Cross Engine Coordination for Gas Turbine Motoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engines face challenges with bowed rotor conditions due to thermal expansion after shutdown, leading to undesirable engine restarts and extended start times, especially in multi-engine aircraft, where separate motoring for each engine prolongs the overall start process.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for cross-engine coordination during gas turbine engine motoring, utilizing a controller to manage compressed air delivery through a starter air valve, monitoring cross-engine data to detect conditions and adjust air delivery to maintain the engine speed below resonance, enabling simultaneous dry motoring of multiple engines and mitigating bowed rotor risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate motoring is performed for each engine, then bowed rotor condition is mitigated, but total start time is extended
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the motoring operations of multiple engines by coordinating compressed air delivery through a shared air supply system. The controller synchronizes the motoring of first and second engines, allowing them to share compressed air resources and perform motoring simultaneously or in an optimized sequence, thereby reducing total start time while still mitigating bowed rotor conditions through controlled speed maintenance below resonance.
2Loss of time
If compressed air is shared between engines, then start time is reduced, but air pressure and delivery must be precisely controlled
Solution Approach 1:
The controller implements feedback control by continuously monitoring compressed air pressure, engine speed, and motoring status of both engines. Based on this feedback, the controller dynamically adjusts the compressed air delivery to the air turbine starter, maintaining precise control over air pressure and flow rate even when sharing the air supply between multiple engines, thus managing the increased system complexity through intelligent control.
3Reliability
If engine speed is maintained below resonance, then rotor damage is prevented, but motoring duration is extended
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the engine speed during motoring based on real-time conditions. The controller monitors the接近程度 to resonance conditions and dynamically modulates the compressed air delivery to the air turbine starter, allowing the engine speed to vary within a safe range below resonance. This dynamic control optimizes the motoring duration by allowing faster motoring when conditions permit while still preventing rotor damage, rather than maintaining a fixed conservative speed limit throughout.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system is provided for cross engine coordination during gas turbine engine motoring. The system includes a first gas turbine engine (10A) of a first engine system (100A), a first air turbine starter (120A) of the first engine system (100A), a first starter air valve (116A) of the first engine system (100A), and a controller (102A). The controller (102A) is operable to command the first starter air valve (116A) to control delivery of compressed air to the first air turbine starter (120A) during motoring of the first gas turbine engine (10A), monitor cross engine data of a second gas turbine engine (10B) of a second engine system (100B) to detect a present condition or a commanded action that modifies an aspect of the compressed air received at the first starter air valve (116A), and command an adjustment to the first engine system (100A) to compensate for the modified aspect of the compressed air based on the cross engine data.