General Electric Company

Daniel Lawrence Tweedt

Syed Arif Khalid

Andrew Breeze-Stringfellow

William Joseph Bowden

Sara Elizabeth Carle

Kishore Ramakrishnan

David Baker Riddle

Brandon Wayne Miller

Randy M Vondrell

Kurt David Murrow

Tsuguji Nakano

David Marion Ostdiek

Richard David Cedar

William Joseph Solomon

Kevin Edward Hinderliter

Patrick John Lonneman

Jeffrey S Spruill

Valeria Andreoli

Aleksander Piotr Pasieczny

A gas turbine engine is provided, comprising: a turbomachine having a compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section in serial flow order; and a fan section having a fan drivingly coupled to the turbomachine and an airflow surface rotatable with the fan and exposed to a fan airflow provided to and through the fan during operation of the gas turbine engine, the airflow surface defining a plurality of boundary layer openings configured to ingest a boundary layer of the fan airflow over the airflow surface during operation of the gas turbine engine.

Gas turbine engine

The present disclosure is generally related to aircraft having one or more unducted fan propulsors at locations within specific regions relative to an airfoil, such as a wing or horizontal stabilizer. More specifically, the specific regions are located where there is a relatively higher pressure air flow beneath the wings or above a horizontal stabilizer. That higher pressure air flow can be utilized to provide increased thrust from the unducted fan propulsor.

Aircraft with an unducted fan propulsor

The present disclosure is generally related to a vane assembly for an open fan engine having a rotor and a stator. The vane assembly is a plurality of vanes each arranged about the stator. Each of the vanes of the vane assembly has a leading edge (LE) with a leading edge angle (LEA). A combination of aircraft angle of attack, sideslip, and upwash due to lifting bodies can create a flow angularity into the engine. The leading edge angle (LEA) of each of the vanes varies depending upon the circumferential location about the stator so that the impact on the flow angularity into the engine is reduced or increased in different circumferential regions.

Vane assembly for open fan engine

Apparatuses and systems are provided herein for unducted propulsion systems. The system includes a forward housing for high efficiency for high subsonic sustained flight. A plurality of blades are affixed to the forward housing, wherein the forward housing defines a flowpath curve extending from the forward-most end of the forward housing through the axial extent of a forward blade root. The flowpath curve is described by an axial direction parallel to an axis of rotation and a radius from the axis of rotation. The flowpath curve includes a first point having a first radius where the radius reaches a maximum forward of the forward blade root and a second point aft of the first point having a second radius where the radius stops decreasing. The ratio of the first radius to the second radius is greater than or equal to 1.029.

Unducted propulsion system

Apparatuses and systems are provided herein for unducted propulsion systems. The system includes an aft housing for low drag for high subsonic sustained flight. A plurality of blades are affixed to the aft housing, wherein the housing defines a flowpath curve extending from the axial extent of the aft blade root to the aft end of the aft housing. The flowpath curve is described by an axial direction parallel to an axis of rotation and a radius from the axis of rotation. The flowpath curve includes first point having a first radius where the radius reaches a maximum aft of the aft blade root and a second point forward of the first point having a second radius where the radius stops decreasing. The ratio of the first radius to the second radius is greater than or equal to 1.081.

An unducted airfoil assembly includes an airfoil having spaced-apart pressure and suction sides extending radially in span from a root to a tip, and extending axially in chord between spaced apart leading and trailing edges. The airfoil defines a forward-most axial point and is arranged around a longitudinal axis and rotates about the longitudinal axis in a rotational direction. A tip leading edge of the airfoil is circumferentially offset in a direction opposite the rotational direction relative to a circumferential location of the forward-most axial point.

Unducted airfoil assembly

A blade for an open rotor includes a pressure side and a suction side, the pressure side and the suction side intersecting at a leading edge and a trailing edge, wherein for at least 30% of a span of the blade, the meanline of the airfoil section is shaped such that a relative curvature parameter is greater than 1.2 in a first region, less than 0.75 in a second region, and greater than 0.9 in a third region, wherein the relative curvature parameter of a region is defined by Δζ/Δζ/Δ(x/c)wherein ζ corresponds to the inverse tangent of the slope of a meanline curve, subscript n indicates the region, and x/c is a chordwise location normalized by the chord and wherein the first region comprises at least x/c=0.0 to 0.15 and the third region comprises at least x/c=0.80 to 1.0.

Low-noise blade for an open rotor

A blade for an open rotor includes a pressure side and a suction side, the pressure side and the suction side intersecting at a leading edge and a trailing edge, wherein for at least 30% of a span of the blade, the meanline of the airfoil section is shaped such that a relative curvature parameter is greater than 1.75 in a first region, less than 0.75 in a second region, and greater than 1.2 in a third region, wherein the relative curvature parameter of a region is defined by &#x394;&#x3b6;/&#x394;&#x3b6;/&#x394;(x/c)wherein &#x3b6; corresponds to the inverse tangent of the slope of a meanline curve, subscript n indicates the region, and x/c is a chordwise location normalized by the chord, and wherein the first region comprises at least x/c=0.0 to 0.10 and the third region comprises at least x/c=0.85 to 1.0.

A lift fan apparatus includes: a rotor having at least one rotatable hub carrying at least one row of blades; a duct surrounding the rotor, the duct including spaced-apart peripheral walls extending between an inlet and an exit, the peripheral walls collectively defining a flow channel which includes a diffuser disposed downstream of the rotor, in which a flow area at the exit is greater than a flow area at the rotor; and a plurality of spaced-apart splitters disposed in the diffuser, each of the splitters having opposed side walls extending between an upstream leading edge and a downstream trailing edge, wherein the splitters divide the diffuser into a plurality of side-by-side flow passages.

Lift fan with diffuser duct

A ducted fan is provided including a fan casing surrounding a plurality of fan blades mounted to a rotating drive shaft. The plurality of blades define a tip stagger angle of greater than 68 degrees and the fan casing defines an annular recess defined by an inner wall of the fan casing, the annular recess extending about the circumferential direction proximate a blade tip of each of the plurality of blades. The annular recess may define an average recess depth greater than 10 percent of the tip chord length. The annular recess may also define a length ratio equal to a recess length over the tip axial chord length that is greater than 1.5.

Ducted fan with fan casing defining an over-rotor cavity

A heat exchanger apparatus includes: spaced-apart peripheral walls extending between an inlet and an outlet, the peripheral walls collectively defining a flow channel which includes a diverging portion downstream of the inlet, in which a flow area is greater than a flow area at the inlet; a plurality of spaced-apart fins disposed in the flow channel, each of the fins having opposed side walls extending between an upstream leading edge and a downstream trailing edge, wherein the fins divide at least the diverging portion of the flow channel into a plurality of side-by-side flow passages; and a heat transfer structure disposed within at least one of the fins.

Growing community of inventors

West Chester, OH, United States of America

Daniel Lawrence Tweedt