General Electric Company

David Lance Pennekamp

Christopher Charles Glynn

Stephen Craig Mitchell

Donald George LaChapelle

Donald Lee Gardner

Edward Atwood Rainous

Mullahalli Venkataramaniah Srinivas

Leonard Paul Grammel, Jr

Ralph Henry Winslow, Jr

Donald George Lachapelle

An assembly includes a unitary nacelle structure and an integrated fan housing for a gas turbine engine assembly. The unitary nacelle structure includes an inlet region and a fan cowl region, and is configured to at least partially circumscribe the integrated fan housing. The integrated fan housing comprises an integral composite structure and includes a fan case sized and configured for encircling a fan blade assembly of an associated gas turbine engine, a fan hub, and a plurality of fan outlet guide vanes. The unitary nacelle structure cooperates with the integrated fan housing to transfer static and dynamic loads directly to a support structure, rather than through the engine core, to minimize backbone bending.

Integrated nacelle assembly

An annular trapped vortex cavity assembly segment comprising includes a cavity forward wall, a cavity aft wall, and a cavity radially outer wall therebetween defining a cavity segment therein. A cavity opening extends between the forward and aft walls at a radially inner end of the assembly segment. Radially spaced apart pluralities of air injection first and second holes extend through the forward and aft walls respectively. The segment may include first and second expansion joint features at distal first and second ends respectively of the segment. The segment may include a forward subcomponent including the cavity forward wall attached to an aft subcomponent including the cavity aft wall. The forward and aft subcomponents include forward and aft portions of the cavity radially outer wall respectively. A ring of the segments may be circumferentially disposed about an axis to form an annular segmented vortex cavity assembly.

Segmented trapped vortex cavity

Growing community of inventors

Hamilton, OH, United States of America

David Lance Pennekamp