Aircraft engine with squeeze film damper

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12372028-B2
Application number	US-202318329017-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 5, 2023
Priority date	Jun 5, 2023
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

An aircraft engine, comprising: a shaft; a bearing housing extending around the shaft and defining a bearing cavity; a bearing in the bearing cavity and rotatably supporting the shaft; a squeeze film damper including: a first seal proximate a first end of the bearing, and a second seal proximate a second end of the bearing; an annulus between the first seal and the second seal, the annulus having a damping fluid in the annulus; and wherein at least the first seal includes a sealing ring received within a groove extending axially from an outer groove wall to an inner groove wall, the inner groove wall located axially between the outer groove wall and the annulus, the sealing ring having an outer ring face facing the outer groove wall and an inner ring face facing the inner groove wall, the inner ring face being movable relative to the outer ring face.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An aircraft engine, comprising:
a shaft rotatable about a central axis;
a bearing housing extending around the shaft and defining a bearing cavity;
a bearing located within the bearing cavity, the bearing rotatably supporting the shaft;
a squeeze film damper including:
a first seal located proximate a first end of the bearing, and a second seal axially spaced apart from the first seal and located proximate a second end of the bearing;
an annulus defined axially between the first seal and the second seal, the annulus defined radially between the bearing and the bearing housing, the annulus having a damping fluid in the annulus; and
wherein at least the first seal includes a sealing ring received within a groove defined in one or more of the bearing housing and the bearing, the groove extending axially from an outer groove wall to an inner groove wall, the inner groove wall located axially between the outer groove wall and the annulus, the sealing ring having an outer ring face axially facing the outer groove wall and an inner ring face axially facing the inner groove wall, the inner ring face being axially movable relative to the outer ring face, the outer ring face defined by an outer ring section and the inner ring face is defined by an inner ring section axially spaced apart from the outer ring section, the outer ring section and the inner ring section being two distinct ring bodies.

2. The aircraft engine of claim 1 , the outer ring section is connected to the inner ring section via a biasing member.

3. The aircraft engine of claim 2 , wherein the biasing member is a spring located between the two distinct ring bodies.

4. The aircraft engine of claim 1 , wherein an annular space extends a full circumference around the central axis and located axially between the two distinct ring bodies.

5. The aircraft engine of claim 4 , wherein the annular space is devoid of a biasing member.

6. The aircraft engine of claim 5 , wherein the annular space extends uninterruptedly from a radially inner face of the sealing ring to a radially outer face of the sealing ring.

7. The aircraft engine of claim 6 , wherein the annular space is slanted and extends towards the annulus from the radially inner face to the radially outer face.

8. A method of sealing a squeeze film damper, comprising:
mitigating leakage of a damping fluid out of an annulus defined radially between a bearing and a bearing housing by pushing a sealing ring of one of seals disposed at axial ends of the annulus axially outward, away from the annulus and into abutment with an outer groove wall of a groove receiving the sealing ring, when a pressure of the damping fluid contained in the annulus is greater than an air pressure outside the annulus; and
mitigating air ingestion into the annulus by axially displacing opposite ring faces of the sealing ring relative to one another by admitting one or more of air and the damping fluid within an annular space defined by the sealing ring between the opposite ring faces until the sealing ring is in abutment against an inner groove wall of the groove when the pressure of the damping fluid is less than the air pressure outside the annulus, the axially displacing of the opposite ring faces of the sealing ring includes moving an inner ring section of the sealing ring away from an outer ring section of the sealing ring, the inner ring section and the outer ring section being two distinct bodies.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the moving of the inner ring section of the sealing ring away from the outer ring section of the sealing ring includes moving the inner ring section away from the outer ring section with a biasing member.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the moving of the inner ring section away from the outer ring section includes changing a length of a spring located between the inner ring section and the outer ring section.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the axially displacing of the opposite ring faces of the sealing ring includes moving the inner ring section of the sealing ring away from the outer ring section of the sealing ring with the one or more of the air and the damping fluid received within the annular space.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the annular space is devoid of a biasing member, the moving of the inner ring section away from the outer ring section includes moving the inner ring section away from the outer ring section solely with a pressure of the one or more of the air and the damping fluid being greater in the annular space than in the annulus.

13. The method of claim 12 , comprising receiving the one or more of the air and the damping fluid into the annular space extending uninterruptedly from an radially inner face of the sealing ring to a radially outer face of the sealing ring.

14. An aircraft engine, comprising:
a shaft rotatable about a central axis;
a bearing housing extending around the shaft and defining a bearing cavity;
a bearing located within the bearing cavity, the bearing rotatably supporting the shaft;
a squeeze film damper having an annulus defined radially between the bearing and the bearing housing, the annulus receiving a damping fluid; and
a first seal and a second seal, the annulus defined axially between the first seal and the second seal, the first seal including a sealing ring received within a groove defined by one or more of the bearing housing and the bearing, the groove extending axially relative to the central axis from an outer groove wall to an inner groove wall, the inner groove wall located axially between the outer groove wall and the annulus, the sealing ring having:
an outer ring face facing the outer groove wall;
an inner ring face facing the inner groove wall and axially spaced apart from the outer ring face; and
apertures circumferentially distributed around the central axis and extending in a direction having an axial component relative to the central axis from the outer ring face to the inner ring face, the apertures being radially overlapped by the outer groove wall and the inner groove wall.

Assignees

• Pratt & Whitney Canada

Inventors

• Alecu Daniel
• Diosady Laslo Tibor

Classifications

• F16C33/782

  of the sealing region · CPC title

• F16C27/045 Primary

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

• F05D2240/55

  Seals · CPC title

• F05D2240/54

  Radial bearings · CPC title

• F05D2240/53

  Hydrodynamic or hydrostatic bearings · CPC title