Oil and fuel circuits in a turbine engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9739198-B2
Application number	US-201214343185-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 14, 2012
Priority date	Sep 7, 2011
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

Oil and fuel circuits in a turbine engine, the circuits including a main oil/fuel heat exchanger passing flows of oil and fuel for cooling the oil, an oil/air heat exchanger mounted in the oil circuit and having a flow of cooling air passing therethrough, a bypass pipe connected between an oil inlet and outlet of the oil/air heat exchanger, a valve for controlling passage of the oil flow through the bypass pipe and the oil/air heat exchanger, and a secondary oil/fuel heat exchanger mounted in the bypass pipe.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Oil and fuel circuits in a turbine engine, the circuits comprising:
a main oil/fuel heat exchanger passing flows of oil and fuel for cooling the oil;
an oil/air heat exchanger mounted in the oil circuit and having a flow of cooling air passing therethrough;
a bypass pipe connected between an oil inlet and outlet of the oil/air heat exchanger;
a control valve for controlling passage of the oil flow through the bypass pipe and the oil/air heat exchanger; and
a secondary oil/fuel heat exchanger mounted in the bypass pipe.

2. Oil and fuel circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the bypass pipe and the oil/air heat exchanger are connected by a common oil outlet to an oil inlet of the main oil/fuel heat exchanger.

3. Oil and fuel circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the control valve has the oil flow passing therethrough and is arranged upstream or downstream from the oil/air heat exchanger and the secondary oil/fuel heat exchanger.

4. Oil and fuel circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the control valve is a two-port valve or a three-port valve.

5. Oil and fuel circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the control valve is an on/off operation type valve or a valve in which a degree of opening/closing is variable.

6. Oil and fuel circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the secondary oil/fuel heat exchanger passes a flow of fuel for feeding hydraulic pressure to variable geometry members.

7. A turbine engine, an airplane turboprop, or a turbojet, comprising oil and fuel circuits according to claim 1 .

8. Oil and fuel circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the fuel circuit comprises, from upstream to downstream in a flow direction of fuel, a fuel tank, a low pressure pump, a high pressure pump, and a fuel metering unit, the fuel passing through the main oil/fuel heat exchanger between the low pressure pump and the high pressure pump, and at an outlet of the high pressure pump, a flow of fuel is shared between a first fraction that flows to the fuel metering unit and a second fraction that passes through the secondary oil/fuel heat exchanger.

9. Oil and fuel circuits according to claim 8 , wherein the second fraction of the flow of fuel flows to the fuel metering unit after passing through the secondary oil/fuel heat exchanger.

10. A method of managing exchanges of heat between oil and fuel circuits of a turbine engine, the circuits comprising a main oil/fuel heat exchanger passing flows of oil and fuel for cooling the oil; an oil/air heat exchanger mounted in the oil circuit and having a flow of cooling air passing therethrough; a bypass pipe connected between an oil inlet and outlet of the oil/air heat exchanger; a control valve for controlling passage of the oil flow through the bypass pipe and the oil/air heat exchanger; and a secondary oil/fuel heat exchanger mounted in the bypass pipe, the method comprising:
controlling the control valve to prevent or allow the passage of oil through the secondary oil/fuel heat exchanger and through the oil/air heat exchanger as a function of a temperature of the oil.

11. A method according to claim 10 , further comprising controlling the control valve to prevent the passage of oil through the secondary oil/fuel heat exchanger and to allow the passage of oil through the oil/air heat exchanger when the temperature of the oil is higher than a predetermined temperature.

12. A method according to claim 10 , further comprising controlling the control valve to allow the passage of oil through the secondary oil/fuel heat exchanger and to prevent the passage of oil through the oil/air heat exchanger when the temperature of the oil is lower than a predetermined temperature.

Assignees

• Gameiro Sebastien
• Delepierre-Massue Olivier Robert Michel
• Snecma

Inventors

• Gameiro Sebastien
• Delepierre-Massue Olivier Robert Michel

Classifications

• F02C7/12 Primary

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

• F05D2260/213

  by the provision of a heat exchanger within the cooling circuit · CPC title

• F05D2260/20

  Heat transfer, e.g. cooling · CPC title

• F02C7/14

  of fluids in the plant {, e.g. lubricant or fuel (F02C7/185 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• F02C7/224

  Heating fuel before feeding to the burner · CPC title