Gearbox assembly with lubricant extraction volume ratio

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025122848-A1
Application number	US-202418990594-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 20, 2024
Priority date	Jun 22, 2022
Publication date	Apr 17, 2025
Grant date	—

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 that is defined byVGVG⁢B.VG is a gutter volume of the gutter and VGB is a gearbox volume. A gas turbine engine includes the gearbox assembly, a fan, a combustor that generates combustion gases, a turbine, a nacelle that surrounds the fan, and a steam system. The combustor and the turbine define a core air flowpath. Core air flows through the core air flowpath. The steam system that extracts water from the combustion gases, vaporizes the water to generate steam, and injects the steam into the core air flowpath to add mass flow to the core air. A bypass ratio of the gas turbine engine is in a range of 18:1 to 100:1.

First claim

1 . A gas turbine engine comprising:
a fan having a fan shaft and moving a volume of air; a turbo-engine comprising:
a combustor that combusts compressed air and fuel to generate combustion gases; and
a turbine including a core shaft, the combustor and the turbine defining a core air flowpath;
a nacelle that circumferentially surrounds the fan, the nacelle defining a bypass airflow passage between the nacelle and the turbo-engine, the volume of air from the fan being split and flowing into the bypass airflow passage as bypass air and flowing into the core air flowpath as core air; a steam system that extracts water from the combustion gases, vaporizes the water to generate steam, and injects the steam into the core air flowpath to add mass flow to the core air, wherein the gas turbine engine has a bypass ratio in a range of 18 : 1 to 100 : 1 ; and a gearbox assembly comprising:
a gearbox, the fan shaft being drivingly coupled to the core shaft through the gearbox, the 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.

2 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the steam contributes 20% to 50% of a total mass flow through the core air flowpath.

3 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the bypass ratio is in a range of 25:1 to 85:1.

4 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the bypass ratio is in a range of 28:1 to 70:1.

5 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the steam system includes a steam turbine that receives the steam to rotate the steam turbine, the steam turbine being drivingly coupled to the core shaft to rotate the core shaft when the steam turbine rotates.

6 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , the turbo-engine further comprising a compressor that compresses the core air to generate the compressed air, the compressor being drivingly coupled to the core shaft and defining a portion of the core air flowpath.

7 . The gas turbine engine of claim 6 , wherein the compressor includes a high-pressure compressor and includes a compression ratio in a range of 20:1 to 40:1.

8 . The gas turbine engine of claim 7 , wherein the turbine includes a high-pressure turbine (HPT) and includes only one stage of HPT rotor blades and HPT stator vanes.

9 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , further comprising a splitter positioned at a core inlet of the core air flowpath that splits the volume of air into the core air in the core air flowpath and the bypass air in the bypass airflow passage.

10 . The gas turbine engine of claim 9 , wherein the core air flowpath is defined between a core inner wall and a core outer wall, the core outer wall being defined by the splitter, and
the bypass airflow passage is defined between a bypass inner wall defined by the splitter and a bypass outer wall defined at the nacelle.

11 . The gas turbine engine of claim 10 , wherein the core air flowpath has a core inlet radius defined from a longitudinal centerline axis of the turbine engine to the core inner wall at a leading edge of the splitter, the core inlet radius being in a range of 4 inches to 17 inches,
the bypass airflow passage has a bypass radius defined from the longitudinal centerline axis to the bypass outer wall, the bypass radius being in a range of 20 inches to 45 inches, and the splitter has a splitter radius defined from the longitudinal centerline axis to the core outer wall at the leading edge of the splitter, the splitter radius being in a range of 5 inches to 17 inches.

12 . A gas turbine engine comprising:
a fan having a fan shaft and moving a volume of air; a turbo-engine comprising:
a compressor that compresses a portion of the volume of air to generate compressed air, the compressor including a plurality of stages and a compression ratio in a range of 20:1 to 40:1;
a combustor that combusts the compressed air and fuel to generate combustion gases; and
a turbine including a core shaft and having only one stage of turbine stator vanes and turbine rotor blades, the compressor, the combustor, and the turbine defining a core air flowpath, and the compressor being drivingly coupled to the core shaft such that rotation of the turbine causes the compressor to rotate;
a steam system that extracts water from the combustion gases, vaporizes the water to generate steam, and injects the steam into the core air flowpath to add mass flow to the combustion gases; and a gearbox assembly comprising:
a gearbox, the fan shaft being drivingly coupled to the core shaft through the gearbox, the 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.

13 . The gas turbine engine of claim 12 , wherein the steam contributes 20% to 50% of a total mass flow through the core air flowpath.

14 . The gas turbine engine of claim 12 , wherein the compression ratio is in a range of 22:1 to 40:1.

15 . The gas turbine engine of claim 12 , wherein the compression ratio is in a range of 24:1 to 40:1.

16 . The gas turbine engine of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of stages of the compressor includes ten to twelve stages.

17 . The gas turbine engine of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of stages of the compressor includes eleven stages.

18 . The gas turbine engine of claim 12 , wherein the steam system includes a steam turbine that receives the steam to rotate the steam turbine, the steam turbine being drivingly coupled to the core shaft to rotate the core shaft when the steam turbine rotates.

19 . The gas turbine engine of claim 12 , further comprising a nacelle that circumferentially surrounds the fan, the nacelle defining a bypass airflow passage between the nacelle and the turbo-engine, the volume of air from the fan being split and flowing into the bypass airflow passage as bypass air and flowing into the core air flowpath as core air.

20 . The gas turbine engine of claim 19 , wherein a bypass ratio of the bypass air to the core air is in a range of 18:1 to 100:1.

Assignees

• Gen Electric
• Ge Avio Srl

Inventors

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

Classifications

• F02C7/32

  Arrangement, mounting, or driving, of auxiliaries · CPC title

• F02K1/386

  mixing devices in the jet pipe, e.g. for mixing primary and secondary flow · CPC title

• F05D2260/98

  Lubrication · CPC title

• F05D2260/4031

  as in toothed gearing · CPC title

• F05D2260/606

  Bypassing the fluid · CPC title