General Electric Company

The United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of the

The United States of America As Represented by the United States

George A Coffinberry

John Frederick Ackerman

William Randolph Stowell

Howard B Kast

Gary L Leonard

Monica M Lau

Ching-Pang Lee

Michael J Epstein

Adrian M Beltran

John Herbert Wood

Neil Richard Garrigan

Kevin Richard Leamy

Frederick J Sellers

An aircraft compound cooling system includes a power thermal management system for cooling one or more aircraft components, an air cycle system, a vapor cycle system, and a turbine cooling circuit for cooling bleed air and cooling turbine components in a high pressure turbine in the engine. An air to air FLADE duct heat exchanger is disposed in a FLADE duct of the engine and a valving apparatus is operable for selectively switching the FLADE duct heat exchanger between the turbine cooling circuit and the air cycle system. A vapor cycle system includes a vapor cycle system condenser that may be in heat transfer cooling relationship with the air cycle system. An air cycle system heat exchanger and an engine burn fuel to air heat exchanger in the vapor cycle system condenser may be used for cooling a working fluid in a refrigeration loop of the vapor cycle system.

Flade duct turbine cooling and power and thermal management

An aircraft adaptive power thermal management system for cooling one or more aircraft components includes an air cycle system, a vapor cycle system, and a fuel recirculation loop operably disposed therebetween. An air cycle system heat exchanger is between the air cycle system and the fuel recirculation loop, a vapor cycle system heat exchanger is between the vapor cycle system and the fuel recirculation loop, and one or more aircraft fuel tanks are in the fuel recirculation loop. An intercooler including a duct heat exchanger in an aircraft gas turbine engine FLADE duct may be in the air cycle system. The system is operable for providing on-demand cooling for one or more of the aircraft components by increasing heat sink capacity of the fuel tanks.

Adaptive power and thermal management system

A heat exchanger system for a gas turbine engine includes: (a) a fan having at least two stages of rotating fan blades surrounded by a fan casing, the fan operable to produce a flow of pressurized air at a fan exit; (b) at least one heat exchanger having a first flowpath in fluid communication with the fan at a location upstream of the fan exit; and (c) a fluid system coupled to a second flowpath of the at least one heat exchanger. The first and second flowpaths are thermally coupled to each other.

Gas turbine engine fan bleed heat exchanger system

A high energy system comprising a high energy electrical device powered by an electrical generator both of which are cooled by a cryogenic liquid oxidant stored in a storage tank. A power turbine powered by a combustor using fuel and the oxidant drives the electrical generator. A turbopump powered by a portion of exhaust flow from the power turbine pumps the cryogenic liquid oxidant from the storage tank to the generator and the device. In an exemplary embodiment of the system, the electrical device is a directed energy weapon, uses liquid air as the liquid oxidant, and uses a variable geometry turbine nozzle in the power turbine. A reheater may be used between a high pressure turbine and a lower pressure turbine of the power turbine. Compressor bleed from a gas turbine engine may provide air augmentation to the power turbine.

Cryogenic liquid oxidizer cooled high energy system

An aircraft accessory system includes an aircraft engine powered direct air turbine driven accessory and an air turbine drivingly directly connected by an air turbine shaft to the accessory. The air turbine includes a variable geometry turbine nozzle in selectable direct flow communication with at least two compressed engine air sources. The two compressed engine air sources may be an HPC interstage bleed and an HPC compressor discharge stage bleed. The variable geometry turbine nozzle may be in selectable direct flow communication with a third compressed engine air source such as a bypass duct or an engine inlet duct. The air turbine includes a turbine exit which may be in selectable direct flow communication with at least two relatively lower pressure engine air sinks. The air sinks may be located in the aft end of a bypass duct and in a divergent section of the exhaust nozzle.

Air turbine powered accessory

A cooling air cooling system operable to reduce fuel gum deposits within the cooling system when a gas turbine engine operates above a predefined percentage of rated engine power. The cooling system includes a recirculating loop including a plurality of heat exchanges in fluid communication with the recirculating loop. A first head exchange uses heat transfer fluid to cool cooling air used by the gas turbine engine. A second head exchange is a fluid-fuel head exchanger that uses combustor main fuel flow to cool the head transfer fluid circulating in the recirculating loop.

Methods and apparatus for supplying cooling air to turbine engines

A coating and method for reducing the tendency for coke and gum deposits of hydrocarbon fluids to form and adhere to a surface at an elevated temperature. The coating enhances surface flow conditions along the surface so as to reduce both surface reaction time and concentration of deposit precursors (radicals and atoms) that provide for polymer growth. The coating has a smooth surface that is free of microscopic pits and scratches, and preferably has a surface roughness not greater than about 16 microinches (about 4 micrometers) R.sub.a. The coating is also preferably resistant to chemical attack from contaminants in the fluid, and inhibits diffusion between the fluid and surface. In addition, the coating has a low surface wettability to hydrocarbons, meaning that the tendency for hydrogen in the fuel to bond with atoms at the coating surface (chemisorption) is reduced or eliminated. In one embodiment, a smooth and preferably amorphous coating of metal oxides is deposited by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process on a smooth and essentially oxide-free surface, followed by a layer of metal atoms or metal-metal compounds that exhibit low affinity for chemisorption. In a second embodiment, chemisorption is avoided by forming the coating such that potentially electronegative atoms in the coating are tied-up with other strong chemical bonds.

Coating for preventing formation of deposits on surfaces contacting

A fluid containment article that exhibits a reduced tendency for thermal decomposition products to deposit and adhere to its surface in contact with a hydrocarbon fluid, such as a hydrocarbon fuel, at elevated temperatures. Deposition and adhesion of thermal decomposition products are avoided by tailoring both the composition and surface finish of the surface contacting the hydrocarbon fluid. Preferred characteristics are achieved by appropriately preparing the surface of the article to have a surface roughness characterized by an R.sub.max of up to about 0.4 micrometer, and then depositing an oxide coating on the surface using a deposition process that yields a coating consisting essentially of a metal oxide and the vapors of an organometallic compound used in the deposition process. The oxide coating is directly deposited on the surface of the article, and therefore does not employ an adhesion-promoting layer of the type conventionally used by the prior art to promote adhesion of a metal oxide layer on a metal substrate.

Fluid containment article for hot hydrocarbon fluid and method of

A system and method for providing clean cooling air to a hot portion of a gas turbine engine is disclosed, where the engine includes a compressor. The system includes a turbocompressor (66) having a compressor section and a turbine section, wherein the compressor and turbine sections each have an inlet and an outlet. The system further includes a heat exchanger (64) having a first inlet and a first outlet for a first fluid flow providing cooling to the heat exchanger, the first inlet being in fluid communication with a low temperature fluid. The heat exchanger (64) also has a second inlet and a second outlet for a second air flow receiving cooling from the heat exchanger, the second inlet being in fluid communication with high temperature air from the engine compressor and the second outlet being in fluid communication with the inlet of the compressor section of the turbocompressor. The outlet of the compressor section of the turbocompressor is in fluid communication with the filter inlet and the outlet of the filter (72) is in fluid communication with the engine hot portion so that clean cooling air is supplied to the engine hot portion.

System and method of providing clean filtered cooling air to a hot

A gas turbine engine including air cooling and compressing means configured so that, in one embodiment, cool air from the cooling and compressing means is supplied to the combustor for cooling the combustor and then, after cooling at least a portion of the combustor, for mixing with fuel in the fuel injector, is described. In one form, the combustor includes a flowpath in flow communication with cool air supplied by the cooling and compressing means. The air flows through the flowpath from an aft portion to an outlet located at the fuel injector. The cooling air, after having cooled walls of the combustion chamber, mixes with fuel in the fuel injector. Mixing the high pressure air from the cooling and compressing means with the fuel in the fuel injector facilitates dispersion of fuel from the fuel injector into the combustion chamber, and also aids in increasing the fuel/air energy shear gradients. As a result, the injection velocity is believed to be significantly increased, and NOx emissions are believed to be reduced.

Air assist fuel atomization in a gas turbine engine

A superalloy component having a substrate article of a superalloy, and a strengthenable coating covering at least a portion of the substrate article. The coating exhibits thermal barrier characteristics and when cured formed a ceramic material. The component may further include a fiber layer between the substrate article and the coating, and the coating may be reinforced with fiber and the ceramic may be imbedded with inorganic particles. The coating is a foam obtained by reacting an admixture of (a) a silane polymer, (b) a silicone-vinyl resin and (c) a catalyst. The article is preferably a turbine blade. The component is useful as a gas turbine element.

Methods related to protective coatings for superalloys

Articles for hot hydrocarbon fluid wherein the surface for contacting the fluid is a diffusion barrier material or a catalytic material coated on a metal substrate. The material is either catalytically-inactive tantalum oxide which inhibits the formation of coke in the fluid or catalytically-active zirconium oxide which promotes the formation of a loosely adherent coke in the fluid while inhibiting the formation of gum in the fluid. The coating materials, i.e., the diffusion barrier coating material and the catalytic coating material, are deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), e.g., by effusive chemical vapor deposition of an organometallic compound on the surface without the use of carrier gas, without pre-oxidation of the surface and without thermal decomposition of the diffusion barrier material or the catalytic coating material. The articles having the coated surfaces find utility in components subjected to high temperatures wherein the components are in contact with hydrocarbon fluids without additives, without special attention to quality control and without the need for special processing.

Coated article for hot hydrocarbon fluid and method of preventing fuel

Protective coatings for superalloys

Articles for hot hydrocarbon fluid wherein the surface for contacting the fluid is a metal oxide, amorphous glass or metal fluoride diffusion barrier material coated on a metal substrate. The metal oxide, amorphous glass or metal fluoride is deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), e.g., by effusive CVD of an organometallic compound on the surface without the use of carrier gas, without pre-oxidation of the surface and without thermal decomposition of the diffusion barrier coating material. Examples of coating materials deposited by effusive CVD are SiO.sub.2, TiO.sub.2, spinel and Al.sub.2 O.sub.3. The articles having the coated surfaces find utility in components subjected to high temperatures wherein the components are in contact with hydrocarbon fluids without additives, without special attention to quality control and without the need for special processing.

Coated articles and method for the prevention of fuel thermal

A method is disclosed to deposit aluminum coatings on high temperature superalloys for corrosion, oxidation, and erosion protection using low temperature chemical vapor deposition and an organometallic halide precursor, specifically an aluminum alkyl halide. The process is adapted to protective coatings for turbine parts having internal passages. Due to the lower temperatures used during chemical vapor deposition, a broad range of substrate materials can be utilized. The precursor vapors clean the substrate surfaces by removing native oxides while simultaneously depositing aluminum.

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West Chester, OH, United States of America

George A Coffinberry