Sundstrand Corporation

Sunstrand Corporation

Paul A Schuh

Steven W Lampe

Kourosh Mehr-Ayin

Timothy David

Sven B Sjoberg

A fuel and air control system (10, 100) for a power unit which produces output power from a turbine which rotates in response to pressurized gas provided by a combustor (12) which combusts fuel which is injected into the combustor by a primary fuel injector (14) to produce the pressurized gas cooled by fuel injected into the combustor by a secondary fuel injector (16) in accordance with the invention includes a fuel control valve (30) coupled to a source of fuel which controls a combined fuel flow through a fuel flow path (32) from the control valve to the injectors in response to a fuel flow control signal; an air control valve (44) coupled to an air source which controls a mass flow of air through an airflow path to the combustor in response to an airflow control signal; and a controller (34), providing the control signals, for causing the valves to produce flows resulting in a constant air/fuel ratio in the combustor during combustion when the fuel flow and air flow are varied under control of the controller.

Constant air/fuel ratio control system for EPU/IPU combustor

An airframe power unit for producing a power output in accordance with the invention includes a combustor (16) having a fuel injector (58) which injects fuel into the combustor which is combusted to form a gas stream (18); a turbine (12) driven by the gas stream from the combustor for producing the power output; an air supply (20) for providing pressurized gas containing oxygen blown down from a storage vessel (22) to the combustor which is used in the combusting of the fuel; a valve (24) disposed in the gas supply which controls a rate of supply of gas to the combustor in response to the control signal applied to the valve to cause the turbine to operate with a constant operational characteristic; a control for providing at least one control value (P.sub.S and S.sub.S) with each value specifying a desired operational parameter for use in producing the constant operational characteristic; a sensor (31 or 68) for sensing at least one operational parameter of the turbine; a difference circuit (32, 204, 404 or 504 ) for producing the control signal as a function of a difference of at least one control value and a corresponding sensed operational parameter; and a fuel control (50) for controlling the rate of injection of fuel by the fuel injector into the combustor.

Airframe power unit using stored air and jet fuel

A control system (100) for a hydraulically controlled clutch (18) for coupling a source of rotary power (12) to a load (102) for accelerating the load from a first velocity to a second velocity within a time measured from a beginning of the acceleration and ending between first and second times measured from the beginning of acceleration with the load being variable during acceleration of the load from the first velocity to the second velocity in accordance with the invention includes a source of pressurized hydraulic fluid (38), a servo valve (42), having an inlet coupled to the source of pressurized fluid and an outlet coupled to the hydraulically controlled clutch, the servo valve being responsive to a control signal to vary the pressure of hydraulic fluid applied to the hydraulically controlled clutch to vary the coupling between the source of rotary power and an output shaft (22) which is coupled to the load, a speed sensor (112) for producing a speed signal proportional to the speed of the output shaft; a stored program (108) controlling a programmed acceleration of the load from the first velocity to the second velocity within a time interval measured from the beginning of the acceleration and ending between the first and second times; a controller (110), responsive to the stored program and the speed signal, for producing the control signal which is a function of a difference (E) between the velocity signal and a velocity controlled by the stored program.

Closed loop control of a hydraulically controlled clutch

Single shaft, air breathing auxiliary power units having a single stage centrifugal load compressor driven by a gas turbine engine. The latter has a single stage centrifugal compressor and a single stage radial inflow turbine mounted in back-to-back relationship on the same shaft as the load compressor. Control systems for these auxiliary power units feature turbine exhaust gas temperature and turbine speed responsive fuel flow control; a bypass valve control which causes air to be dumped overboard when the pneumatic load demand drops to prevent load compressor surge; and an inlet guide vane control.

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Paul A Schuh