Electrical raft with map

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9426844-B2
Application number	US-201213716516-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2012
Priority date	Dec 22, 2011
Publication date	Aug 23, 2016
Grant date	Aug 23, 2016

Abstract

An electrical raft 200 is provided that has electrical conductors 252 embedded in a rigid material 220 . The electrical raft 200 may have other embedded components, such as embedded fluid pipes 210 . The electrical raft 200 is provided with a raft map 400 that indicates the location and/or path of components embedded in the electrical raft 200 . The raft map 400 can be used to identify the positions of the embedded components, and may also be provided with active elements, such as LEDs, which may be used to indicate an operating state of the systems/components embedded in the electrical raft 200 . The raft map 400 may be useful in assembly, repair and fault diagnosis, for example.

First claim

We claim:

1. A gas turbine engine having an electrical raft, the electrical raft comprising:
components embedded in a rigid material, the components including embedded electrical conductors that form at least a part of an electrical system of the gas turbine engine, the electrical conductors configured to carry electrical signals for the gas turbine engine; and
a raft map comprising lines indicating paths of at least some of the embedded electrical conductors within the electrical raft, the raft map being visible from outside the electrical raft, wherein the electrical raft has at least one outer surface, on which the raft map is provided.

2. The gas turbine engine according to claim 1 , wherein the rigid material is a rigid composite material.

3. The gas turbine engine according to claim 1 , wherein:
the embedded components further comprise at least one fluid passage embedded in the rigid material; and
the raft map also comprises a further line that shows a path of the or each embedded fluid passage.

4. The gas turbine engine according to claim 3 , wherein the raft map also includes an arrow indicating a direction in which fluid is configured to flow through the fluid passage in use.

5. The gas turbine engine according to claim 3 , wherein:
the raft map comprises an active indicator that has at least two state outputs, each state output indicating a different state of the fluid passage in use.

6. The gas turbine engine according to claim 1 , wherein:
the raft map comprises an active indicator that has at least two state outputs, each state output indicating a different state of an electrical component.

7. The gas turbine engine according to claim 5 , wherein the active indicator comprises a light emitting device.

8. The gas turbine engine according to claim 1 wherein:
the raft map shows a projection of an actual position of at least some of the embedded components.

9. The gas turbine engine according to claim 1 , wherein the raft map is a substantially full scale representation of the embedded components.

10. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the electrical raft forms a first engine installation component; and
a second engine installation component comprising electrical conductors; and
at least one flexible cable electrically connected between the electrical raft and the second engine installation component.

11. The gas turbine engine according to claim 5 , wherein the state indicated by the active indicator corresponds to at least one of a flow rate and a flow pressure through the fluid passage in use.

12. The gas turbine engine according to claim 6 , wherein the state indicated by the active indicator corresponds to at least one of a voltage across and a current through an electrical component in use.

13. The gas turbine engine according to claim 8 , wherein the projection is a projection onto a surface of the electrical raft.

14. A method of servicing a gas turbine engine according to claim 1 , the method comprising:
removing the electrical raft from the gas turbine engine; and
installing a second, pre-prepared, electrical raft onto the gas turbine engine in place of the removed electrical raft.

Assignees

• Rolls Royce Plc

Inventors

• Broughton Paul
• Peace Richard
• Skinner Gary Alan
• Kennea Robin Charles
• Willmot Michael Christopher
• Summerfield Philip

Classifications

• H05K1/0393

  Flexible materials (H05K1/038 takes precedence; specific organic compositions are classified in H05K1/0313 and subgroups) · CPC title

• F05D2260/30

  Retaining components in desired mutual position · CPC title

• Y10T29/49238

  Repairing, converting, servicing or salvaging · CPC title

• H02G1/00

  Methods or apparatus specially adapted for installing, maintaining, repairing or dismantling electric cables or lines · CPC title

• Y10T29/49002

  Electrical device making · CPC title