Gas turbine engine uncontrolled high thrust accommodation system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10156190-B2
Application number	US-201514717506-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 20, 2015
Priority date	May 20, 2015
Publication date	Dec 18, 2018
Grant date	Dec 18, 2018

Abstract

A system and method of accommodating an uncontrolled high thrust condition in a turbofan gas turbine engine includes processing engine data from the turbofan gas turbine engine to determine when a potential for an uncontrolled high thrust condition exists. When the potential for an uncontrolled high thrust condition exists, the engine data are processed to determine whether corrective action for the uncontrolled high thrust condition should be implemented by varying turbofan gas turbine engine effective geometry to (i) increase turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed or (ii) decrease turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed. The determined corrective action is automatically implemented.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A turbofan gas turbine engine uncontrolled high thrust condition accommodation system, comprising:
an engine data source configured to supply engine data representative of operability of a turbofan gas turbine engine; and
an engine control coupled to receive the engine data and configured, upon receipt thereof, to determine when a potential for an uncontrolled high thrust condition exists in the turbofan gas turbine engine and, upon determining that the potential for the uncontrolled high thrust condition exists, to:
determine whether or not a turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed will reach an overspeed trip limit by varying a turbofan gas turbine engine effective geometry to increase the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed,
supply commands that cause the turbofan gas turbine engine effective geometry to vary in a manner that increases the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed to the overspeed trip limit when it is determined that the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed will reach the overspeed trip limit, and
supply commands that cause the turbofan gas turbine engine effective geometry to vary in a manner that decreases the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed when it is determined that the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed will not reach the overspeed trip limit.

2. The turbofan gas turbine engine uncontrolled high thrust condition accommodation system of claim 1 , wherein the engine control is further configured, upon determining that the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed will reach the overspeed trip limit, to:
supply commands that cause a plurality of inlet guide vanes to close, without changing a fuel flow to the turbofan gas turbine engine, to thereby increase the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed to the overspeed trip limit.

3. The turbofan gas turbine engine uncontrolled high thrust condition accommodation system of claim 2 wherein:
the engine data include a high pressure turbine rotational speed; and
the overspeed trip limit is associated with the high pressure turbine rotational speed.

4. The turbofan gas turbine engine uncontrolled high thrust condition accommodation system of claim 3 , wherein the engine control is further configured, upon determining that the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed will not reach the overspeed trip limit, to supply commands that increase a bleed air flow from the turbofan gas turbine engine.

5. The turbofan gas turbine engine uncontrolled high thrust condition accommodation system of claim 4 , wherein the commands that increase the bleed air flow from the turbofan gas turbine engine comprise one or more of:
commands that increase the bleed air flow via one or more surge bleed control valves;
commands that increase the bleed air flow via one or more aircraft bleed air system control valves; and
commands that increase the bleed air flow via one or more engine anti-ice system control valves.

6. The turbofan gas turbine engine uncontrolled high thrust condition accommodation system of claim 1 , wherein:
the engine data include fuel metering valve data, the fuel metering valve data representative of operability of a fuel metering valve; and
the engine control determines when the potential for the uncontrolled high thrust condition exists based, at least in part, on the fuel metering valve data.

7. The turbofan gas turbine engine uncontrolled high thrust condition accommodation system of claim 6 , wherein the engine control is configured to process the fuel metering valve data to determine if the fuel metering valve is stuck.

8. A turbofan gas turbine engine control system, comprising:
a turbofan gas turbine engine having a plurality of movable inlet guide vanes mounted therein, the plurality of movable inlet guide vanes responsive to guide vane position commands to move to commanded guide vane positions;
a plurality of bleed air flow control valves in fluid communication with the turbofan gas turbine engine, each of the plurality of bleed air flow control valves responsive to valve position commands to control a bleed air flow from the turbofan gas turbine engine:
an engine data source coupled to the turbofan gas turbine engine and configured to supply engine data representative of operability of the turbofan gas turbine engine; and
an engine control coupled to receive the engine data and configured, upon receipt thereof, to determine when a potential for an uncontrolled high thrust condition exists in the turbofan gas turbine engine and, upon determining that the potential for the uncontrolled high thrust condition exists, to:
(i) determine whether or not a turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed will reach an overspeed trip limit by varying a turbofan gas turbine engine effective geometry to increase the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed,
(ii) supply guide vane position commands that cause the plurality of movable inlet guide vanes to close, without changing a fuel flow to the turbofan gas turbine engine, to thereby increase the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed to the overspeed trip limit when it is determined that the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed will reach the overspeed trip limit, and
(iii) supply valve position commands that cause the bleed air flow from the turbofan gas turbine engine to increase, to thereby decrease the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed when it is determined that the turbofan gas turbine engine rotational speed will not reach the overspeed trip limit.

9. The turbofan gas turbine engine control system of claim 8 , wherein:
the plurality of bleed air flow control valves include one or more of one or more surge bleed control valves, one or more aircraft bleed air system control valves, and one or more anti-ice system control valves; and
the valve position commands that cause increased bleed air flow from the turbofan gas turbine engine are supplied to one or more of the one or more surge bleed control valves, the one or more aircraft bleed air system control valves, and the one or more anti-ice system control valves.

10. The turbofan gas turbine engine control system of claim 8 , further comprising:
a fuel metering valve configured to control the fuel flow to the turbofan gas turbine engine,
wherein:
the engine data include a fuel metering valve data, the fuel metering valve data representative of operability of the fuel metering valve, and
the engine control determines when the potential for the uncontrolled high thrust condition exists based, at least in part, on the fuel metering valve data.

11. The turbofan gas turbine engine control system of claim 10 , wherein the engine control is configured to process the fuel metering valve data to determine if the fuel metering valve is stuck.

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Coffey Scot
• Chapman Gregory J
• Xiong Yufei

Classifications

• F05D2270/051

  Thrust · CPC title

• F05D2270/304

  Spool rotational speed · CPC title

• F02C9/20 Primary

  by throttling; by adjusting vanes · CPC title

• F05B2270/107

  to cope with emergencies · CPC title

• F02C9/22

  by adjusting turbine vanes · CPC title