Center vent tube support device of turbofan engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11248496-B2
Application number	US-202016810922-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 6, 2020
Priority date	Oct 2, 2017
Publication date	Feb 15, 2022
Grant date	Feb 15, 2022

Abstract

A center vent tube support device includes: an annular sleeve having an inner surface that comes into contact with an outer surface of a center vent tube; a ring formed of a pair of segments and placed between the sleeve and a shaft; and an annular nut for fixing the ring to the sleeve. An outer surface of the sleeve or the nut includes a pressurizing surface formed as a conical surface. Each ring segment includes a supporting surface formed as a cylindrical surface having a diameter equal to an inner diameter of the main shaft in a portion where the device is installed, a bearing surface formed as a conical surface having a vertex angle equal to that of the conical surface forming the pressurizing surface, a pair of side surfaces, and a pair of end faces formed as planes each spaced from a plane including the axis.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A device for supporting a center vent tube inside a hollow main shaft of a turbofan engine, the device comprising:
an annular sleeve having an inner surface that comes into contact with an outer surface of the center vent tube;
a ring formed of a pair of ring segments and placed between the sleeve and the main shaft; and
an annular nut for fixing the ring to the sleeve, wherein:
an outer surface of the sleeve or the nut includes a pressurizing surface formed as a conical surface;
each of the ring segments includes
a supporting surface formed as a part of a cylindrical surface,
a bearing surface formed as a part of a conical surface having a vertex angle equal to that of the conical surface forming the pressurizing surface,
a pair of side surfaces formed as planes parallel to a first plane including an axis and each spaced from the first plane at a first distance, and
a pair of end faces formed as planes each spaced from a second plane including the axis and perpendicular to the first plane at a second distance;

the supporting surface is formed of at least a part of an outer surface of a cylindrical rim portion of the ring segment;
the bearing surface is formed of at least a part of an inner surface of a cylindrical bore portion of the ring segment;
the main shaft has a small-diameter portion having a diameter that is smaller than that of a position where the device is to be placed;
in a state where the end faces of the pair of ring segments are brought into contact with each other by providing a connection ring around an outer surface of the bore portion of the pair of ring segments, a diameter of the cylindrical surface forming the supporting surface is equal to an inner diameter of the main shaft in a portion where the device is to be installed; and
a diameter of a circle circumscribing a projected shape of the device in a direction perpendicular to the second plane is smaller than an inner diameter of the main shaft at the small-diameter portion.

2. The device according to claim 1 , wherein of the sleeve and the ring segment, a positioning pin is fixed to a first part, a cutout is provided in a second part, and the positioning pin and the cutout work in relation with each other to restrict relative movement of the sleeve and the ring segment in the circumferential direction.

Assignees

• Ihi Corp

Inventors

• Kadowaki Masayuki

Classifications

• F05D2220/323

  for aircraft propulsion, e.g. jet engines · CPC title

• F05D2230/64

  using positioning or alignment devices for aligning or centring, e.g. pins · CPC title

• F05D2240/61

  Hollow · CPC title

• F05D2230/60

  Assembly methods · CPC title

• F01D5/085

  cooling fluid circulating inside the rotor · CPC title