Systems and methods for starting a turbine engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10823078-B2
Application number	US-201715635574-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 28, 2017
Priority date	Jun 28, 2017
Publication date	Nov 3, 2020
Grant date	Nov 3, 2020

Abstract

Systems and methods for starting a powerplant are provided. In one exemplary aspect, a starting system of a powerplant includes one or more features that allow for the powerplant to be started electrically with a burst of electrical power and without deriving electrical power from an offboard power source or a relatively heavy onboard energy storage device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for fast starting a powerplant of a first vehicle, the method comprising:
charging a capacitive accumulator disposed onboard the first vehicle to a predetermined charge with a power source disposed offboard of the first vehicle;
disconnecting the capacitive accumulator from the power source such that the capacitive accumulator and the power source are no longer in electrical communication;
discharging at least a portion of the predetermined charge from the capacitive accumulator to deliver a first amount of electrical power to a starter/generator of the powerplant such that the starter/generator drives a shaft of the powerplant to a predetermined rotational speed;
after the starter/generator drives the shaft to the predetermined rotational speed, switching the starter/generator to generate electrical power;
recharging, by the starter/generator, the capacitive accumulator to a second predetermined charge; and
discharging at least a portion of the second predetermined charge from the capacitive accumulator to deliver a second amount of electrical power to a second vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein after the capacitive accumulator is disconnected from the power source, the starter/generator draws electrical power only from the capacitive accumulator to start the powerplant.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein after discharging the at least a portion of the second predetermined charge from the capacitive accumulator to deliver the second amount of electrical power to the second vehicle, the method further comprises: detaching the capacitive accumulator from the powerplant such that the capacitive accumulator is no longer onboard the first vehicle or the powerplant.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein after recharging, the method further comprises: discharging at least a portion of the second predetermined charge from the capacitive accumulator to deliver a third amount of electrical power to one or more systems of the first vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the powerplant is a turbine engine.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first vehicle is an unmanned aerial vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the capacitive accumulator is a super capacitor.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the power source is a line voltage.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the power source is a mothership vehicle.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined rotational speed is a speed at which the starter/generator is no longer needed to sustain operation of the powerplant.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein during discharging the at least a portion of the predetermined charge from the capacitive accumulator to deliver the first amount of electrical power to the starter/generator of the powerplant, at least a portion of the predetermined charge from the capacitive accumulator is discharged to deliver an additional amount of electrical power to one or more starter modules.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the capacitive accumulator is a modular capacitive accumulator that is removable from and installable on the first vehicle.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the capacitive accumulator is the only electrical power source onboard the first vehicle.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Gibson Nathan Evan Mccurdy
• Kroger Christopher James
• Binion Sean Christopher
• Waun Scott Douglas

Classifications

• B64U80/82

  Airborne vehicles · CPC title

• H02J2101/28

  Wind energy · CPC title

• H02J7/865

  Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply (H02J7/50 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J2101/10

  Dispersed power generation using fossil fuels, e.g. diesel generators · CPC title

• B64F1/34

  for starting propulsion plant · CPC title