at least one mounting member configured to mount a gear of the gearbox assembly to a component of the gas turbine engine, the at least one mounting member characterized by a lateral impedance parameter, a bending impedance parameter, and a torsional impedance parameter. A gas turbine engine includes the mounting assembly. The at least one mounting member may be a flex mount, a fan frame, or a flex coupling. The gas turbine engine also includes a heat exchanger including an inner peripheral wall and an outer peripheral wall extending between an inlet and an outlet. The inner peripheral wall and the outer peripheral wall define a flow channel therebetween. The heat exchanger includes a plurality of fins disposed in the flow channel and dividing the flow channel into a plurality of flow passages.

A differential gearbox assembly for a turbine engine having a fan shaft and a drive shaft. The differential gearbox assembly includes an epicyclic gear assembly coupling the fan shaft to the drive shaft. The epicyclic gear assembly includes a sun gear, a planet gear constrained by a planet carrier, and a ring gear. The sun gear is coupled to the drive shaft and the planet carrier is coupled to the fan shaft. The sun gear, the planet gear, and the ring gear all rotate about the drive shaft. The differential gearbox assembly includes an electric machine assembly that includes an input coupled to the epicyclic gear assembly. The electric machine assembly provides mechanical power to the fan shaft through the epicyclic gear assembly.

Differential gearbox assembly for a turbine engine

A gearbox assembly includes a gearbox and a gutter for collecting a gearbox lubricant scavenge flow from the gearbox. The gutter is characterized by a lubricant extraction volume ratio between 0.01 and 0.3, and given by Vis a gutter volume of the gutter and Vis a gearbox volume. A gas turbine engine includes a combustion section and the gearbox assembly. A fuel delivery system includes a fuel supply line for delivering fuel to the combustion section. A lubrication system includes a lubricant supply line for delivering lubricant to the gearbox assembly. A thermal management system includes a fuel-lubricant heat exchanger for cooling the lubricant with the fuel. The thermal management system selectively directs the fuel through fuel bypass lines or the lubricant through lubricant bypass lines to bypass the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger based on a fuel temperature or a lubricant temperature.

A gas turbine engine includes a gearbox assembly that includes a gearbox and a gutter for collecting a gearbox lubricant scavenge flow from the gearbox. The gutter is characterized by a lubricant extraction volume ratio between 0.01 and 0.3, inclusive of the endpoints. The lubricant extraction volume ratio defined by: is a gutter volume of the gutter and Vis a gearbox volume. The gas turbine engine includes a lubricant flow control system that includes a variable flow lubricant pump that generates a pump variable flow of lubricant to the gearbox assembly. The gearbox assembly has a variable consumption demand for delivery of lubricant. A lubricant flow controller is configured to generate a pump control command for the variable flow lubricant pump to produce the pump variable flow of lubricant based on the variable consumption demand.

Growing community of inventors

Orbassano, Italy

Andrea Piazza