Rolls-royce Corporation

Rolls-royce North American Technologies Inc.

Bronwyn Power

Roy David Fulayter

Jonathan M Rivers

Daniel Kent Vetters

Liping Xu

Aaron Joseph King

Steven Robert Wellborn

Greg Hebert

Aaron King

An apparatus comprises a gas turbine engine having a compressor for increasing a total pressure of a working fluid prior to delivery to a combustor for mixing with fuel. The compressor has a plurality of airfoil members that extend between a first flow surface and a second flow surface. The plurality of airfoil members have a first camber shape at a tip portion that provides a cumulative integral according to the relationship where x is chord location, &#x3b2;is inlet metal angle, &#x3b2;is exit metal angle, and &#x3b2; is a camber angle at a given chord location.

Gas turbine engine airfoil shaped component

A fan system includes a rotor having plurality of blades and a ring airfoil, the plurality of blades being rotatably joined to a hub and the ring airfoil. The fan system may include a second contra-rotationally disposed rotor having a plurality of blades and a ring airfoil. The first and second ring airfoils having a cambered shape and an angle of attack between about &#x2212;5 degrees and about 45 degrees. Passive leading edge slats are attached to the ring airfoil and are configured to open and close using springs.

Thrust ring and rotor fan system with passive leading edge slats

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, a pressure recovery axial compressor blade is provided. The blade may comprise a high pressure surface and a low pressure surface connected at a leading edge and a trailing edge of the blade. Both the high and low pressure surfaces extend span wise from a first end to a second end. At least one of the high and low pressure surfaces has a finite discontinuity in curvature at an intermediate position along the chord of the blade.

Pressure recovery axial-compressor blading

A fan system includes a rotor having plurality of blades and a ring airfoil, the plurality of blades being rotatably joined to a hub and the ring airfoil. The fan system may include a second contra-rotationally disposed rotor having a plurality of blades and a ring airfoil. The first and second ring airfoils having a cambered shape and an angle of attack between about &#x2212;5 degrees and about 45 degrees, more preferably between about 5 degrees and about 30 degrees. Optionally, an outlet guide vane may be mounted rearward of the one or more rotors having a ring airfoil.

Thrust-ring and rotor fan system

A gas turbine engine airflow member is disclosed having spherical interface shapes at a tip end and a hub end. In one embodiment, the airflow member is a fan blade. The spherical interface shapes can be convex or concave. In one form, the tip end spherical shape is axially shifted aft relative to a hub end. The tip end can include relatively little forward portion in an expanding flow path with predominant portion of the tip end in a contracting flow path. Such a configuration can occur with a midpoint and trailing edge located in the contracting flow path. A center of gravity of a swept airflow member having spherical end shape can be located on a pivot axis of the airflow member. Divot depressions can be provided to permit concave flow path shapes.

Variable pitch fan for a gas turbine engine

A gas turbine engine strut has a forebody positioned upstream of a point of maximum thickness and an aft body positioned downstream of the point of maximum thickness. The aft body has a discontinuity in a curvature distribution which provides for a 'subsonic shock.' The discontinuity in curvature distribution can include in inflection point that marks a transition from a curvature associated with an upstream portion of the aft body to a second curvature associated with a downstream portion of the aft body. In some forms, the aft body can additionally include boundary layer aspiration. The gas turbine engine strut can be symmetrical about a centerline.

Subsonic shock strut

A turbine engine casing flow-path segment that is locally diffusing, followed by a flow-path segment contracting in the vicinity of a fan blade. This contraction accelerates the fluid flow axially forward of the fan blade leading edge at the tip and converges with the linear flow-path aft of the fan blade leading edge but forward of the fan blade trailing edge. More diffused fluid flow results in increased flow capacity of the fan, and increased fan efficiency.

Turbine engine flow path

An apparatus comprises a gas turbine engine having a compressor. The compressor airfoil member is disposed in the compressor and has a camber angle variation along a chord and a concave pressure side surface at a tip portion of the compressor airfoil member from a leading edge to an intermediate-chord location. This first camber shape results in a normalized camber angle that reaches at least 0.4 in the first 10% of normalized chord, and the normalized camber angle is defined as where &#x3b2;is inlet metal angle, &#x3b2;is exit metal angle, and &#x3b2; is a camber angle at a given chord location.

Gas turbine engine airflow member having spherical end

A flow path surface of a gas turbine engine at the location of a bladed component is disclosed in which the flow path surface includes a cylindrical upstream side and a conical downstream side. The bladed component is located at the intersection of the cylindrical upstream side and the conical downstream side. The cylindrical upstream side can extend from a leading edge of the bladed component, or a point upstream of it, to a location between the leading edge and trailing edge of the component. The conical downstream side can extend past the trailing edge of the bladed component. The bladed component can be a fan blade or a compressor blade.

Gas turbine engine flow path geometry

A gas turbine engine airfoil shaped component is disclosed including in one form a compressor blade or vane having a tip portion capable of producing a relatively low pressure near the leading edge of the tip to induce a local jet of stream-wise momentum flow. In one form the tip portion includes a camber angle distribution that produces relatively large change in camber angle near the leading edge but relatively flat distribution for remainder of blade. In one form the tip portion includes relatively large change in camber angle near trailing edge.

A blade for a compressor having a pressure surface and a suction surface. The suction surface includes a discontinuity in the chord-wise curvature of an intermediate portion of the suction surface between the blade leading edge and blade trailing edge, and a slot arranged along at least a portion of the blade in a substantially span-wise direction. The slot being disposed at or near the change in curvature, such that when in use lower momentum fluid near the suction surface is aspirated into the slot.

Growing community of inventors

Indianapolis, IN, United States of America

Bronwyn Power