Rolls-Royce Corporation

Meggitt Aerospace Limited

Meggitt (UK) Limited

Philip P Walsh

Paul Fletcher

Steven William James Henderson

Arthur Laurence Rowe

Anthony John Moran

Nicholas C Corbett

Noel A Sanders

Aaron J Stevens

Christopher Simon Elliott

Silviu-Cristian Vaideanu

Benjamin Thomas Matthews

Jeffrey Allen LeHew

Carl C Bourne

David Bosak

Steve Parker

Christopher Charles Hood

Salvatore Ippedico

Jeffrey Allen Lehew

Heat exchanger assemblies including turning vanes are taught herein. In preferred embodiments, the heat exchanger assembly comprises: an inlet duct; a heat exchanger coupled to the inlet duct and a plurality of turning vanes coupled to the heat exchanger and protruding into the inlet duct. The intake plane of the heat exchanger is at an angle between 0 degrees and 90 degrees to the primary flow direction of the inlet duct. The plurality of turning vanes comprise: a straight leading edge of length L that is parallel to the primary flow direction of the inlet duct; a convex lower surface that transitions a bottom of the leading edge to an upper wall of a lower channel of the heat exchanger; and a concave upper surface that transitions a distal point of the turning vane to a second channel of the heat exchanger.

Turning vanes and heat exchangers and methods of making the same

A method of controlling the oil flow in an engine is provided. In preferred embodiments, the method comprises: flowing oil to a first oil pump upstream or downstream of a fuel oil heat exchanger and flowing oil to a second oil pump upstream or downstream of an air oil heat exchanger. One of two control functions to control the oil mass flow rate through the first oil pump is selected wherein the first control function minimizes specific fuel consumption ('SFC') by the engine and the second control function minimizes average oil temperature. Preferably, the oil pumps are electric and the total combined oil mass flow rate of the first and second oil pumps is maintained constant.

Engine thermal management methods and control systems

A heat exchanger assembly that in a preferred embodiment comprises: an inlet duct lower wall interfacing with a bypass duct; an outlet duct lower wall interfacing with a bypass duct; a heat exchanger coupled between the inlet duct lower wall and the outlet duct lower wall wherein the heat exchanger is at a compound angle with respect to an inlet duct air flow direction; and a fairing coupled to the top of the heat exchanger wherein the fairing forms the inlet duct upper wall and the outlet duct upper wall.

High efficiency ducted heat exchanger systems

A method of compressing a gas, which uses a compressor train having a plurality of discrete portions and including at least an upstream portion, a mid-stream portion and a downstream portion arranged successively in flow series. The method includes: (i) performing a first compression step by directing a flow of said gas into the upstream compressor portion and driving the upstream compressor portion to compress the gas; (ii) performing a second compression step by directing the compressed flow from the upstream compressor portion into the mid-stream compressor portion and driving the mid-stream compressor portion to further compress the gas; and (iii) performing a third compression step by directing the compressed flow from the mid-stream compressor portion into the downstream compressor portion and driving the downstream compressor portion to further compress the gas.

Gas compression

A distribution pipeline power plant, comprising:

Distribution pipeline power plant

A variable geometry combustor having a combustor liner that defines at least one dilution port in order to provide air to a dilution zone within the combustor. At least one valve is positioned adjacent the dilution port for controlling the flow of air through the dilution port wherein the valve is settable to maintain one of a plurality of different open configurations.

Variable geometry combustor

In order to regulate fuel flow to the combustor () of the combustion turbine engine () having a primary combustion zone () and at least one further combustion zone, the temperature of the inlet and outlet of the combustor () are determined, as are first and second values representing first and second properties, with the first property being one of: the total enthalpy rise in the combustor (), the equivalence ratio of the combustor (), the fuel/air ratio of said combustor (), the fuel flow through the combustor, and the second property being one of: the enthalpy rise in the primary zone (), the equivalence ratio of said primary zone (), the fuel/air ratio of the primary zone(); the temperature rise across the primary zone(), or the fuel flow through the primary zone (). The second property is determined from the first value and the current value of the ratio of the fuel to the primary zone () to the total fuel to the combustor (). The temperature of the outlet of the primary zone () is thus determined from the inlet temperature and the second value, are compared with a predetermined temperature to generate a control signal dependent on the difference. The fuel to the primary zone () is then varied, to vary the control signal to reduce the difference. This use of ratios eliminates the need for a gas chromatograph, flow ratios and humidity sensors to determine the properties of the gas.

Method and system for controlling fuel supply in a combustion turbine engine

A gas turbine engine () comprises a second compressor (), a first compressor (), a heat exchanger (), a combustor (), a first turbine (), a second turbine () and a third turbine () arranged in flow series. The first turbine () is arranged to drive the first compressor (). The second turbine () is arranged to drive the second compressor (). There are means to inject liquid into the gas turbine engine (). The means to inject liquid is arranged to inject liquid upstream () of the second compressor (), within () the second compressor (), between () the second compressor () and the first compressor (), within () the first compressor (), between () the first compressor () and the heat exchanger () or within () the combustor () to boost the power of the gas turbine engine (). The means to inject liquid is arranged to inject liquid between () the combustor () and the first turbine (), within () the first turbine (), between () the first turbine () and the second turbine (), within () the second turbine (), between () the second turbine () and the third turbine (), within () the third turbine () or between () the third turbine () and the heat exchanger () to reduce the power of the gas turbine engine ().

Gas turbine engine

A gas turbine engine () comprises a first compressor (), a combustor () and a first turbine () arranged in flow series. The first turbine () is arranged to drive the first compressor (). The first compressor () has variable inlet guide vanes () and the first turbine () has variable inlet guide vanes (). A second compressor () is arranged upstream of the first compressor (). An auxiliary intake () is arranged upstream of the first compressor () and downstream of the second compressor (). A valve () is arranged upstream of the first compressor () and downstream of the second compressor (). The valve () is movable between a first position in which the second compressor () supplies air to the first compressor () and a second position in which the second compressor () does not supply fluid to the second compressor () and the auxiliary intake () supplies fluid to the first compressor (). A drive means () is arranged to selectively drive the second compressor ().

A fuel control system for a premixed lean burn combustor in a combustion turbine engine, the combustor having at least two stages (P,S,T), the control system including; an air flow evaluation module having means utilising an iterative algorithm to derive an accurate value of total air flow to the combustor, the evaluation module further having means dividing the derived total air flow value into the proportions (Mp, Ms, Mt) required by the combustor stages (p,s, t) and outputting signals in parallel representing the air flow to respective combustor stages (p,s,t), and a control module associated with each stage (p,s,t) of the combustor and responsible for setting the fuel demand signal for the associated combustor stage (p,s,t), each control module being adapted to set the fuel demand signal with reference to an appropriate one of said output signals.

Growing community of inventors

West Midlands, United Kingdom

Philip P Walsh