Gas turbine engines and methods for reducing spool thrust in a turbine section thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12345173-B2
Application number	US-202318519691-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 27, 2023
Priority date	Nov 27, 2023
Publication date	Jul 1, 2025
Grant date	Jul 1, 2025

Abstract

Gas turbine engines and methods for reducing spool thrust in a turbine section thereof are provided. The engines include a turbine disk, a shaft coupled to the turbine disk, an inner cavity downstream of the turbine disk, a thrust bearing assembly mechanically coupled to the shaft, a seal assembly having a seal land, and a controller. The controller is configured to detect a loss of oil event to the thrust bearing assembly and, in response: actuate the seal assembly to move the seal land toward a downstream face of the turbine disk to form a continuous axial seal about the inner cavity, supply a pressurized gas to the inner cavity to increase pressure in therein to an extent greater than an operating pressure thereof, and maintain the axial seal and the pressure within the inner cavity and thereby reduce the axial loads on the shaft.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A gas turbine engine, comprising:
a turbine disk;
a shaft coupled to the turbine disk;
a turbine disk inner cavity downstream of the turbine disk;
a thrust bearing assembly mechanically coupled to the shaft and configured to mitigate axial loads on the shaft during operation of the gas turbine engine;
a back-pressuring seal assembly having a seal land; and
a controller configured to, by one or more processors, detect a loss of oil event to the thrust bearing assembly during operation of the gas turbine engine and, in response to detecting the loss of oil event, to:
actuate the back-pressuring seal assembly to move the seal land toward a downstream face of the turbine disk such that the seal land forms a continuous axial seal about the turbine disk inner cavity;
supply a pressurized gas to the turbine disk inner cavity to increase a gas pressure in the turbine disk inner cavity to an extent greater than an operating gas pressure of the turbine disk inner cavity; and
maintain the continuous axial seal and the gas pressure within the turbine disk inner cavity while the gas turbine engine is operating and thereby reduce the axial loads on the shaft.

2. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to, by the one or more processors, actuate the back-pressuring seal assembly by actuating a valve to supply the pressurized gas to the back-pressuring seal assembly and thereby move the seal land of the back-pressuring seal assembly toward the downstream face of the turbine disk to produce a sufficient sealing pressure to maintain the continuous axial seal.

3. The gas turbine engine of claim 2 , wherein the back-pressuring seal assembly includes an elastic element configured to move the seal land toward the downstream face of the turbine disk in response to the back-pressuring seal assembly receiving the pressurized gas.

4. The gas turbine engine of claim 3 , wherein the elastic element is a bellows or a diaphragm configured to receive the pressurized gas in a cavity thereof and expand in an axial direction relative to a rotational axis of the shaft.

5. The gas turbine engine of claim 3 , wherein the seal land includes a continuous annular body encircling the shaft and the elastic element is configured to axially move an entirety of the seal land in response to the back-pressuring seal assembly receiving the pressurized gas.

6. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to, by the one or more processors, supply the pressurized gas from an external source independent from a turbine disk outer cavity that is in fluid contact with an upstream side of the seal land.

7. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the seal land includes a honeycomb face, the turbine disk includes knives protruding from the downstream face thereof, and the controller is configured to, by the one or more processors, actuate the back-pressuring seal assembly to cause the honeycomb face of the seal land to contact the knives or come within 0.254 mm of the turbine disk and thereby form the continuous axial seal.

8. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , further comprising a space between the seal land and the downstream face of the turbine disk that provides a flow path for gases to enter the turbine disk inner cavity, the controller is configured to, by the one or more processors, actuate the back-pressuring seal assembly to apply a differential pressure to the back-pressuring seal assembly to move the seal land axially toward the downstream face of the turbine disk in a direction normal to the flow path and thereby block the flow path.

9. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to, by the one or more processors, supply the pressurized gas within the turbine disk inner cavity to exert pressure on the downstream face of the turbine disk sufficient to reduce spool thrust loads on bearings of the thrust bearing assembly by 1000 force-pound (lbf) or more.

10. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the gas turbine engine is configured to power an aircraft.

11. A method, comprising:
detecting a loss of oil event to a thrust bearing assembly of a gas turbine engine during operation of the gas turbine engine, wherein the gas turbine engine includes a turbine disk, a shaft coupled to the turbine disk, and a turbine disk inner cavity downstream of the turbine disk, wherein the thrust bearing assembly is configured to mitigate axial loads on the shaft during operation of the gas turbine engine; and
in response to detecting the loss of oil event:
actuating, by a controller having one or more processors, a back-pressuring seal assembly to move a seal land of the back-pressuring seal assembly toward a downstream face of the turbine disk such that the seal land forms a continuous axial seal about the turbine disk inner cavity;
supplying a pressurized gas to the turbine disk inner cavity to increase a gas pressure in the turbine disk inner cavity to an extent greater than an operating gas pressure of the turbine disk inner cavity; and
maintaining the continuous axial seal and the gas pressure within the turbine disk inner cavity while the gas turbine engine is operating and thereby reduce the axial loads on the shaft.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein actuating the back-pressuring seal assembly includes actuating a valve to supply the pressurized gas to the back-pressuring seal assembly and thereby move the seal land of the back-pressuring seal assembly toward the downstream face of the turbine disk to produce a sufficient sealing pressure to maintain the continuous axial seal.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the back-pressuring seal assembly includes an elastic element that moves the seal land toward the downstream face of the turbine disk in response to the back-pressuring seal assembly receiving the pressurized gas.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the elastic element is a bellows or a diaphragm configured to receive the pressurized gas in a cavity thereof.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the seal land includes a continuous annular body encircling the shaft and the elastic element axially moves an entirety of the seal land in response to the back-pressuring seal assembly receiving the pressurized gas.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising supplying the pressurized gas from an external source independent from a turbine disk outer cavity that is in fluid contact with an upstream side of the seal land.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein actuating the back-pressuring seal assembly causes a honeycomb face of the seal land of the back-pressuring seal assembly to contact knives protruding from the downstream face of the turbine disk or come within 0.254 mm thereof and thereby form the continuous axial seal.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein prior to actuating the back-pressuring seal assembly, a space between the seal land and the downstream face of the turbine disk provides a flow path for air to enter the turbine disk inner cavity, wherein actuating the back-pressuring seal assembly includes applying a differential pressure to the back-pressuring seal assembly to move the seal land of the back-pressuring seal assembly axially toward the downstream face of the turbine disk in a direction normal to the flow path and thereby block the flow path.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the pressurized gas within the turbine disk inner cavity exerts pressure on the downstream face of the turbine disk sufficient to reduce spool thrust loads on bearings

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Bridges Eric
• Morris Mark
• Yanof Joseph
• Das Partha
• Mcclintic John
• Whitaker Steven
• Smoke Jason

Classifications

• F05D2240/55

  Seals · CPC title

• F05D2240/52

  Axial thrust bearings · CPC title

• F05D2220/32

  in gas turbines · CPC title

• F05D2270/09

  to cope with emergencies · CPC title

• F01D21/14

  responsive to other specific conditions · CPC title