Gearbox assembly with lubricant extraction volume ratio

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12345201-B2
Application number	US-202418990706-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2024
Priority date	Jun 22, 2022
Publication date	Jul 1, 2025
Grant date	Jul 1, 2025

Abstract

A gearbox assembly includes a gearbox and a gutter for collecting a gearbox lubricant scavenge flow from the gearbox. The gutter is characterized by a lubricant extraction volume ratio between 0.01 and 0.3, and given by
V G V GB .
V G is a gutter volume of the gutter and V GB is a gearbox volume. A gas turbine engine includes a combustion section and the gearbox assembly. A fuel delivery system includes a fuel supply line for delivering fuel to the combustion section. A lubrication system includes a lubricant supply line for delivering lubricant to the gearbox assembly. A thermal management system includes a fuel-lubricant heat exchanger for cooling the lubricant with the fuel. The thermal management system selectively directs the fuel through fuel bypass lines or the lubricant through lubricant bypass lines to bypass the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger based on a fuel temperature or a lubricant temperature.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A gas turbine engine comprising:
a compressor section, a turbine section, and a combustion section in fluid communication with the compressor section and the turbine section;
a gearbox assembly comprising:
a gearbox having a gearbox volume defined by an outer diameter of the gearbox and a gearbox length of the gearbox; and
a gutter for collecting a gearbox lubricant scavenge flow from the gearbox, the gutter having a gutter volume defined by an inner surface of a gutter wall of the gutter and being characterized by a lubricant extraction volume ratio between 0.01 and 0.3, inclusive of the endpoints, the lubricant extraction volume ratio defined by:

V
G

V
GB

,

wherein V G is the gutter volume of the gutter and V GB is the gearbox volume; a fuel delivery system comprising:
a fuel tank that stores fuel therein; and
a fuel supply line in fluid communication with the fuel tank and the combustion section for delivering the fuel from the fuel tank to the combustion section;

a lubrication system comprising:
a lubricant tank that stores lubricant therein; and
a lubricant supply line in fluid communication with the lubricant tank and the gearbox assembly for delivering the lubricant from the lubricant tank to the gearbox assembly; and

a thermal management system comprising:
a fuel-lubricant heat exchanger in fluid communication with the fuel supply line and the lubricant supply line, the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger cooling the lubricant with the fuel as the lubricant and the fuel flows through the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger;
one or more fuel bypass lines in fluid communication with the fuel supply line for bypassing the fuel around the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger; and
one or more lubricant bypass lines in fluid communication with the lubricant supply line for bypass the lubricant around the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger,
wherein the thermal management system selectively directs at least one of the fuel through the one or more fuel bypass lines or the lubricant through the one or more lubricant bypass lines based on at least one of a fuel temperature of the fuel or a lubricant temperature of the lubricant.

2. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the thermal management system further comprises one or more fuel bypass valves that selectively direct the fuel through the fuel supply line or through the one or more fuel bypass lines.

3. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the thermal management system further comprises one or more lubricant bypass valves that selectively direct the lubricant through the lubricant supply line or through the one or more lubricant bypass lines.

4. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the thermal management system further comprises one or more air-lubricant heat exchangers in fluid communication with the one or more lubricant bypass lines that cool the lubricant with air as the lubricant flows through the one or more lubricant bypass lines.

5. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the one or more lubricant bypass lines include a first lubricant bypass line having an inlet at the lubricant supply line that is upstream of the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger and an outlet at the lubricant supply line that is downstream of the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger to bypass the lubricant around the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger.

6. The gas turbine engine of claim 5 , wherein the one or more lubricant bypass lines include a second lubricant bypass line having an inlet at the lubricant supply line that is upstream of the inlet of the first lubricant bypass line and an outlet at the lubricant supply line that is downstream of the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger to bypass the lubricant around the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger.

7. The gas turbine engine of claim 6 , wherein the one or more lubricant bypass lines include a third lubricant bypass line having an inlet at the second lubricant bypass line and an outlet at one or more sumps of the gas turbine engine to bypass the lubricant around the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger and to the one or more sumps.

8. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the one or more fuel bypass lines include a first fuel bypass line having an inlet at the fuel supply line that is upstream of the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger and an outlet at the fuel supply line that is downstream of the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger to bypass the fuel around the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger.

9. The gas turbine engine of claim 8 , wherein the one or more fuel bypass lines include a second fuel bypass line having an inlet at the fuel supply line that is downstream of the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger and upstream of the combustion section and an outlet at the fuel supply line that is upstream of the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger to bypass the fuel around the combustion section and back to the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger.

10. The gas turbine engine of claim 9 , wherein the one or more fuel bypass lines include a third fuel bypass line having an inlet at the second fuel bypass line that is upstream of the outlet of the second fuel bypass line and an outlet at the fuel supply line that is downstream of the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger to bypass the fuel around the combustion section and around the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger.

11. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , further comprising a controller that controls the thermal management system to direct the at least one of the fuel through the one or more fuel bypass lines or the lubricant through the one or more lubricant bypass lines.

12. The gas turbine engine of claim 11 , wherein the controller controls the thermal management system to direct the fuel through the one or more fuel bypass lines if at least one of the fuel temperature is equal to or greater than a fuel temperature threshold or the lubricant temperature is less than a lubricant temperature threshold.

13. The gas turbine engine of claim 12 , wherein the controller controls the thermal management system to direct the fuel through the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger if at least one of the fuel temperature is less than the fuel temperature threshold or the lubricant temperature is equal to or greater than the lubricant temperature threshold.

14. The gas turbine engine of claim 11 , wherein the controller controls the thermal management system to direct the lubricant through the fuel-lubricant heat exchanger if at least one of the lubricant temperature is equal to or greater than a lubricant temperature threshold or the fuel temperature is less than a fuel temperature threshold.

15. The gas turbine engine of claim 14 , wherein the controller controls the thermal management system to direct the lubricant through the one or more lubricant bypass lines if at least one of the lubricant temperature is less than the lubricant temperature threshold or the fuel temperature is equal to or greater than the fuel temperature threshold.

16. A gas turbine engine comprising:
a compressor section, a turbine section, and a combustion section in fluid communication with the compressor section and the turbine section;
a gearbox assembly comprising:
a gearbox having a gearbox volume defined by an outer diameter of the gearbox and a gearbox length of the gearbox; and
a gutter fo

Assignees

• Gen Electric
• Ge Avio Srl

Inventors

• Ertas Bugra H
• Zhang Xiaohua
• Manzoni Miriam
• Turi Flavia
• Piazza Andrea
• Sibbach Arthur W
• Miller Brandon W

Classifications

• Y02T50/60

  Efficient propulsion technologies, e.g. for aircraft · CPC title

• F16H57/0447

  Control of lubricant levels, e.g. lubricant level control dependent on temperature · CPC title

• F16H57/0435

  Pressure control for supplying lubricant; Circuits or valves therefor · CPC title

• F16H57/0436

  Pumps · CPC title

• F05D2260/98

  Lubrication · CPC title