Oil distribution system for gas turbine engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11655731-B2
Application number	US-202016791375-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2020
Priority date	Feb 14, 2020
Publication date	May 23, 2023
Grant date	May 23, 2023

Abstract

An oil supply system for supplying oil to a lubricating cavity of a gas turbine engine, the oil supply system has: a de-oiler having a de-oiler air-oil inlet, a de-oiler oil outlet hydraulically connected to the lubricating cavity, and a de-oiler air outlet in fluid flow communication with an environment outside of the oil supply system; and a closed-loop oil circuit including a main pump having a main pump inlet and a main pump outlet, the main pump outlet hydraulically connected to the lubricating cavity, a de-aerator having a de-aerator inlet hydraulically connected to a scavenge outlet of the lubricating cavity, a de-aerator air-oil outlet in fluid flow communication with the de-oiler inlet, and a de-aerator oil outlet hydraulically connected to the main pump inlet.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An oil supply system for supplying oil to a lubricating cavity of a gas turbine engine from a source of oil, the oil supply system comprising: a de-oiler having a de-oiler air-oil inlet, a de-oiler oil outlet hydraulically connected to the lubricating cavity, and a de-oiler air outlet in fluid flow communication with an environment outside of the oil supply system; and a closed-loop oil circuit including a main pump having a main pump inlet and a main pump outlet, the main pump outlet hydraulically connected to the lubricating cavity, a de-aerator having a de-aerator inlet hydraulically connected to a scavenge outlet of the lubricating cavity, a de-aerator air-oil outlet in fluid flow communication with the de-oiler inlet, and a de-aerator oil outlet hydraulically connected to the main pump inlet, the de-aerator oil outlet being hydraulically connected to the lubricating cavity via the main pump and bypasses the source of oil.

2. The oil supply system of claim 1 , wherein the de-aerator is an active de-aerator.

3. The oil supply system of claim 1 , wherein the closed-loop oil circuit is hydraulically connected to a source of oil for supplementing oil into the closed-loop oil circuit.

4. The oil supply system of claim 3 , wherein the source of oil is hydraulically connected to the closed-loop oil circuit upstream of the lubricating cavity and downstream of the de-aerator oil outlet and upstream of the main pump.

5. The oil supply system of claim 3 , wherein a scavenge pump is hydraulically connected to the closed-loop oil circuit downstream of the lubricating cavity and upstream of the de-aerator inlet, the source of oil hydraulically connected to the closed-loop oil circuit either upstream or downstream of the scavenge pump and between the lubricating cavity and the de-aerator.

6. The oil supply system of claim 3 , wherein the lubricating cavity is part of a first group of lubricating cavities, the source of oil is hydraulically connected to the closed-loop oil circuit via one or more lubricating cavities of a second group of lubricating cavities.

7. The oil supply system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more lubricating cavities of the second group of lubricating cavities have a scavenge oil outlet hydraulically connected to the closed-loop oil circuit between the de-aerator and the lubricating cavity of the first group of lubricating cavities.

8. The oil supply system of claim 1 , wherein the lubricating cavity includes a cavity of an accessory gearbox and a bearing cavity, the de-oiler located in the cavity of the accessory gearbox.

9. The oil supply system of claim 3 , wherein the closed-loop oil circuit is hydraulically connected to the source of oil via a make-up flow line, the oil supply system further comprising a warm-up flow line hydraulically connecting the source of oil to the closed-loop oil circuit for drawing a flow of oil from the closed-loop oil circuit to the source of oil.

10. The oil supply system of claim 2 , wherein the de-aerator is a centrifugal de-aerator.

11. The oil supply system of claim 3 , wherein the source of oil is an oil tank, the de-aerator air-oil outlet in communication with the de-oiler inlet via the oil tank.

12. An oil supply system for supplying oil to a lubricating cavity of a gas turbine engine, the oil supply system comprising: a de-oiler having a de-oiler air-oil inlet, a de-oiler oil outlet hydraulically connected to the lubricating cavity, and a de-oiler air outlet in fluid flow communication with an environment outside of the oil supply system; and a closed-loop oil circuit including a de-aerator having a de-aerator inlet hydraulically connected to a scavenge outlet of the lubricating cavity via a scavenge line, an oil outlet hydraulically connected to the lubricating cavity via a main line, and a de-aerator air-oil outlet in fluid flow communication with the de-oiler air-oil inlet, the lubricating cavity includes a cavity of an accessory gearbox and a bearing cavity, the de-oiler located in the cavity of the accessory gearbox.

13. The oil supply system of claim 12 , wherein the de-aerator is a centrifugal de-aerator.

14. The oil supply system of claim 12 , wherein the source of oil is hydraulically connected to the closed-loop oil circuit upstream of the lubricating cavity and downstream of the de-aerator oil outlet.

15. The oil supply system of claim 12 wherein the closed-loop oil circuit is hydraulically connected to a source of oil for supplementing oil into the closed-loop oil circuit.

16. The oil supply system of claim 15 , wherein the source of oil is an oil tank, the de-aerator air outlet in communication with the de-oiler inlet via the oil tank.

17. The oil supply system of claim 15 , wherein the de-aerator oil outlet is hydraulically connected to the lubricating cavity and bypasses the source of oil.

18. A method of removing air from the oil in an oil supply system of a gas turbine engine, comprising:
feeding oil to a lubricating cavity;
scavenging the oil from the lubricating cavity and removing air from the scavenged oil by centrifugation;
removing oil from a flow of air resulting from the centrifugation and expelling the removed air to an environment outside the oil supply system; and
returning the centrifuged oil back to the lubricating cavity while bypassing a source of oil.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising adding oil from the source of oil either upstream of a location where the air is removed from the scavenged oil or downstream of the location.

Assignees

• Pratt & Whitney Canada

Inventors

• Legare Pierre-Yves
• Brouillet Sylvain
• Alecu Daniel
• Cutrara Sam
• Beaulieu Rose

Classifications

• F01M2001/105

  characterised by the layout of the purification arrangements · CPC title

• F16H57/0457

  Splash lubrication · CPC title

• F01M2011/038

  comprising lubricant-air separators · CPC title

• F16H57/027

  characterised by means for venting gearboxes, e.g. air breathers · CPC title

• F16H57/0436

  Pumps · CPC title