Composite Spray Bar Structure With Seamless Fuel Lumens
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional manufacturing methods for fuel manifolds in gas turbine engines require numerous individual machined components, leading to complex, expensive, and impractical assemblies with many joints, which are difficult to produce and service, and often necessitate replacing the entire assembly if any part is faulty.
Innovation Solution
The development of seamless, unitary, multi-lumen fuel distribution components formed through additive manufacturing, creating a single-piece structure with complex internal geometries that were previously impossible to produce using traditional methods, reducing the number of joints and enhancing serviceability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If traditional manufacturing methods are used to assemble fuel manifolds from numerous individual machined components, then the components can be produced using conventional machining processes, but the assemblies become extremely complicated, expensive, and difficult to produce with many joints requiring welding or brazing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges numerous individual machined components into a single monolithic fuel manifold structure. This consolidation eliminates the need for assembling multiple separate components through welding or brazing, directly resolving the technical contradiction by reducing assembly complexity while maintaining manufacturability through advanced additive manufacturing processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical assembly methods (welding, brazing, fastening) with an additive manufacturing process that builds the entire fuel manifold as a single integrated structure. This substitution eliminates the complex joint assembly process while maintaining the functional requirements of fuel distribution.
2Ease of operation
If traditional assembly methods with numerous joints are used, then individual components can be manufactured separately, but the final assembly becomes impractical to service and requires extensive external bracing for support
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the fuel manifold into a single monolithic structure that integrates all fuel distribution functions. This merger eliminates the need for extensive external bracing by creating a self-supporting structure, while also improving serviceability by allowing the entire assembly to be replaced as one unit rather than disassembling multiple joints.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the traditional approach by making the entire fuel manifold assembly replaceable as a single unit rather than attempting to service individual components within the assembly. This inversion simplifies maintenance procedures while the integrated design eliminates the need for external bracing structures.
3Reliability
If numerous individual components are assembled together, then the fuel manifold can be constructed using conventional processes, but the number of joints increases leading to higher costs and potential leakage points
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges all fuel distribution components into a single monolithic structure with internal channels. This eliminates all external joints and connections that could potentially leak, directly improving reliability by removing the numerous potential failure points associated with traditional assembled fuel manifolds.
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 approach results in more robust, cost-effective, and lightweight components with improved fuel flow optimization, reduced material usage, and extended lifespan, as well as simplified maintenance by eliminating the need for extensive external bracing and allowing for the replacement of individual parts without removing the entire assembly.
Implementation Method 1
forming, by additive manufacturing, a substantially rigid, unitary structure as a single piece of material
Data Source
AI summary
The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a fuel delivery component, including a substantially rigid, unitary structure formed as a single piece of material, and at least a first seamless lumen defined by the unitary structure.