General Electric Company

Jeffrey Anthony Hamel

Kurt David Murrow

Darek Tomasz Zatorski

Andrew Breeze-Stringfellow

Randy M Vondrell

Brandon Wayne Miller

Narendra Digamber Joshi

Manoj Ramprasad Shah

James William Bray

Samuel Jacob Martin

Tsuguji Nakano

Manxue Lu

Randy Marinus Vondrell

An unducted thrust producing system, includes a rotating element, a stationary element. An inlet may be located forward or aft of the rotating element and the stationary element. An exhaust may be located forward, aft, or between the rotating element and the stationary element.

Unducted thrust producing system architecture

In one aspect the present subject matter is directed to a gas-electric propulsion system for an aircraft. The system may include a turbofan jet engine, an electric powered boundary layer ingestion fan that is coupled to a fuselage portion of the aircraft aft of the turbofan jet engine, and an electric generator that is electronically coupled to the turbofan jet engine and to the boundary layer ingestion fan. The electric generator converts rotational energy from the turbofan jet engine to electrical energy and provides at least a portion of the electrical energy to the boundary layer ingestion fan. In another aspect of the present subject matter, a method for propelling an aircraft via the gas-electric propulsion system is disclosed.

Gas-electric propulsion system for an aircraft

A permanent magnet machine and a rotor assembly for the permanent magnet machine. The permanent magnet machine includes a stator assembly including a stator core including a stator winding to produce electrical currents. The stator assembly extending along a longitudinal axis with an inner surface defining a cavity. The rotor assembly including a rotor core and a rotor shaft. The rotor core is disposed inside the stator cavity and rotates about the longitudinal axis. The rotor assembly including a plurality of permanent magnets for generating a magnetic field which interacts with the stator winding to produce the electrical currents in response to rotation of the rotor assembly. within one or more cavities formed in a sleeve component. The sleeve component is configured to include a plurality of cavities or voids into which the permanent magnets are disposed to retain the permanent magnets therein and form an interior permanent magnet generator.

Permanent magnet machine with segmented sleeve for magnets

An unducted thrust producing system has a rotating element with an axis of rotation and a stationary element. The rotating element includes a plurality of blades, and the stationary element has a plurality of vanes configured to impart a change in tangential velocity of the working fluid opposite to that imparted by the rotating element acted upon by the rotating element. The system includes an inlet forward of the rotating element and the stationary element.

A gas turbine engine including a compressor section, a turbine section, and a combustion section positioned between the compressor section and the turbine section is provided. The gas turbine engine also includes a cooling system having a tank and one or more fluid lines in fluid communication with the tank. The one or more fluid lines are configured to carry a flow of consumable cooling liquid provide such consumable cooling liquid to one or more components of the compressor section, the turbine section, and/or the combustion section not directly exposed to a core air flowpath defined through the gas turbine engine.

Cooling system for a turbine engine

A permanent magnet machine and a rotor assembly for the permanent magnet machine. The permanent magnet machine includes a stator assembly including a stator core configured to generate a magnetic field and extending along a longitudinal axis with an inner surface defining a cavity and a rotor assembly including a rotor core and a rotor shaft. The rotor core is disposed inside the stator cavity and configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis. The rotor assembly further including a plurality of permanent magnets for generating a magnetic field which interacts with the stator magnetic field to produce torque. The permanent magnets are disposed within one or more cavities formed in a sleeve component. The sleeve component configured to include a plurality of cavities or voids therein and thus provide minimal weight to the permanent magnet machine. The permanent magnet machine providing increased centrifugal load capacity, increased power density and improved electrical performance.

A gas turbine engine including a compressor section and a turbine section, coupled by one or more shafts, is provided. The compressor section progressively compresses air and includes an aft-stage of rotor blades rotatable about an axial direction of the gas turbine engine. A cooling system is included with the gas turbine engine for cooling compressed air in or from the compressor section. The cooling system includes a fluid tank for storing a volume of cooling fluid and one or more fluid lines in fluid communication with the fluid tank. The one or more fluid lines include an outlet positioned adjacent to the aft-stage of rotor blades for injecting cooling fluid into the compressed air proximate the aft-stage of rotor blades.

A method and system for a turbofan gas turbine engine system is provided. The gas turbine engine system includes a variable pitch fan (VPF) assembly coupled to a first rotatable shaft and a low pressure compressor LPC coupled to a second rotatable shaft. The LPC including a plurality of variable pitch stator vanes interdigitated with rows of blades of a rotor of the LPC. The gas turbine engine system also includes a speed reduction device coupled to said first rotatable shaft and said second rotatable shaft. The gas turbine engine system further includes a modulating pressure relief valve positioned between an outlet of said LPC and a bypass duct and a controller configured to schedule a position of said plurality of variable pitch stator vanes and said modulating pressure relief valve in response to an operational state of said turbofan gas turbine engine system and a temperature associated with said LPC.

Gas turbine engine and method of assembling the same

A thrust scheduling method for a gas turbine engine that includes a plurality of blades having a variable pitch beta angle is provided. The method can include receiving into a control system at least one condition input from a respective sensor; receiving into a control system a low pressure shaft speed from a low pressure shaft speed sensor; receiving a control command from a full authority digital engine control (FADEC) in the control system; generating a low pressure shaft speed base reference from a first schedule logic in the control system based upon the at least one condition input received and the control command received; generating a beta angle base reference from a second schedule logic from the at least one condition input received, the low pressure shaft speed, and the control command received; and supplying the low pressure shaft speed base reference and the beta angle base reference to an engine control system, wherein the engine control system adjusts at least the pitch angle of the plurality of fan blades or a fuel flow to the engine.

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Maineville, OH, United States of America

Jeffrey Anthony Hamel