Aircraft Turbine Engine Heat Exchanger With Vane-Built Diffusion Corridors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing turbomachines face challenges in achieving efficient heat exchanger performance while maintaining a compact axial dimension, as larger heat exchangers in smaller air flows cause significant pressure losses and are incompatible with compact architectures.
Innovation Solution
The turbomachine design incorporates a plurality of diffusion corridors upstream of the heat exchanger, delimited by fins carried by adjacent vanes, to stabilize the air flow over a shorter axial distance, reducing the radial height of each passage and minimizing aerodynamic pressure loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If a larger heat exchanger is used in a smaller air flow, then the heat exchange efficiency is improved, but the pressure losses increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The diffusion channel is segmented into multiple parallel corridors delimited by fins carried by adjacent vanes. This segmentation allows the air flow to be divided into multiple streams, reducing the radial height of each individual passage while maintaining the total heat exchange area. The multiple corridors work in parallel to achieve the required heat exchange efficiency without creating excessive pressure losses in a single large passage.
2Stability of the object's composition
If a diffusive channel is made axially long to stabilize flow, then flow stability is improved, but the axial length of the turbomachine increases
Solution Approach 1:
The diffusion channel is divided into multiple parallel corridors, each with a reduced radial height. This segmentation allows flow stability to be achieved over a shorter axial distance because each individual corridor has a smaller cross-sectional area, which reduces the diffusion length required for stable flow development. The multiple corridors provide cumulative stabilization effect without requiring a proportionally long axial length.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of increasing the axial length to stabilize flow, the invention utilizes the radial dimension by creating multiple parallel corridors. The fins carried by adjacent vanes delimit these corridors radially, allowing the flow stabilization function to be achieved through radial distribution rather than axial extension. This dimensional transformation enables compact axial length while maintaining flow stability.
3Length of moving object
If the radial height of the diffusion channel is reduced, then the axial footprint is minimized, but the flow stabilization becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The diffusion channel is segmented into multiple parallel corridors, each with reduced radial height. This segmentation allows the flow stabilization function to be distributed across multiple smaller passages rather than requiring a single long passage. Each corridor can be optimized for its specific dimensions, achieving stable flow development over shorter axial distances while maintaining overall compact footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention compensates for reduced radial height by utilizing the radial distribution of multiple corridors. The fins carried by adjacent vanes create a radial arrangement of parallel flow paths, allowing the diffusion process to occur efficiently across the radial dimension while maintaining compact axial dimensions. This dimensional redistribution enables flow stabilization without requiring large radial heights.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design allows for efficient heat exchange while respecting the constraints of axial bulk and oil cooling needs, achieving stable flow slowdown with a smaller footprint and reduced pressure losses.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of diffusion corridors upstream of the at least one exchanger, each corridor being delimited circumferentially by an intrados and by an extrados of two circumferentially adjacent vanes
Implementation Method 2
at least one heat exchanger arranged in the passage downstream of the row of vanes
Implementation Method 3
the cold air, available in quantity in the environment of the aircraft, exchanges heat with the oil hot
Implementation Method 4
exchanges heat with the oil hot
Implementation Method 5
each corridor being delimited radially by at least one fin carried by at least one of the two circumferentially adjacent vanes
Data Source
AI summary
Turbomachine (1) comprising an unducted propeller (14) propelling a tertiary flow (13), a fan (12) and a compressor (4) compressing a primary flow (F1), as well as an annular passage (19) for the flow of a secondary flow (F2) downstream of the fan (12); the annular passage (19) accommodating an annular row of rectifier vanes (22) and at least one heat exchanger (24) downstream of the row of vanes (22); a plurality of diffusion corridors being provided upstream of the at least one exchanger (24), each corridor being delimited circumferentially by an intrados and by an extrados of two circumferentially adjacent vanes (22), and by at least one fin carried by at least one of the two circumferentially adjacent vanes (22).