Patent Application
20080298950
This invention generally relates to a gas turbine engine, and more particularly to a nacelle inlet for a turbofan gas turbine engine.
In an aircraft gas turbine engine, such as a turbofan engine, a fan delivers air to a compressor. The pressurized air is mixed with fuel in a combustor for generating hot combustion gases. The hot combustion gases flow downstream through a turbine stage, which extracts energy from the gas. The turbine powers the fan and compressor.
Combustion gases are discharged from the turbofan engine through a core exhaust nozzle and fan air is discharged through an annular fan exhaust nozzle defined at least partially by a nacelle surrounding the core engine. A majority of propulsion thrust is provided by the pressurized fan air which is discharged through the fan exhaust nozzle, while the remaining thrust is provided from the combustion gases discharged through the core exhaust nozzle.
It is known in the field of aircraft gas turbine engines that the performance on the turbofan engine varies during diverse flight conditions experienced by the aircraft. An inlet lip section located at the foremost end of the turbofan nacelle is typically designed to enable operation of the turbofan engine and prevent the separation of airflow from the inlet lip section of the nacelle during diverse flight conditions. For example, the inlet lip section requires a “thick” inlet lip section design to support operation of the turbofan during specific flight conditions, such as cross-wind conditions, take-off and the like. Disadvantageously, the “thick” inlet lip section may reduce the efficiency of the turbofan engine during other conditions, such as cruise conditions of the aircraft.
Accordingly, it is desirable to optimize the performance of a turbofan gas turbine engine during diverse flight requirements to provide a nacelle having a reduced thickness, reduced weight and reduced drag.
It has previously been proposed to selectively direct bleed air to locations adjacent the front of the nacelle to simulate a “thick” lip. At conditions when the thick lip is not necessary (e.g., cruise conditions), the bleed air is stopped. A continuous conduit captures air at a downstream end of the nacelle and delivers it to the upstream end.
In a disclosed embodiment, the interior of the nacelle is utilized as a plenum for bleed air being delivered to an outlet near the upstream end of the nacelle. An inlet pipe captures air from a bypass air flow, and directs that air into the interior of the nacelle. The air is directed into the plenum, and then into an inlet passage leading to the outlet at an upstream end of the nacelle. The bleed air could also be derived from any engine stages (fan, compressor, turbine, and or customer bleed ports) and may be mixed together to control the air temperature in plenum. In one embodiment, the outlet is at an outer surface of the nacelle. In an alternative embodiment, the outlet is in an interior surface. The inlet pipe is spaced from the outlet by the plenum.
These and other features of the present invention can be best understood from the following specification and drawings, the following of which is a brief description.
A gas turbine engine 10, such as a turbofan gas turbine engine, circumferentially disposed about an engine centerline, or axial centerline axis 12 is shown in
As shown in
The nacelle 100 is shown in
Prior proposed systems for creating this bleed air have included a conduit or pipe communicating the air from the downstream end to the upstream end. By utilizing the plenum 120 to communicate the air from the inlet pipe 114 to the pipe 103, the present invention eliminates a good deal of required piping and other plumbing structure.
As shown in
While a single inlet pipe 114, pipe 103 and outlet 104 are illustrated, in fact, there would likely be several circumferentially spaced ones of these elements.
While a single inlet pipe 104 or 105, pipe 103 or 105 and outlet 104 or 108 are illustrated, in fact, there would likely be several circumferentially spaced ones of these elements (discreet or continuous).
While several embodiments of this invention have been disclosed, a worker of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. For that reason, the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.
