Aircraft gas turbine propulsion engine control without aircraft total air temperature sensors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9828106-B2
Application number	US-201514742985-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2015
Priority date	Jun 18, 2015
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

A control system for an aircraft gas turbine propulsion engine includes an engine control that is adapted to receive at least engine inlet temperature data and aircraft altitude data. The engine control is configured to determine the availability of the engine inlet temperature data and implements a measured temperature engine thrust setting schedule when the engine inlet temperature data is available, and a default temperature engine thrust setting schedule when the engine inlet temperature data is unavailable. The default temperature engine thrust setting schedule ensures that the gas turbine propulsion engine will generate at least 90% of rated engine thrust at all actual engine inlet temperatures at the sensed aircraft altitude.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control system for an aircraft gas turbine propulsion engine, comprising:
an engine control adapted to receive at least engine inlet temperature data and aircraft altitude data, the engine inlet temperature data representative of sensed engine inlet temperature, the aircraft altitude data representative of sensed aircraft altitude, the engine control configured to (i) determine availability of the engine inlet temperature data and (ii) implement an engine thrust setting schedule based on the determined availability of the engine inlet temperature data, wherein:
the engine control implements a measured temperature engine thrust setting schedule when the engine inlet temperature data is available, the measured temperature engine thrust schedule based at least on the sensed engine inlet temperature and the sensed aircraft altitude,
the engine control implements a default temperature engine thrust setting schedule when the engine inlet temperature data is unavailable, the default temperature engine thrust schedule based at least on the sensed aircraft altitude and a predetermined default temperature value associated with the sensed aircraft altitude,
the default temperature engine thrust setting schedule ensures that the gas turbine propulsion engine will generate at least 90% of rated engine thrust at all actual engine inlet temperatures at the sensed altitude,
when actual engine inlet temperature is at the predetermined default temperature value, the gas turbine propulsion engine will generate 100% of rated engine thrust at the sensed aircraft altitude,
when actual engine inlet temperature is below the predetermined default temperature value, the gas turbine propulsion engine will generate greater than 100% of rated engine thrust at the sensed aircraft altitude,
when the actual engine inlet temperature is greater than the predetermined default temperature value and less than a temperature at which a fan speed setpoint resulting from the predetermined default temperature value is equal to a thermal rating fan speed setpoint, the gas turbine propulsion engine will generate between 90% and 100% of rated engine thrust at the sensed aircraft altitude, and
when the actual engine inlet temperature is greater than the temperature at which the fan speed setpoint resulting from the predetermined default temperature value is equal to the thermal rating fan speed setpoint, the gas turbine propulsion engine will generate greater than 100% of rated engine thrust at the sensed aircraft altitude.

2. The control system of claim 1 , wherein:
the engine control is further adapted to receive one or more of aircraft speed data, engine air bleed status, and health status of another engine; and
the measured temperature engine thrust schedule and the default temperature engine thrust schedule are both based additionally on one or more of the aircraft speed data, engine air bleed status, and health status of another engine.

3. The control system of claim 1 , wherein:
the engine control is further adapted to receive interstage turbine temperature (ITT) data; and
the engine control further implements an ITT control governor, the ITT control governor configured to selectively control engine thrust, as needed, to limit ITT to a predetermined ITT limit temperature.

4. The control system of claim 1 , wherein:
the engine control additionally implements a default operability control schedule, the default operability control schedule providing predetermined surge margin and flameout margin.

5. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the engine control is further configured to generate an alert signal when the engine inlet temperature data is unavailable.

6. The control system of claim 1 , wherein:
the gas turbine engine is a turbofan engine having a fan that rotates at a fan speed; and
the predetermined default temperature value associated with each of the aircraft altitudes is predetermined, for at least at a plurality of aircraft altitudes, by:
determining maximum fan speed at the rated thrust;
calculating a 90% thrust fan speed value, the 90% thrust fan speed value equal to the fan speed needed to attain 90% of the rated engine thrust at the engine inlet temperature associated with the maximum fan speed at rated thrust; and
determining the predetermined default temperature value at the 90% thrust fan speed value on a flat rate thrust schedule.

7. A control system for an aircraft gas turbine propulsion engine, comprising:
an engine control adapted to receive at least engine inlet temperature data, aircraft speed data, and aircraft altitude data, the engine inlet temperature data representative of sensed engine inlet temperature, the aircraft speed data representative of sensed aircraft speed, the aircraft altitude data representative of sensed aircraft altitude, the engine control configured to (i) determine availability of the engine inlet temperature data, (ii) implement an engine thrust setting schedule based on the determined availability of the engine inlet temperature data, (iii) and generate an alert signal when the engine inlet temperature data is unavailable, wherein:
the engine control implements a measured temperature engine thrust setting schedule when the engine inlet temperature data is available, the measured temperature engine thrust schedule based at least on the sensed engine inlet temperature, the sensed aircraft speed, and the sensed aircraft altitude,
the engine control implements a default temperature engine thrust setting schedule when the engine inlet temperature data is unavailable, the default temperature engine thrust schedule based at least on the sensed aircraft altitude, the sensed aircraft speed, and a predetermined default temperature value associated with the sensed aircraft altitude and speed,
the default temperature engine thrust setting schedule ensures that the gas turbine propulsion engine will generate at least 90% of rated engine thrust at all actual engine inlet temperatures at the sensed altitude,
when actual engine inlet temperature is at the predetermined default temperature value, the gas turbine propulsion engine will generate 100% of rated engine thrust at the sensed aircraft altitude;
when actual engine inlet temperature is below the predetermined default temperature value, the gas turbine propulsion engine will generate greater than 100% of rated engine thrust at the sensed aircraft altitude,
when the actual engine inlet temperature is greater than the predetermined default temperature value and less than a temperature at which a fan speed setpoint resulting from the predetermined default temperature value is equal to a thermal rating fan speed setpoint, the gas turbine propulsion engine will generate between 90% and 100% of rated engine thrust at the sensed aircraft altitude, and
when the actual engine inlet temperature is greater than the temperature at which the fan speed setpoint resulting from the predetermined default temperature value is equal to the thermal rating fan speed setpoint, the gas turbine propulsion engine will generate greater than 100% of rated engine thrust at the sensed aircraft altitude.

8. The control system of claim 7 , wherein:
the engine control is further adapted to receive interstage turbine temperature (ITT) data; and
the engine control further implements an ITT control governor when the engine inlet temperature data is unavailable, the ITT control governor configured to selectively control engine thrust, as needed, to limit the ITT to a predetermined ITT limit temperature.

9. The control system of claim 7 , wherein:
the engine control additionally implements a default operability control schedule, the default operability control sched

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Xiong Yufei
• Faymon Dave
• Coffey Scot

Classifications

• F05D2270/313

  Air temperature · CPC title

• B64D27/16

  of jet type · CPC title

• G07C5/0816

  Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction · CPC title

• B64D31/06 Primary

  actuated automatically · CPC title

• F02C9/28 Primary

  Regulating systems responsive to plant or ambient parameters, e.g. temperature, pressure, rotor speed (F02C9/30 - F02C9/38, F02C9/44 take precedence) · CPC title