Suspension system for aircraft turbine engine with sliding pivot and synchronizing ring

Abstract

The invention relates to a suspension system for an aircraft turbine engine, which comprises a set of connecting rods (25) each comprising connecting means (26, 27) for fastening the system between a casing (22, 23) of the turbine engine and an element of the aircraft. Each connecting rod (25) comprises at least a ball joint (26) and a sliding pivot connection (28). The connecting rods are connected in axial translation.

Description

[0001] DESCRIPTION

[0002] TITLE: SUSPENSION SYSTEM FOR GIANT PIVOT AIRCRAFT TURBOMACHINE AND SYNCHRONIZATION RING

[0003] technical field

[0004] The present invention relates to the field of turbomachinery used for aircraft propulsion and, more particularly, the attachment of a turbomachine to an aircraft component.

[0005] Previous techniques

[0006] As is known, a turbomachine is designed to provide the thrust necessary for the propulsion of an aircraft. It classically comprises, from upstream to downstream, considering the direction of an airflow admitted into the turbomachine, a fan allowing to accelerate the airflow admitted into the turbomachine and comprising blades generally extending in the same plane transverse to the axis of the turbomachine, at least one compressor, a combustion chamber and at least one turbine to drive the compressor in rotation.

[0007] Attaching an aircraft turbomachine to an aircraft component is carried out in the state of the art by means of a suspension system comprising a clevis including load-bearing connecting rods fixed on one side to a turbomachine casing and on the other side to a hitch fixed to a pylon linked to the aircraft component.

[0008] An example of such a suspension system is illustrated in Figure 1, which depicts an aircraft turbomachine, designated by the reference numeral 1, comprising a casing 2, for example an inter-compressor casing, which is suspended from a mounting pylon 3 by means of a set of straight or boomerang-shaped connecting rods 4 linked by ball joints, such as 5, to the casing 2, on the one hand, and to a coupling 6 fixed to the pylon 3, on the other. According to another arrangement visible in Figures 2 and 3, the turbomachine casing 2 is suspended by means of a set of centering rods 7 comprising a first end 8 connected by a ball joint to the turbomachine casing 2 and an opposite end 9 connected by a ball joint to a nacelle 10 attached to the mounting pylon 3.

[0009] In Figure 3, which corresponds to the implementation of Figure 2, the turbomachine's suspension system is attached to the exhaust casing or TRF (TRF being the acronym for "Turbine Rear Frame") of the turbomachine. The TRF casing comprises an inner ferrule 11 and an outer ferrule 12, the suspension system comprising centering rods 7 connected to the outer ferrule 12 and to the nacelle.

[0010] In aircraft turbomachinery, it is generally desirable to constrain transverse translations, i.e. perpendicular to the engine axis, and the rolling moment, coaxial with the engine of the turbomachine casing relative to the pylon.

[0011] State-of-the-art suspension systems are likely to generate undesirable stresses in the turbomachine casing, particularly under the action of the connecting rods, these stresses being likely to cause casing ovalization, eccentricity of load-bearing bearings, or even localized punching of the casing.

[0012] Description of the invention

[0013] The aim of the invention is therefore to overcome these disadvantages and to propose a suspension system for aircraft turbomachinery which reduces stresses in the casing, in particular by allowing an additional degree of freedom.

[0014] The invention therefore relates to a suspension system for an aircraft turbomachine, comprising a set of connecting rods, each including means for attaching the system between a housing of the turbomachine and an element of the aircraft.

[0015] Each connecting rod comprises at least one ball joint and one sliding pivot joint, the connecting rods being linked in axial translation. According to another feature of the suspension system according to the invention, this suspension system comprises a connection between the moving parts of the sliding pivot joints.

[0016] In one embodiment, the link is a ring connecting the moving parts of the sliding pivot joints.

[0017] Advantageously, the connection between the moving parts of the pivot joints is elastically deformable.

[0018] Preferably, each connecting rod includes at one end a ball joint and at the opposite end a ball joint and a sliding pivot joint.

[0019] Advantageously, the first end is fixed to the side of the housing and the second end is fixed to the side of the aircraft component.

[0020] The invention also relates, in general, to a centering system of a first part with respect to a second part of an aircraft turbomachine comprising a set of connecting rods each comprising means for fixing the system between the first part and the second part, characterized in that each connecting rod comprises at least one ball joint and one sliding pivot joint, the connecting rods being linked in axial translation.

[0021] The invention also relates to an aircraft turbomachine comprising a suspension system as defined above.

[0022] Brief description of the drawings

[0023] Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, given solely by way of non-limiting example, and made with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0024] Figures [Fig 1], [Fig 2] and [Fig 3], which have already been mentioned, schematically illustrate a turbomachine equipped with a suspension system according to the state of the art;

[0025] Figures 4 and 5 schematically illustrate a turbomachine equipped with a suspension system according to the invention; a detailed description of at least one embodiment follows.

[0026] Reference will be made to Figure 4, which illustrates a turbomachine 20 equipped with a suspension system 21 according to the invention.

[0027] The invention relates essentially to the suspension system, only the part of the turbomachine 20 to which the suspension system is attached has been illustrated in figure 4.

[0028] A turbomachine extends along a turbomachine axis X and allows an aircraft to be propelled from an airflow entering the turbomachine and circulating from upstream to downstream, the terms upstream and downstream being defined with respect to the turbomachine axis X, considering the direction of the airflow in the turbomachine.

[0029] As is known, the turbomachine comprises, from upstream to downstream, a blower and a gas generator including a low pressure compressor, a high pressure compressor, a combustion chamber, a high pressure turbine and a low pressure turbine.

[0030] The low-pressure compressor, together with the low-pressure turbine to which it is connected by a turbine shaft, forms a low-pressure (LP) unit that drives the blower in rotation. The high-pressure compressor, together with the high-pressure turbine to which it is connected by a shaft, forms a high-pressure (HP) unit.

[0031] The fixed structural components of the turbomachine include, in particular, an inlet casing located at the inlet of the gas generator, an inter-compressor casing, located between the low-pressure compressor and the high-pressure compressor, and a TRF exhaust casing directly at the outlet of the low-pressure turbine.

[0032] The turbomachine is supported by a suspension system 21 attached to the turbomachine casing, in particular to the TRF casing comprising an inner ferrule 22 and an outer ferrule 23, and to the nacelle 24 attached to an element of the aircraft, for example under a wing.

[0033] The suspension system includes a set of centering rods, such as 25, arranged between the turbomachine and the aircraft component, specifically between the turbomachine TRF casing and the nacelle, and evenly spaced around the turbomachine. The nacelle 24 is a structural nacelle, in that it allows the turbomachine casing to be centered by means of the centering rods 25.

[0034] The centering rods include, at their mutually opposite ends, means for connecting to the TRF housing and the nacelle, respectively. The connecting means include ball joints 26, 27 and a sliding pivot joint 28.

[0035] As illustrated in Figure 4, each connecting rod includes at one end a ball joint 26, by which it is fixed to the outer ferrule of the housing, and at its opposite end a ball joint 27 associated with a sliding pivot joint 28.

[0036] The upstream end of the connecting rod is provided with a ball joint 26. The opposite downstream end is provided with a ball joint 27 and then a sliding pivot joint 28.

[0037] The axis of the sliding pivot joint is parallel to the X-axis of the turbomachine.

[0038] Compared to a two-ball joint, in which the forces applied along the axis of the connecting rod are referred back to the housing and to the aircraft element to which the suspension system is attached, a two-ball joint associated with a sliding pivot joint allows an additional degree of freedom to be introduced in the X-axis of sliding of the sliding pivot joint and avoids the blocking of uniform expansions of the centering rods which appear when the turbomachine heats up or during its cooling.

[0039] Similarly, the axial-radial translations of the downstream end of the connecting rod are not blocked.

[0040] The connecting rods are also linked together, in axial translation, by providing a connection between the moving parts of the sliding pivot joints of the connecting rods.

[0041] This linkage includes a ring 29 connected to the axially translational moving part of the sliding pivot joints.

[0042] This type of connection between the sliding parts of the pivot joints prevents the connecting rods from sliding in opposite directions, thus preventing the frame from moving radially. This connection also allows the frame to absorb the loads generated during aircraft maneuvers that cause eccentricity of the TRF housing.

[0043] However, this connection does not allow differential expansion of the connecting rods due to the thermal heterogeneity of the environment in which they are located, without generating local stress in the connecting rods and the ring, the connecting rods can only slide axially over the same length thanks to the ring which connects them together.

[0044] Advantageously, the connection between the sliding parts of the pivot joints is, however, elastically deformable or has a flexibility allowing deformation of this connection, in this case of the ring, in order to reduce these stresses, a variation of flexibility, for example an increase in flexibility, allowing to vary the stresses, for example a reduction of the stresses, present in the connecting rods and the ring during differential expansions.

[0045] It should be noted that the invention which has just been described, which uses connecting means comprising ball joints 26 and 27 and a sliding pivot joint 28 associated with a joint 29 between the moving parts in translation of the sliding pivot joints, applies to any suspension system comprising any number of centering rods.

[0046] Furthermore, the invention is not limited to a suspension system used for centering a TRF housing but also applies to other attachment points located on the turbomachine housing.

[0047] The invention also covers, in general, any centering system of a first part with respect to a second part of an aircraft turbomachine, comprising a set of connecting rods each comprising means for fixing the system between the first part and the second part, in which each connecting rod comprises at least one ball joint and one sliding pivot joint, the connecting rods being linked in axial translation.

Claims

DEMANDS 1. Suspension system for aircraft turbomachine, comprising a set of connecting rods (25) each comprising connecting means (26, 27) for fixing the system between a housing (22, 23) of the turbomachine and an element of the aircraft, characterized in that each connecting rod (25) comprises at least one ball joint (26) and one sliding pivot joint (28), the connecting rods being linked in axial translation.

2. Suspension system according to claim 1, comprising a link between the moving parts of the sliding pivot links.

3. System according to claim 2, wherein the link is a ring connecting the moving parts of the sliding pivot links.

4. System according to any one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the connection between the moving parts of the pivoting joints is elastically deformable.

5. System according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein each connecting rod comprises at a first end a ball joint and at an opposite end a ball joint and a sliding pivot joint.

6. System according to claim 5, wherein the first end is fixed on the side of the housing and the second end is fixed on the side of the aircraft element.

7. Aircraft turbomachine comprising a suspension system according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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