The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 09, 2003
Filed:
Jun. 18, 2002
Rolls-Royce plc, London, GB;
Abstract
A gas turbine engine ( ) comprises a fan rotor ( ) having a plurality of fan blades ( ) and an apparatus ( ) for detecting damage to the fan blades ( ). The apparatus ( ) comprises a transducer ( ) arranged to detect the pressure in the gas flow around the fan blades ( ) and to produce a pressure signal. A speed sensor ( ) is arranged to measure the speed of rotation of the fan rotor ( ) and to produce a speed signal. A processor unit ( ) analyses the pressure signal and the speed signal to detect changes in the amplitude of the pressure signal, which occur at multiples of the rotational frequency of the fan rotor ( ). The changes indicate differences in pressure between the gas flow around a damaged fan blade ( ) and the gas flow around the remainder of the fan blades ( ). The processor unit ( ) sends a signal indicative of damage to a fan blade ( ), if the difference in pressure is above the predetermined level, to an indicator device ( ).