Control system and mobile unit for a gas turbine engine

Abstract

The present invention provides: a control device which is for a gas turbine engine and which is capable of determining whether reverse rotation of a rotation member has occurred at startup of the gas turbine engine; and a gas turbine engine vehicle. The control device for a gas turbine engine drives an impeller of the gas turbine engine, detects, on the basis of a detection value from an air flowrate sensor which is installed in an air circulation part in communication with an intake port, whether or not an air flowrate detected by the air flowrate sensor at impeller startup is within a determination reference value range, and thereby determines whether or not reverse rotation of a rotation member has occurred at startup of the gas turbine engine.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a control device for a gas turbine engine and a moving body such as a gas turbine engine vehicle equipped with these gas turbine engines and the control device.

Background Art

[0002] In modern society, means of transportation are indispensable, and various moving bodies such as vehicles and aircraft are in practical use in daily life. Among them, for example, as exemplified in Patent Document 1, there is known a vehicle that drives a generator by a gas turbine engine and supplies the electric power obtained by this generator to a drive system such as an electric motor.

[0003] Generally, since a gas turbine engine rotates at high speed during operation, regular maintenance is also essential to achieve stable driving. Therefore, for example, as exemplified in Patent Document 2, methods for evaluating whether a defect detected in a gas turbine engine test is related to an engine performance problem or a problem unrelated to engine performance have also been proposed.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] Not only the above-mentioned patent documents but also the current technology still cannot be said to meet the market needs, and there are the following problems. In other words, if a gas turbine engine rotates in the opposite direction to its normal rotation due to assembly errors or other factors (hereinafter also referred to as "reverse rotation"), the air that should flow into the intake becomes turbulent, and normal combustion does not occur. In such a case, if the combustion operation continues, an abnormality will occur inside the gas turbine engine, and in some cases, this will result in damage to the gas turbine engine.

[0006] In contrast, while the rotational speed of a gas turbine engine's rotor can be detected using sensors, typical rotation detection mechanisms installed in gas turbine engines cannot detect the direction of rotation. Although it is possible to add a function to such rotation detection mechanisms to detect the direction of rotation, this would result in increased sensor costs and a greater computational load on the control device.

[0007] This disclosure has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems as an example, and aims to provide a gas turbine engine control device and a mobile body equipped with this control device that can determine the occurrence of reverse rotation of a rotating member during startup of a gas turbine engine, while suppressing cost increases and increased computational load of the control device. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] To solve the above problems, according to one aspect of this disclosure, a control device for controlling a gas turbine engine having an impeller provided in an air intake and a turbine positioned downstream of the impeller is provided, comprising one or more processors and one or more memories communicated with the one or more processors, wherein the processor drives the impeller and, based on the detected value of an airflow sensor installed in an air circulation section extending from the air intake, detects whether the airflow detected by the airflow sensor at the time of impeller startup is within a range of a judgment criterion value, thereby determining the occurrence of reverse rotation of a rotating member at the time of startup of the gas turbine engine. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to this disclosure, by relating the airflow rate during gas turbine engine startup with the engine's rotation direction, it is possible to determine the occurrence of reverse rotation during gas turbine engine startup while suppressing cost increases and increased computational load on the control device. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] This is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle equipped with a gas turbine engine according to the first embodiment. [Figure 2] This is a schematic diagram illustrating the various components and functions of the vehicle according to the first embodiment. [Figure 3] This is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a gas turbine engine and control device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4] This is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the control device and its surroundings according to the first embodiment. [Figure 5] This is a flowchart showing a method for determining the rotation direction of a gas turbine engine according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] Figure 5 shows a flowchart illustrating the rotation direction determination process, which is part of the method for determining the rotation direction of a gas turbine engine. [Figure 7] This is a flowchart showing a method for determining the rotation direction of a gas turbine engine according to the second embodiment. [Figure 8] Figure 7 shows a flowchart illustrating the equipment failure detection process as part of the method for determining the rotation direction of a gas turbine engine. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] Next, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described. In this specification and drawings, components having substantially the same functional configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions will be omitted. Furthermore, for configurations other than those detailed below, known elemental technologies and configurations relating to gas turbine engines, including those in the aforementioned patent documents, may be appropriately supplemented.

[0012] [First Embodiment] <Gas turbine engine vehicle GTV> Figures 1 and 2 are schematic diagrams showing an example configuration and functional block of a gas turbine engine vehicle (GTV) including the gas turbine 30 and its control device 100 according to this embodiment. The gas turbine 30 and its control device 100 of this embodiment can be applied to various known mobile bodies such as vehicles, aircraft, or ships. Hereinafter, the explanation will continue using a vehicle (gas turbine engine vehicle) as an example of the mobile body described above.

[0013] As shown in Figure 2, the gas turbine engine vehicle GTV is configured as a four-wheel drive vehicle that transmits the drive torque output from the drive source 21, which generates the vehicle's drive torque, to the left front wheel 3LF, the right front wheel 3RF, the left rear wheel 3LR, and the right rear wheel 3RR (hereinafter collectively referred to as "wheel 3" unless otherwise specified). In this embodiment, the drive source 21 can be exemplified by a known electric motor located on the front wheel side. This drive source 21 can output drive torque that is transmitted to the front wheel drive shaft 2F and the rear wheel drive shaft 2R via a transmission (not shown), a front wheel differential mechanism 5F, and a rear wheel differential mechanism 5R.

[0014] In this embodiment, the electric motors serving as the driving force source 21 may be arranged with one on the front wheel side and one on the rear wheel side, or with one electric motor on each wheel 3. Furthermore, although the gas turbine engine vehicle GTV in this embodiment is configured as a four-wheel drive vehicle, it may also be a two-wheel drive vehicle in which the electric motors drive either the front or rear wheels. In addition, the driving force source 21 may further include a known internal combustion engine such as a gasoline engine or a diesel engine in addition to the electric motors described above.

[0015] A power supply system that supplies desired power to a driving force source 21 as described above includes, for example, a gas turbine 30 described later, a known fuel supply mechanism 40 that supplies fuel to the gas turbine 30, a known generator 45 that generates electricity by receiving the driving force from the gas turbine 30, a known secondary battery 50 such as a lithium-ion secondary battery or a lead storage battery that can store the power generated by the generator 45, a known converter 22, and a control device 100 that controls these components.

[0016] As shown in FIG. 2, the gas turbine 30 is connected to a load including a driving force source 21 (electric motor) via the above-described generator 45, converter 22, etc. Further, the fuel supply mechanism 40 may include a known fuel supply valve 41 that can adjust the amount of fuel supplied to the gas turbine 30 under the control of the control device 100.

[0017] The converter 22 includes a known AC / DC converter that converts between direct current and alternating current, and a known DC / DC converter that adjusts the voltage of the direct current to a desired voltage. Therefore, the power generated by the gas turbine 30 and the generator 45 can be stored in, for example, the secondary battery 50 or supplied to the driving force source 21 after being converted via this converter 22.

[0018] Further, the gas turbine engine vehicle GTV of the present embodiment includes, as equipment used for operation control, the above-described driving force source 21, an electric steering device 8, and brake devices 4LF, 4RF, 4LR, 4RR (hereinafter, collectively referred to as "brake device 4" when no particular distinction is required).

[0019] An electric steering device 8 is provided on the front-wheel drive shaft 2F. The electric steering device 8 includes an electric motor and a gear mechanism not shown, and adjusts the steering angles of the left front wheel 3LF and the right front wheel 3RF by being controlled by a vehicle drive control device 20.

[0020] The vehicle drive control device 20 includes one or more known electronic control units (ECUs) that control the drive of a power source 21 that outputs drive torque for the gas turbine engine vehicle GTV, a steering wheel 9, an electric steering system 8 that controls the steering angle of the steering wheels, and a brake system 4 that controls the braking force of the gas turbine engine vehicle GTV. The vehicle drive control device 20 may also have a function to control the drive of a transmission that changes the speed of the output output from the power source 21 and transmits it to the wheels 3.

[0021] The control device 100 comprises one or more processors (CPU (Central Processing Unit)) and one or more memories that are communicatively connected to the one or more processors. The control device 100 is configured to control a gas turbine 30 which comprises an impeller 31c provided in an air intake port 31a (described later) and a turbine 32 positioned downstream of the impeller 31c. The control device 100 also functions as a determination device 10 that determines the rotation direction of the gas turbine 30 (described later). This control device 100 may be configured to connect to a known external network NT, such as the Internet, via a known in-vehicle communication device CD.

[0022] Such a control device 100 is electrically connected either directly or via communication means such as CAN (Controller Area Network) or LIN (Local Internet) to the above-mentioned communication device CD, sensors SR including the air flow sensor SR1 described later, known storage devices MD such as a hard disk, and display devices PD including known in-vehicle speakers SP and displays DP. As for sensors SR applicable to this embodiment, examples include a known ambient temperature sensor SR2 capable of detecting ambient temperature around a gas turbine engine vehicle GTV, a known pressure sensor SR3 capable of detecting atmospheric pressure around a gas turbine engine vehicle GTV, and various other known in-vehicle sensors such as angular velocity sensors.

[0023] <Gas turbine engine> Next, with reference to Figure 3, the gas turbine engine of this embodiment, including the gas turbine 30 and the fuel supply mechanism 40, will be described. As shown in the figure, the gas turbine 30 is composed of a compressor 31 with an impeller 31c at the intake port 31a, a turbine 32 located downstream of the combustor 35, a drive shaft 33 connecting the compressor 31 and the turbine 32, an output shaft 34 located coaxially with the turbine 32, and a combustor 35 located downstream of the compressor 31.

[0024] The compressor 31 is configured to take in outside air (air) from an air intake port 31a and compress this taken-in air via an impeller 31c. A known air flow sensor SR1 capable of measuring the flow rate of air taken in from the air intake port 31a is provided in the air flow section 31b upstream of the impeller 31c that follows from the air intake port 31a. Therefore, the control device 100 is able to detect the flow rate of air flowing into the compressor 31 via the air flow sensor SR1 described above.

[0025] The turbine 32 is configured with a rotor 32a connected to a drive shaft 33 which is connected to the impeller 31c described above. The rotor 32a can be started by a known starter motor, such as a three-phase AC motor (not shown). In this case, since the rotor 32a is connected to the impeller 31c via the drive shaft 33, the impeller 31c can rotate in sync with the rotation of the rotor 32a. In the gas turbine 30 of this embodiment, configured as described above, when the drive shaft 33, which is equipped with a rotor 32a and an impeller 31c, is started (rotated) by a starter motor under the control of the control device 100, the air taken in by the compressor 31 is compressed by the rotation of the impeller 31c and supplied to a known combustor 35.

[0026] At this time, the control device 100 supplies fuel from the fuel supply mechanism 40 to the combustor 35 via the fuel supply valve 41 described above and burns it, supplying the high-speed gas produced by the combustion to the turbine 32. This high-speed gas causes the rotor 32a inside the turbine 32 to rotate, which transmits driving force (rotation) to the generator 45 via the output shaft 34, thereby generating the desired power.

[0027] <Judgment device 10> Next, using Figure 4, we will describe the determination device 10 for determining whether or not reverse rotation occurs during startup of the gas turbine engine in this embodiment. In other words, it has been found that, for example, wiring errors in the three-phase AC motor or inverter during the assembly process of a gas turbine engine can cause the gas turbine engine to rotate in the reverse direction instead of the normal rotation when it starts up. If such reverse rotation occurs and appropriate countermeasures are not taken promptly, damage to the gas turbine engine may occur. In contrast, the determination device 10 of this embodiment drives the impeller 31c (or rotor 32a) via the starter motor described above and detects whether the airflow rate detected by the airflow sensor SR1 at the time of starting the impeller 31c is within the range of the determination criteria value, based on the detected value of the airflow sensor SR1.

[0028] The control device 100 then determines whether or not reverse rotation occurs in the rotating member during startup of the gas turbine engine based on whether or not the airflow rate is within the range of a judgment criterion value. More specifically, the "rotating member" in this embodiment can be exemplified by at least one of the impeller 31c in the compressor 31 and the rotor 32a in the turbine 32.

[0029] As shown in Figure 4, the determination device 10 of this embodiment is configured to include an air flow rate measuring unit 10A, an environmental factor measuring unit 10B, and a rotation direction determination unit 10C. As described above, the determination device 10 is configured as one function executed by the control device 100 of this embodiment. As shown in Figure 4, the control device 100 may also be configured to include a drive control unit 11 and a presentation control unit 12.

[0030] The air flow rate measuring unit 10A is configured to measure the flow rate of air taken in from the intake port 31a of the compressor 31 and flowing through the air circulation unit 31b. More specifically, the air flow rate measuring unit 10A can measure the flow rate of air flowing through the air circulation unit 31b via the air flow sensor SR1 described above.

[0031] The environmental factor measurement unit 10B is configured to have the function of measuring environmental factors such as temperature and atmospheric pressure around the gas turbine 30. Here, "environmental factors" in this embodiment refers to parameters around the gas turbine that can affect the output of the gas turbine engine, such as the temperature and atmospheric pressure mentioned above. More specifically, the environmental factor measurement unit 10B can measure the ambient temperature around the vehicle via the ambient temperature sensor SR2 described above. Furthermore, the environmental factor measurement unit 10B can measure the atmospheric pressure around the vehicle via the atmospheric pressure sensor SR3 described above. While ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure were used as examples of environmental factors in the above explanation, other known parameters, such as humidity around the vehicle, may also be added as examples of environmental factors.

[0032] The rotation direction determination unit 10C is configured to have the function of detecting reverse rotation of a rotating member (at least one of the impeller 31c and rotor 32a) during the startup of the gas turbine engine, based on the detected value of the air flow sensor SR1 described above. More specifically, the rotation direction determination unit 10C can determine whether or not reverse rotation occurs in the rotating member by detecting whether or not the air flow rate detected by the air flow sensor SR1 during the startup of the impeller 31c is within the range of a determination criterion value.

[0033] The range of the judgment criteria values ​​mentioned above can be calculated in advance through experiments or simulations based on the size and rated output of the gas turbine 30. As an example, a range of 10.0 g / s to 15.0 g / s can be used as the judgment criteria value in this embodiment.

[0034] The rotation direction determination unit 10C may vary the above-mentioned airflow rate determination criterion value based on environmental factors (such as temperature and atmospheric pressure) during gas turbine engine startup. More specifically, the control device 100 may refer to reference information of predetermined determination criterion values ​​for each ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. Such reference information of determination criterion values ​​may be stored in advance in the above-mentioned storage device MD or an external server (not shown) as table information that defines the optimal value within the range of the above-mentioned determination criterion values ​​for each ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. For example, the reference information described above may be set so that the flow rate of the judgment threshold decreases as the outside temperature rises. Conversely, the reference information described above can be set so that the flow rate of the judgment threshold increases as the outside temperature falls. As another example, the reference information described above may be set so that the flow rate of the judgment threshold decreases as the atmospheric pressure decreases. Conversely, the reference information described above can be set so that the flow rate of the judgment threshold increases as the atmospheric pressure increases. Such table information can be calculated in advance by conducting experiments or simulations for each of the outside temperature and atmospheric pressure ranges, which are divided into predetermined categories, and measuring the optimal values ​​for each.

[0035] The drive control unit 11 is configured to control the drive of the gas turbine engine vehicle GTV based on the determination result of the rotation direction determination unit 10C described above. More specifically, if the rotation direction determination unit 10C determines that the rotating member is rotating in the opposite direction, the drive control unit 11 may, for example, stop the drive of the gas turbine 30.

[0036] The display control unit 12 performs processing to display various information, such as the operating status of the gas turbine engine including the gas turbine 30 and the judgment results, via a display device PD including a known in-vehicle speaker SP or display DP. The display control unit 12 may display the above-mentioned various information to the occupants via the in-vehicle display device PD, or it may control the display by accessing an external terminal such as a smartphone carried by the occupants.

[0037] <Method for determining the direction of rotation during gas turbine startup> Next, with reference to Figures 5 and 6, a method for determining the rotation direction during gas turbine startup, which can be executed by the control device 100 including the determination device 10 in this embodiment, will be described. This rotation direction determination method may also be used as an algorithm in a computer-readable program. Such a program with an algorithm can be distributed, for example, via a known network for download to a gas turbine engine vehicle (GTV), or distributed in the form of a recording medium. The following explanation will use, for example, the scenario where a user gets into a gas turbine engine vehicle (GTV), starts the system, and begins driving.

[0038] First, in step 10A, the control device 100 detects whether the gas turbine engine, including the gas turbine 30 described above, has started. If the gas turbine engine has not yet started in step 10A, it is determined in step 100, described later, whether the system has turned OFF or not. If the system has not turned OFF, the process returns to step 10A and is repeated.

[0039] Then, if it is determined in step 10A that the gas turbine engine has started, in the following step 20A, it is detected whether or not the determination conditions for determining the direction of rotation at the time of gas turbine startup have been met. Such determination conditions may be set based on, for example, whether the gas turbine engine is ready to produce its rated output. That is, as an example of the above determination conditions, it can be said that the rotational speed of the rotor 32a of the gas turbine 30 has reached a predetermined range (for example, within the range of 5000 rpm to 10000 rpm) as a result of starting by the starter motor described above.

[0040] In this example, the rotational speed range is given as 5,000 to 10,000 rpm, but such a predetermined range may be set appropriately depending on the size of the turbine, rated output, etc. If the judgment condition is not met in step 20A for any reason (No in step 20A), the process proceeds to step 100 and the same process as above is executed. On the other hand, if the judgment condition described above is met in step 20A (Yes in step 20A), the process then proceeds to step 30A and the process for determining the rotation direction at the start of the gas turbine engine is executed.

[0041] In other words, as shown in Figure 6, in the process of determining the direction of rotation when starting the gas turbine engine in step 30A, first in step 31, the control device 100 confirms the rotational speed of the rotor 32a started by the starter motor via a known rotational speed detection sensor (not shown). Here, the storage device MD mentioned above has in advance information on the range of airflow corresponding to the rotational speed of the rotor 32a.

[0042] Next, in step 32, the airflow measurement unit 10A of the control device 100 measures the airflow rate of the air flowing through the air circulation unit 31b when the impeller 31c is started, via the airflow sensor SR1 described above. At this time in step 32, the environmental factor measurement unit 10B of the control device 100 may measure the ambient temperature around the vehicle, for example, via the ambient temperature sensor SR2 described above.

[0043] Next, in step 33, the rotation direction determination unit 10C of the control device 100 detects whether the airflow rate detected by the airflow sensor SR1 at the start of the impeller 31c is within the range of the judgment criteria value, based on the detected value of the airflow measurement unit 10A (the airflow rate flowing through the air circulation unit 31b). More specifically, the rotation direction determination unit 10C of the control device 100 acquires the above-mentioned range information of the airflow rate based on the rotation speed of the rotor 32a acquired in step 31, and can determine whether it is within the range of the judgment criteria value included in this range information (for example, the above-mentioned 10.0 g / s to 15.0 g / s). At this time, if the rotation direction determination unit 10C of the control device 100 has acquired information on environmental factors such as the ambient temperature around the vehicle in step 32, it may adjust the above-mentioned judgment criteria value based on the value of this environmental factor (for example, by varying at least one of the upper and lower limits).

[0044] Thus, if the airflow rate described above in step 33 is not within the range of the judgment criteria, the rotation direction determination unit 10C determines in the following step 34A that the gas turbine engine is rotating in the reverse direction and completes step 30A. On the other hand, if the airflow rate described above in step 33 is within the range of the judgment criteria, the rotation direction determination unit 10C determines in the following step 34B that the gas turbine engine is rotating in the forward direction (i.e., rotating correctly) and completes step 30A.

[0045] After the rotation direction of the gas turbine engine is determined by the rotation direction determination process in step 30A described above, in the following step 40A, the control device 100 determines whether the rotation direction of the gas turbine engine is normal (forward rotation) or not, and if it is normal (i.e., forward rotation), proceeds to step 100. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 40A that the rotation direction is not normal, the display control unit 12 of the control device 100 can, via the display device PD described above, display information to the user regarding the driving status of the gas turbine engine, including the gas turbine 30, and warning information such as whether reverse rotation is occurring.

[0046] Furthermore, since reverse rotation occurs when the gas turbine engine is started, the drive control unit 11 of the control device 100 can perform emergency stop of the gas turbine 30 in the subsequent step 60A. This makes it possible to suppress damage to the gas turbine engine at an early stage. As shown in the diagram, the rotation direction determination method of this embodiment is completed after step 60A. However, for example, after step 60A, the process may proceed to step 100 to determine whether or not the system has been turned OFF.

[0047] According to the method for determining the direction of rotation during gas turbine startup described above, the airflow rate during gas turbine engine startup is correlated with the engine's rotation direction, and the occurrence of reverse rotation of rotating components (impeller 31c and rotor 32a) during gas turbine engine startup can be detected. This helps to suppress damage to the gas turbine engine caused by assembly errors, for example, as described above.

[0048] [Second Embodiment] The control device 100 for a gas turbine engine according to the second embodiment will be described below with reference to Figures 7 and 8. In the first embodiment described above, the occurrence of reverse rotation of the rotating member during startup of the gas turbine engine was determined based on the detected value of the air flow sensor. In contrast, the control device 100 of the second embodiment is mainly characterized by further distinguishing between a malfunction of the air flow sensor and the reverse rotation of the rotating member, based on the determination process of the first embodiment.

[0049] Therefore, in the description of the second embodiment described below, the above-mentioned features will be explained in detail, and the same reference numerals will be used for components having the same functions as those in the first embodiment described above, while descriptions of such components will be omitted as appropriate.

[0050] In other words, in this embodiment, the control device 100 determines the rotation direction at the time of starting the gas turbine engine by going through steps 10A to 30A as described in the first embodiment. Next, in step 40B, the control device 100 checks whether the gas turbine engine is rotating in reverse or not. If the gas turbine engine is not rotating in reverse and is rotating in the forward direction (No in step 40B), the device proceeds to step 100 as described above.

[0051] On the other hand, if it is determined that the gas turbine engine is rotating in reverse (Yes in step 40B), the control device 100 proceeds to step 50B and executes the equipment failure determination process shown below. Specifically, as shown in Figure 8, the control device 100 first detects the rotational speed of the rotor 32a in step 51 via a known rotational speed detection sensor (not shown). Next, in step 52, the control device 100 measures the airflow rate (first time) of the air flowing through the air circulation section 31b when the impeller 31c is started, via the airflow sensor SR1 described above. Since the processing in step 52 is the same as the processing in step 32 described above, step 52 may be omitted as appropriate.

[0052] Next, in step 53, the control device 100 controls the starter motor to drive the rotor 32a in the opposite direction to the initial rotation direction. Then, in step 54, the control device 100 measures the flow rate (second time) of the air flow through the air circulation section 31b via the air flow sensor SR1 described above.

[0053] Then, in the subsequent step 55, the control device 100 detects whether the airflow rate detected by the airflow sensor SR1 is within the range of the judgment criteria value. More specifically, the control device 100 can acquire the above-mentioned range information of the airflow rate based on the rotational speed of the rotor 32a using the same method as in step 31, and determine whether it is within the range of the judgment criteria value included in this range information.

[0054] Here, if the rotating member described above is rotating in the wrong direction due to an assembly error, it can be assumed that in step 55 the rotor 32a is rotated in the wrong direction, and therefore the state is the same as when it is rotating in the correct direction (i.e., forward rotation). Therefore, if the airflow rate detected in step 5 is within the range of the above-described criteria, the control device 100 can proceed to step 56B and determine that the gas turbine engine is rotating in reverse. After determining in step 56B that the gas turbine engine is rotating in reverse, the fault determination process of this embodiment is completed and the device proceeds to step 60B.

[0055] On the other hand, if the airflow rate detected in step 5 is not within the range of the judgment criteria values ​​described above, the control device 100 can proceed to step 56A and determine that the equipment (airflow sensor SR1 in this example) may be malfunctioning. After determining in step 56A that the equipment may be malfunctioning, the malfunction determination process of this embodiment is completed and the device proceeds to step 60B.

[0056] Thus, the control device 100 of this embodiment rotates the rotor 32a and impeller 31c in the forward direction (forward rotation) and then in the reverse direction (reverse rotation), and based on the measurement value of the air flow sensor SR1 detected during this time, it is possible to distinguish between a malfunction of this equipment (air flow sensor SR1) and reverse rotation of the rotating members.

[0057] After completing the fault determination process in step 50B described above, in the subsequent step 60B, the control device 100 can, via the presentation device PD described above, present warning information to the user, such as whether reverse rotation is occurring in the gas turbine engine including the gas turbine 30, or that there is a possibility that equipment (in this example, the air volume sensor) is malfunctioning.

[0058] Furthermore, in the subsequent step 70, the control device 100 can perform emergency stop of the gas turbine 30, similar to the first embodiment described above. This makes it possible to distinguish between equipment failures and assembly errors of rotating members, and to suppress damage to the gas turbine engine at an early stage.

[0059] In this embodiment, the air flow sensor SR1 is shown as an example of equipment installed in a gas turbine engine, but this disclosure is not limited to the above example. For example, the equipment failure detection process described above may be applied to the failure of other components, such as a pressure sensor capable of measuring the pressure inside the turbine, as an example of equipment.

[0060] <Computer programs, recording media> The computer program that implements each of the functions of the judgment device described above is a computer program applied to a control device that controls a gas turbine engine equipped with an impeller provided at the intake port and a turbine positioned downstream of the impeller, and can cause one or more processors to perform the following processes: driving the impeller (or rotor) via a starter motor; detecting whether the airflow rate detected by the airflow rate sensor at the time of impeller startup is within the range of a judgment criterion value based on the detected value of the airflow rate sensor installed in the air circulation section extending from the intake port; and determining whether reverse rotation occurs of the rotating member (at least one of the impeller and rotor) at the time of gas turbine engine startup based on whether the airflow rate is within the range of a judgment criterion value.

[0061] Furthermore, the computer program that implements each function of the control device, including the judgment device, can, in addition to the algorithm described above, perform the following actions: (α) vary the judgment criterion value of the airflow rate described above based on environmental factors (such as temperature and atmospheric pressure) when starting the gas turbine engine; and (β) rotate the impeller in the forward direction (forward rotation) and then in the reverse direction (reverse rotation), and distinguish between a malfunction of the airflow sensor and the reverse rotation of the rotating member described above based on the measured value of the airflow sensor detected during this time.

[0062] Furthermore, such computer programs may be stored in a form that is known, for example, the aforementioned recording medium, or they may be downloaded from a known server, such as a cloud service, to a gas turbine engine vehicle (GTV) via a communication device CD.

[0063] While preferred embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail above with reference to the attached drawings, the technology of the present disclosure is not limited to such examples. It is clear to any person with ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs that various modifications or alterations may be conceived within the scope of the technical idea set forth in the claims, and these will naturally also be understood to fall within the technical scope of the present disclosure. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0064] 10 Judgment device 20. Vehicle drive control system 30 Gas Turbines 40 Fuel supply mechanism 45 Generators 100 Control device GTV Gas Turbine Car

Claims

1. A control device for controlling a gas turbine engine comprising an impeller provided at an air intake and a turbine positioned downstream of the impeller, It comprises one or more processors and one or more memories connected to the one or more processors in a communicative manner, The aforementioned processor, The impeller is driven, Based on the detected value of an airflow sensor installed in the air circulation section extending from the intake port, the system determines whether the airflow detected by the airflow sensor at the time of impeller startup falls within a range of a judgment criterion, thereby determining whether reverse rotation of the rotating member occurs during startup of the gas turbine engine. Control system for a gas turbine engine.

2. The aforementioned processor, Based on the environmental factors during startup, the criteria value for determining the airflow rate is varied. A control device for a gas turbine engine according to claim 1.

3. The aforementioned processor, The impeller is rotated in the forward direction and then in the reverse direction, and based on the measurement value of the airflow sensor detected during this time, a malfunction of the airflow sensor and the reverse rotation of the rotating member are distinguished. The control device for a gas turbine engine according to claim 2.

4. A gas turbine engine comprising: a compressor with an impeller at its air intake; an air flow sensor installed in the air circulation section upstream of the impeller; a combustor located downstream of the compressor; a turbine with a rotor located downstream of the combustor; and an output shaft coaxial with the turbine. A control device for a gas turbine engine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, for controlling the aforementioned gas turbine engine, A gas turbine engine vehicle equipped with a gas turbine engine.

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