Squeeze film damper acoustic isolation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11433322-B2
Application number	US-201916550020-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2019
Priority date	Aug 23, 2019
Publication date	Sep 6, 2022
Grant date	Sep 6, 2022

Abstract

A machine has a first member; a second member; a third member; a bearing having an inner race mounted to the second member and an outer race mounted to the third member; a damper chamber between the first member and the third member; a fluid outlet in the first member to the damper chamber; a fluid supply flowpath to the fluid outlet; and an unvented chamber open to and locally above the fluid supply flowpath.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A machine comprising:
a first member;
a second member;
a third member;
a bearing having an inner race mounted to the second member and an outer race mounted to the third member;
a damper chamber between the first member and the third member;
a fluid outlet in the first member to the damper chamber;
a fluid supply flowpath to the fluid outlet; and
a centrifugal separator comprising:
an inlet;
an outlet; and
an unvented chamber extending above the inlet and outlet and open to and locally above the fluid supply flowpath.

2. The machine of claim 1 wherein the unvented chamber has a volume 25% to 300% of a volume of the damper chamber.

3. The machine of claim 1 wherein the centrifugal separator comprises:
a centrifuge chamber wherein the inlet is positioned to introduce a flow tangentially to a first sidewall surface of the centrifuge chamber; and
a second sidewall surface portion converging from the first sidewall surface portion toward the outlet.

4. The machine of claim 3 wherein the centrifugal separator comprises:
a centrally apertured plate between the unvented chamber and the centrifuge chamber.

5. The machine of claim 1 wherein the centrifugal separator is an unpowered separator.

6. The machine of claim 1 wherein the centrifugal separator comprises:
a downstream convergent portion positioned to receive a tangential flow from the inlet and pass the flow to the outlet, the unvented chamber extending above the downstream convergent portion.

7. The machine of claim 1 further comprising, upstream of the centrifugal separator along the fluid supply flowpath:
a reservoir; and
a pump.

8. The machine of claim 7 wherein:
the fluid comprises oil.

9. The machine of claim 7 further comprising, upstream of the centrifugal separator along the fluid supply flowpath:
a deaerator.

10. The machine of claim 7 wherein:
the reservoir and pump are along a trunk of the flowpath; and
the centrifugal separator is along a first branch of the flowpath off the trunk.

11. The machine of claim 7 wherein:
the damper is a first damper and the damper chamber is a first damper chamber;
the flowpath has a second branch off the trunk to a second damper chamber of a second damper; and
a second centrifugal separator having a second unvented chamber is along the second branch.

12. The machine of claim 11 wherein:
the flowpath has a third branch off the trunk to a third damper chamber of a third damper; and
no centrifugal separator is along the third branch.

13. The machine of claim 1 wherein:
the third member is a second end portion of a spring, the spring comprising:
a first end portion mounted to the first member; and
a flexible portion between the first end portion and the second end portion.

14. The machine of claim 1 wherein:
in an outer diameter surface of the third member, the third member has an outer diameter first groove and an outer diameter second groove;
a first annular seal is carried by the first groove and sealing with an inner diameter surface of the first member;
a second annular seal is carried by the second groove and sealing with the inner diameter surface of the first member; and
the fluid outlet in the first member is between the first annular seal and the second annular seal.

15. The machine of claim 1 being a gas turbine engine.

16. The machine of claim 1 wherein:
the unvented chamber is effective to decouple an upstream portion of the fluid supply flowpath from a downstream portion of the fluid supply flowpath.

17. A method for using the machine of claim 1 , the method comprising:
introducing a fluid to the damper chamber via the fluid flowpath and fluid outlet;
said introducing causing a centrifugal flow of the fluid in the centrifugal separator so as to separate gas from liquid and pass the liquid to the damper chamber while accumulating the gas in the unvented chamber; and
rotating the second member relative to the first member, the rotating producing vibrations of the third member relative to the first member, the unvented chamber of the centrifugal separator isolating the fluid supply flowpath upstream of the centrifugal separator from the vibrations.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the rotating comprises:
increasing speed of the rotating and pressure of the fluid, the increased pressure initially compressing the gas and reducing a volume of free gas in the centrifugal separator, the increased speed centrifuging further gas to at least partially restore the volume of free gas; and
decreasing the speed of the rotating and the pressure of the fluid, the decreased pressure causing expulsion of some of the gas from the unvented chamber to temporarily increase the amount of gas in the oil supplied to the damper chamber.

19. A method for making the machine of claim 1 , the method comprising:
opening a portion of the fluid supply flowpath to the fluid outlet; and
installing the centrifugal separator along the opened portion of the fluid supply flowpath.

20. A method for operating a fluid damper in a machine, the machine comprising:
a first member;
a second member;
a third member;
a bearing having an inner race mounted to the second member and an outer race mounted to the third member;
a damper chamber between the first member and the third member;
a fluid outlet in the first member to the damper chamber;
a fluid supply flowpath to the fluid outlet; and
a centrifugal separator along the fluid supply flowpath,

the method comprising:
introducing a fluid to the damper chamber via the fluid flowpath and fluid outlet;
said introducing causing a centrifugal flow of the fluid in the centrifugal separator so as to separate gas from liquid and pass the liquid to the damper chamber while accumulating the gas in a chamber of the centrifugal separator; and
rotating the second member relative to the first member causing pressure oscillations in the damper chamber, said chamber of the centrifugal separator isolating the fluid supply flowpath upstream of the centrifugal separator from the pressure oscillations.

21. A machine comprising:
a first member;
a second member;
a third member;
a bearing having an inner race mounted to the second member and an outer race mounted to the third member;
a damper chamber between the first member and the third member;
a fluid outlet in the first member to the damper chamber;
a fluid supply flowpath to the fluid outlet; and
means along the fluid supply flowpath for extracting gas from the fluid and isolating an upstream portion of the flowpath from downstream pressure oscillations.

22. The machine of claim 21 wherein:
the means comprises a centrifugal separator/accumulator.

Assignees

• United Technologies Corp
• Raytheon Tech Corp

Inventors

• Gysling Daniel L
• Reinhardt Gregory E
• Szkrybalo Daniel A

Classifications

• F16F15/162

  with forced fluid circulation · CPC title

• F16C2360/23

  Gas turbine engines · CPC title

• B04C5/081

  Shapes or dimensions · CPC title

• B01D19/0057 Primary

  the centrifugal movement being caused by a vortex, e.g. using a cyclone, or by a tangential inlet · CPC title

• F16C27/045

  with a fluid film, e.g. squeeze film damping · CPC title