General Electric Company

Mahesh Shenvi Khandeparker

Kudum Shinde

Thomas P Joseph

Timothy Leo Schelfaut

Jonathan Edward Coleman

Anthony Michael Metz

Donald Lee Gardner

Patrick Sean Sage

Stephen G Matava

Michael C Borner

Shashi Alok

Steven M McDonough

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed. An apparatus for mounting a gas turbine engine to a pylon includes: a thrust link coupled to the gas turbine engine and an aft mount, the gas turbine engine coupled to the pylon via a forward mount and the aft mount, a bending restraint having a first end and a second end, the bending restraint including an actuator positioned at the first end to apply a force to a fan section of the gas turbine engine, a first joint positioned at the first end of the bending restraint, the first joint coupled to the first end of the bending restraint and the fan section, and a second joint positioned at the second end of the bending restraint, the second joint coupled to the second end of the bending restraint.

Engine backbone bending reduction

Gas turbine mounting configurations for backbone bending mitigations are described herein. An example gas turbine engine disclosed herein includes a pylon, an inlet to be subjected to an inlet load along an inlet load axis, a case assembly including a first case portion and a second case portion, a forward mount coupling the first case portion to the pylon, the coupling of the forward mount to the pylon defining a first line of action, an aft mount, and a thrust link coupling the second case portion to the pylon, the thrust link defining a second line of action, an intersection of the first line of action and the second line of action disposed at least one of: (1) on the inlet load axis and the centerline, (2) downstream of the inlet load axis and beneath the centerline, and (3) upstream of the inlet load axis and above the centerline.

Gas turbine mounting configurations for bending mitigation

Systems and methods for optimizing clearances within an engine include an adjustable coupling configured to couple a thrust link to the aircraft engine, an actuator coupled to the adjustable coupling, where motion produced by the actuator adjusts a hinge point of the adjustable coupling, sensors configured to capture real time flight data, and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit receives flight data from the sensors, implements a machine learning model trained to predict clearance values within the engine based on the received flight data, predicts, with the machine learning model, the clearance values within the engine based on the received flight data, determines an actuator position based on the clearance values, and causes the actuator to adjust to the determined actuator position.

Control logic for thrust link whiffle-tree hinge positioning for improved clearances

A thrust mount assembly includes a thrust link-lever that has a first end region, a second end region, and a fulcrum region disposed between the first end region and the second end region. A thrust link-lever may be coupled or couplable to a fulcrum body of an aft engine-mount at a fulcrum position of the thrust link-lever. When coupled to a turbomachine, the fulcrum position of the thrust link-lever may be laterally offset and/or laterally adjustable relative to an axis of rotation of the turbomachine. A load translated from an engine frame of a turbomachine to an engine-mounting linkage system may be determined and a fulcrum position for the thrust mount assembly may be adjusted laterally relative to an axis of rotation of the turbomachine.

Thrust mounts with load-balancing thrust link-lever

Engine-mounting linkage systems may include a plurality of engine mounting links configured to couple an engine frame to an engine support structure of an aircraft. The plurality of engine-mounting links may include a forward link that is connectable to a forward frame portion of the engine frame and the engine support structure, and an aft link that is connectable to an aft frame portion of the engine frame and the engine support structure. The engine mounting linkage system may include an actuator that is connectable to the engine support structure and one of the plurality of engine-mounting links, or to the engine support structure and the engine frame. The actuator, when actuated, changes an inclination angle θ of at least one of the plurality of engine-mounting links.

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Bengaluru, India

Mahesh Shenvi Khandeparker