Rolls-royce Corporation

Thomas Gerard Mulcaire

Ian Murray Garry

Steven Aleksy Radomski

Robert Anthony Hicks

Marcus Foale

Samantha Gormley

Michael T Holdsworth

Richard Evans

A combustion chamber assembly comprises an annular combustion chamber casing, a combustion chamber, a fuel injector and a tubular seal. The combustion chamber comprises an upstream end wall having an aperture extending there-through. A fuel injector head of the fuel injector is locatable in the aperture in the end wall and the fuel injector head has an axis. The tubular seal is positioned between the fuel injector head and the aperture in the end wall and the tubular seal has a flange and an aperture extends there-through. The tubular seal is movable radially and circumferentially with respect to the axis of the casing. The fuel injector head is locatable in the tubular seal. The aperture in the upstream end wall has a major radial dimension and a minor circumferential dimension relative to the axis of the casing to allow insertion or removal of a lean burn fuel injector head.

Combustion chamber assembly

A combustion chamber arrangement comprises an annular combustion chamber, an outer casing, an inner casing and a stage of outlet guide vanes arranged at the downstream end of the combustion chamber interconnecting the outer casing and the inner casing. The combustion chamber comprises an upstream wall structure, a radially inner cowl is removably secured to a radially inner axially extending flange by fasteners and a radially outer wall structure and a radially outer cowl are removably secured to a radially outer axially extending flange by fasteners. The flange is slidably mounted on the radially inner wall structure. The flange has at least one recess in its radially inner surface and the fasteners are arranged in the recess in the radially inner surface of the flange. The cowl abuts the radially outer surface of the flange and the radially inner wall structure abuts the radially inner surface of the flange.

Combustion chamber arrangement

The manufacture of a casing which has a boss includes providing two canister portions a first defining an outer wall geometry of a casing including a boss and a second defining an inner wall geometry of the casing. The casing is made using known PHIP methods. The second canister portion includes an array of holes or recesses which, when the canister portions are aligned, face a recess on the first canister portion which defines the boss such that in the nett shape COS an array of pedestals is provided aligned with the boss. The dimension from an exposed end of a pedestal to an exposed surface of the boss is sufficient to receive a bolt thread of the minimum length required to secure a component to the boss.

Manufacture of a casing with a boss

A combustion chamber assembly includes a combustion chamber casing, a combustion chamber, a plurality of fuel injectors and respective seals. The axis of each fuel injector head is arranged at an angle to the axis of the combustion chamber casing and parallel to the center line of the combustion chamber. Each seal is positioned between a fuel injector head and an aperture in an upstream wall of the combustion chamber. Each seal has an aperture extending through the seal which is arranged parallel to the axis of the combustion chamber casing or the flange of the fuel injector. Each fuel injector head has a part spherical surface located in a seal. The assembly provides a clearance required to engage, or disengage, a fuel injector head while minimizing the amount of material removed from the between the apertures in the upstream wall of the combustion chamber.

A combustion chamber arrangement has an annular outer wall and an annular inner wall having an upstream row of tiles and a downstream row of tiles. The outer wall has a concave bend which is less than 175&#xb0;. The downstream end of the upstream tiles and the upstream end of the downstream tiles are adjacent the concave bend. The downstream ends of the upstream tiles are spaced at a greater distance from the inner surface of the annular outer wall than the upstream end of the downstream tiles. The upstream tiles have curved lips extending in a downstream direction which overlap but are spaced radially from the upstream ends of the downstream tiles. The outer wall has a row of apertures to direct coolant onto the outer surfaces of the curved lips and the upstream tiles has a row of apertures extending to the inner surfaces of the curved lips.

Combustion chamber having an annular outer wall with a concave bend

A gas turbine engine comprises a compressor, a combustion chamber, an outer casing, an inner casing and a cooling arrangement. The outer casing surrounds the compressor and the combustion chamber and the combustion chamber has turbine nozzle guide vanes. The compressor has load carrying outlet guide vanes connected to the outer casing and the inner casing. The turbine nozzle guide vanes connect the outer casing and the inner casing. The cooling arrangement comprises a cooling air duct located between the compressor and the combustion chamber. The compressor outlet guide vanes carry at least one aerodynamic fairing. A support structure supports the cooling air duct from the inner casing at two spaced positions and the support structure forms a chamber with the inner casing. The support structure comprises at least one hollow duct and each hollow duct locates behind a respective one of the aerodynamic fairings.

Gas turbine engine cooling arrangement

A joint assembly for an annular structure comprises a first annular member having a first radially extending flange and a second annular member having a second radially extending flange. The first and second flanges having a plurality of first and second circumferentially aligned apertures. A plurality of fasteners are provided and each fastener is arranged to extend through a respective pair of the first and second apertures to join the first and second annular members together. The first and second radially extending flanges have a plurality of circumferentially aligned third and fourth apertures. A plurality of members are provided and each member is arranged to extend axially through a respective pair of the third and fourth apertures.

Joint assembly for an annular structure

A gas turbine engine is supported on an aircraft fuselage by a pylon which carries a mounting ring. The mounting ring is releasably coupled to an engine ring on the casing of the engine, centered on the engine axis. A further member extends from the pylon and is secured to a location on the engine which is axially spaced from the mounting ring. The arrangement enables the engine to be on the pylon in different orientations, to suit different mounting configurations on the aircraft.

Assembly comprising a gas turbine engine and a supporting pylon

An outlet guide vane structure for a gas turbine engine includes outlet guide vanes supported between inner and outer outlet guide walls. The guide walls form a diffuser aft of the guide vanes. The outer guide wall is secured directly to a compressor casing. A support structure, for example for supporting turbine nozzle guide vanes, is connected to an outer case of the engine at a flange. The support structure includes struts which pass through the outlet guide vane structure to provide a load path by which loads on the support structure are transferred to the outer case independent of the outlet guide vane structure.

Outlet guide vane structure

Within such machines as gas turbine engines it is desirable to provide close association between rotating assemblies and a rotor path arrangement to reduce leakage. However, such arrangements of rotor assemblies and rotor path arrangements are subject to thermal cycling and differentials between the respective parts can lead to rub associations. In order to allow closer thermal responses between the respective rotor path arrangement and rotor assembly, a flexible assembly is provided for a liner. A face surface is presented upon a backer plate or floating ring such that the thermal response can be tuned to the reciprocal similar effects under the same conditions of the rotor assembly. In such circumstances, closer gap control can be achieved. Furthermore, rather than requiring an entire integral casing to be overhauled, generally only the face surfaces and/or the flexible assembly will require remedial action.

Rotor path arrangements

Asymmetric loading within such machines as gas turbine engines can cause distortion of a casing surrounding a rotating assembly. Such distortion may cause rub and therefore inefficient energy usage and shorter operational life. By providing driver armswhich extend from radially extending linksin a first or high pressure compressor inner casingto a second outer casing, compensation for asymmetric loading can be achieved. The casingsare presented upon relatively stable bearing supportsand therefore, reaction loads are compensated for in order to retain concentricity of the casing

Casing arrangement

A stage for a gas turbine engine, having a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart radially extending aerofoils, includes a plurality of annulus fillers to bridge the spaces between adjacent aerofoils to define an inner wall of a flow annulus through the stage. Each annulus filler has opposing side faces which are spaced circumferentially from the adjacent blades and which correspond in profile therewith, and resilient seal strips each including a stiffener are mounted adjacent the opposing side faces of the annulus fillers to seal the gaps between the annulus fillers and the aerofoils. The stiffeners have three-dimensional curvature.

Aerofoil stage and seal for use therein

A fan outlet guide vane assembly ( ) for a turbofan gas turbine engine ( ) comprises a fan casing ( ) and a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially extending fan outlet guide vanes ( ). The fan outlet guide vanes ( ) are secured at their radially outer ends to the fan casing ( ). A plurality of panels ( ) are secured to the fan casing ( ). Each panel ( ) is arranged between two adjacent fan outlet guide vanes ( ) to define the flow path between the fan outlet guide vanes ( ). Each panel ( ) comprises a perforated skin ( ) and a honeycomb structure ( ) to form an acoustic treatment structure. The perforated skin ( ) defines the flow path between the fan outlet guide vanes ( ). The pressure equalization across the panels ( ) minimises the possibility of the panels ( ) being removed.

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Derby, United Kingdom

Thomas Gerard Mulcaire