Rtx Corporation

Collin P Fitzgerald

Jorn Axel Glahn

Gregory M Dooley

An assembly is provided for a turbine engine. This assembly includes a rotating structure rotatable about an axis, a stationary structure and a bearing. The stationary structure forms a bearing compartment, a buffer cavity, a low pressure cavity and a high pressure cavity with the rotating structure. The buffer cavity surrounds the bearing compartment. The low pressure cavity surrounds the buffer cavity. The high pressure cavity surrounds the low pressure cavity. The bearing is within the bearing compartment. The bearing rotatably couples the rotating structure to the stationary structure.

Buffer air system for a bearing compartment

A method of operation is provided during which buffer air flows into a buffer cavity in a turbine engine. The buffer cavity surrounds a bearing compartment in the turbine engine. Leakage air flows across a buffer seal device in the turbine engine. The buffer air and the leakage air are combined to provide combined air. The combined air is vented to a pressure sink such that: a pressure of the buffer air within the buffer cavity is maintained at or below a maximum buffer air threshold during operation of the turbine engine; and a flowrate of the leakage air across the buffer seal device is maintained at or above a minimum leakage air threshold during the operation of the turbine engine.

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S. Glastonbury, CT, United States of America

Collin P Fitzgerald