General Electric Company

Generale Electric Company Polska Sp. Z O.o

Stefan Joseph Cafaro

Robert Jon McQuiston

Eric Richard Westervelt

David Marion Ostdiek

Michael Anthony Benjamin

James Ryan Reepmeyer

Brandon Wayne Miller

Joel Meier Haynes

Hejie Li

David Alexander Hiett

Kevin Richard Graziano

Brendon Matthew Leeker

Harry Kirk Mathews, Jr

Syed J Khalid

Kalpesh Singal

Gagan Adibhatla

Arthur William Sibbach

Honggang Wang

Sridhar Adibhatla

Constantinos Minas

Daniel Edward Mollmann

Kum-Kang Huh

William Joseph Solomon

Arjan Johannes Hegeman

Johan Michael Reimann

Trevor Wayne Goerig

Drew Michael Capps

Jeffrey S Spruill

Evin Nathaniel Barber

Cameron Roy Nott

Inenhe Mohammed Khalid

Amit Zutshi

Rahim Panjwani

Frederick John Menditto, Iii

Aaron James Schmitz

Suchot Kongsomboonvech

Richard Anthony Zelinski

Rafal Sarba

Matthew Truong

Matthew Vincent Gettemy

Matthew J Drodofsky

Terry Hei Tsun Ma

A control system and schemes for controlling a three-stream gas turbine engine are disclosed. In one aspect, a three-stream engine is architecturally arranged so as to define a primary bypass flowpath, a secondary bypass flowpath, and a core flowpath that may each output propulsive thrust. The three-stream engine includes one or more effectors that can be controlled to adjust a thrust contribution provided by the secondary bypass flowpath to the net propulsive thrust as well as a thermal contribution provided by the secondary bypass flowpath to an associated thermal management system. Competing demands, limits, and priorities can be considered in controlling the effector. In some embodiments, a secondary effector can be ganged or controlled in conjunction with the effector to assist with adjustment of the contributions provided by the secondary bypass flowpath.

Three-stream gas turbine engine control

A propulsion system includes at least two propulsors. The at least two propulsors each comprising a fan having a plurality of fan blades. A controller includes memory and one or more processors. The memory stores instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the system to perform the following: determine a pairwise phase difference between one propulsor of the at least two propulsors and another propulsor of the at least two propulsors; generate a reference phase angle; determine a target phase shift for each propulsor of the at least two propulsors; and adjust a speed of each propulsor of the at least two propulsors based on the target phase shift until the pairwise phase difference is equal to the reference phase angle.

System and method for efficiently determining a phase shift in a propulsion system

An engine with sound-based active controls is provided. The engine includes a sound sensor coupled to the engine system configured to capture sound from the engine system, one or more thrust effector devices, and an engine controller. The engine controller is configured to: determine a sound profile based on signals from the sound sensor, determine a modified control parameter for at least one of the one or more thrust effector devices based on the sound profile and a nominal schedule; and control the at least one of the one or more thrust effector devices according to the modified control parameter, deviating from the nominal schedule.

Turbine engine with sound-based active control

An engine for aeromechanical instability abatement includes a sensor configured to capture data from rotating blades of the engine system, a airflow effector device, and an engine controller. The engine controller is configured to control the airflow effector device according to a nominal schedule, detect, based on a signal from the sensor indicating a vibration amplitude of the rotating blades within a frequency band, an incipient instability condition, in response to the incipient instability condition being present, determine a modified control parameter for at least one of the airflow effector device, and control the airflow effector device according to the modified control parameter, deviating from the nominal schedule.

Aircraft engine aeromechanical instability detection

Systems and methods for high bandwidth control of thrust response for turbofan or turboprop engines are provided. Such systems and methods include an engine control system that processes a rate command and a feedback signal from an engine to generate separate fuel and electric machine control signals that respectively control fuel and electric machine dynamics of the engine to produce engine dynamics that result in desired thrust response.

High bandwidth control of turbofan/turboprop thrust response using embedded electric machines

A gas turbine engine fuel supply system can include a fuel delivery system, a thermal management system, a fuel manifold, and one or more sensors that identify one or more fuel parameters. A fuel control system can be controlled to adjust one or more parameters of the fuel based on data received from the sensors.

Methods of control for management of hot fuel

A method is provided for operating a hybrid-electric propulsion system having a first engine, a second engine, a first electric machine coupled to the first engine, and a second electric machine coupled to one of the first engine or the second engine. The method includes: receiving data indicative of a first engine operating parameter, a second engine operating parameter, or both; determining a first engine operating parameter margin, a second parameter operating margin, or both; determining a load share for the first engine, the second engine, or both, or between the first engine and the second engine based on the first engine operating parameter margin, the second engine operating parameter margin, or both; and transferring a first amount of power to or from the first electric machine and a second amount of power to or from the second electric machine in response to the determined load share.

Hybrid electric propulsion system load share

A propulsion system includes at least two propulsors. The at least two propulsors each include a fan and a controller having one or more processors configured to implement controller logic. The controller logic includes a phase angle control scheme and a speed control scheme. In implementing the controller logic, the one or more processors are configured to: determine an actual pairwise phase difference between a pair of propulsors of the at least two propulsors; generate a reference phase angle for the pair of propulsors; compare the actual pairwise phase difference to the reference phase angle to generate a phase error; provide the phase error to a phase controller module to generate an output based on the phase error; and adjust a speed of at least one propulsor of the at least two propulsors based on the output to drive the phase error towards zero.

System and method for synchrophasing a propulsion system using electric machines

A method of controlling an aeronautical gas turbine engine may be performed with an electronic controller. The method may include determining an airfoil pitch control command for at least one of a plurality of airfoils of the aeronautical gas turbine engine based at least in part on an excitation load acting upon the aeronautical gas turbine engine, and outputting the airfoil pitch control command to one or more actuators actuatable to change a pitch angle of the at least one of the plurality of airfoils. The airfoil pitch control command may be configured to augment and/or compensate for the excitation load acting upon the aeronautical gas turbine engine. The method may be embodied by a non-transitory computer-readable medium that includes computer-executable instructions, which when executed by a processor associated with the electronic controller, cause the electronic controller to perform the method.

Controlling excitation loads associated with open rotor aeronautical engines

A gas turbine engine fuel supply system can include a fuel delivery system, a thermal management system, a fuel manifold, and one or more sensors that identify one or more fuel parameters. A fuel control system adjusts parameters of the fuel based on data received from the sensors.

An engine controller may include a processor and a feedback interface electrically coupled to the processor and one or more electric machine motor generators deployed in an aircraft engine. A memory, electrically coupled to the processor, is configured to store reference data used to indicate a presence of an icing condition. The processor is configured to monitor a feedback signal received at the feedback interface from the one or more electric machine motor generators and identify whether the feedback signal indicates that the icing condition is currently present in the aircraft engine based on a correspondence between the feedback signal and the reference data. The processor is configured to initiate an icing condition mitigation action in response to identifying that the icing condition is present.

Systems and method for detecting and responding to icing conditions in gas turbine engines

A method of operating a gas turbine engine is provided. The method includes: providing a flow of a primary fuel to a combustor of a turbomachine, the turbomachine including a compressor, a turbine, and a spool rotatable with the compressor and the turbine; receiving data indicative of a spool parameter of the spool; and modifying a flow of a secondary fuel to the combustor in response to the received data indicative of the spool parameter of the spool.

Gas turbine engine with fuel cell assembly

A method of transient control of a thermal transport bus of a turbomachine includes measuring a measured temperature and a measured pressure of a working fluid; determining a selected run state of a turbomachine, wherein the selected run state is one of a plurality of run states; selecting a desired operating condition comprising a desired temperature range and a desired pressure range as a function of a desired state of the working fluid; comparing the measured temperature with the desired temperature range, and comparing the measured pressure with the desired pressure range; and modulating control of the thermal transport bus as a function of the comparing of the measured temperature with the desired temperature range and the comparing of the measured pressure with the desired pressure range.

Transient control of a thermal transport bus

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Maineville, OH, United States of America

Stefan Joseph Cafaro