Removal of contaminants from air for use in aircraft engines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021047965-A1
Application number	US-202017034179-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 28, 2020
Priority date	Aug 15, 2019
Publication date	Feb 18, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A secondary air system for an aircraft engine comprises an air flow path communicating between a source of pressurized cooling air and an air consuming component. A filtering baffle is disposed in the air flow path upstream from the air consuming component. The filtering baffle has a monolithic body at least partly made of a cellular material, the cellular material including a non-stochastic lattice structure having a plurality of cells arranged in an ordered, repeating manner for trapping particulate matter contained in a flow of contaminated air.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A secondary air system (SAS) for an aircraft engine comprising:
an air flow path communicating between a core gas path of the aircraft engine and an air consuming component; and a filtering baffle disposed in the air flow path upstream from the air consuming component, the filtering baffle including a monolithic body at least partly made of a cellular material, the cellular material including a non-stochastic lattice structure having a plurality of cells arranged in an ordered, repeating manner for trapping particulate matter contained in a flow of contaminated air.

2 . The secondary air system according to claim 1 , wherein the non-stochastic lattice structure includes first and second non-stochastic lattice structures, said first and second non-stochastic lattice structures having different cell geometries and/or cell sizes.

3 . The secondary air system according to claim 1 , wherein the filtering baffle defines first and second traps on an upstream side thereof relative to the flow of contaminated air, the first and second traps fluidly interconnected by a first constricted passageway, and wherein the non-stochastic lattice structure is provided inside said first and second traps.

4 . The secondary air system according to claim 3 , wherein the first and second traps are bounded by bottom and side surfaces forming part of said monolithic body of the filtering baffle, and wherein the non-stochastic lattice structure is provided on at least part of said bottom and side surfaces.

5 . The secondary air system according to claim 4 , wherein the non-stochastic lattice structure is provided on the bottom surfaces of the first and second traps and on one of the side surfaces of each of the first and second traps.

6 . The secondary air system according to claim 5 , wherein the first and second traps are separated by a baffle wall, and wherein the non-stochastic lattice structure is provided on one side of said baffle wall, said one side facing inwardly of said first trap.

7 . The secondary air system according to claim 3 , wherein the non-stochastic lattice structure comprises a first non-stochastic lattice structure in the first trap and a second non-stochastic lattice structure in the second trap, and wherein the first and second non-stochastic lattice structures offer different particle filtering grades.

8 . The secondary air system according to claim 3 , wherein the filtering baffle is removably mounted in an inter-stage cavity located between a stage of turbine vanes and a turbine rotor, and wherein the second trap is fluidly connected to a portion of the inter-stage cavity downstream of the filtering baffle via a second constricted passageway.

9 . The secondary air system according to claim 1 wherein the monolithic body of the filtering baffle comprises a non-porous baffle substrate, the non-stochastic lattice structure being layered on an upstream surface of the non-porous baffle substrate.

10 . The secondary air system according to claim 9 , wherein a size of the cells of the non-stochastic lattice structure varies across a thickness of the non-stochastic lattice structure, the cells closer to the non-porous baffle substrate being smaller that the cells at an outer layer of the non-stochastic lattice structure.

11 . The secondary air system according to claim 1 wherein the non-stochastic lattice structure has a cell geometry selected among the group consisting of: Honeycomb, Gyroid, Schwarz and Scherk.

12 . The secondary air system according to claim 9 , wherein the cellular material has a variable density of cells.

13 . An aircraft engine comprising:
a core gas path having an air inlet; a compressor fluidly connected to the air inlet of the core gas path; a turbine fluidly connected to the compressor via the core gas path; a secondary air system (SAS) having an air flow path communicating between the compressor and the turbine; and a filtering baffle including a monolithic body at least partly composed of a cellular metal having a non-stochastic lattice structure with an interconnected network of struts that cooperate to define a plurality of cells arranged in an ordered, repeating manner for trapping particulate matter contained in a flow of contaminated air.

14 . The aircraft engine according to claim 13 , wherein the non-stochastic lattice structure has different cell sizes in different areas of the filtering baffle to provide for variable filtering capability over the surface of the filtering baffle.

15 . The aircraft engine according to claim 14 , wherein the size of the cells varies across a thickness of the cellular metal.

16 . The aircraft engine according to claim 13 , wherein the filtering baffle further comprises a solid metal baffle substrate, the non-stochastic lattice structure being built upon an upstream surface of said solid metal baffle substrate.

17 . The aircraft engine according to claim 16 , wherein solid metal baffle substrate defines a first particle trap and a second particle trap, the second particle trap in fluid communication with said first particle trap.

18 . The aircraft engine according to claim 17 , wherein the non-stochastic lattice structure is disposed in said first and second particle traps.

19 . The aircraft engine according to claim 18 , wherein the non-stochastic lattice structure is provided on a bottom surface and a side surface of each of said first and second particle traps.

20 . The aircraft engine according to claim 17 , wherein the second particle trap is fluidly connected to the first particle trap via a constricted passageway defined between the filtering baffle an a wall of the air flow path.

Assignees

• Pratt & Whitney Canada

Inventors

• Barberger Jeremie
• Gover Christopher

Classifications

• F02C7/18

  the medium being gaseous, e.g. air {(F02C7/125 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• F02C7/12

  Cooling of plants (of component parts, see the relevant subclasses, e.g. F01D; cooling of engines in general F01P) · CPC title

• Y02T50/60

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

• F05D2220/323

  for aircraft propulsion, e.g. jet engines · CPC title

• F01D25/005 Primary

  Selecting particular materials · CPC title