Turbomachine Outlet Guide Vane Lubricant Cooling Matrix
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing design of outlet guide vanes in twin-spool turbomachines for aircraft, which incorporate heat exchanger functions, faces challenges in complex fabrication and high costs due to precise manufacturing tolerances required for pads within the lubricant cooling passages, limiting their heat dissipation capacity and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a heat conducting matrix compressed between the intrados and extrados walls of the guide vane, allowing for deformation and optimal thermal performance without stringent manufacturing constraints, along with discontinuities in the matrices to control flow distribution and enhance heat exchange.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If pads are installed in the lubricant internal cooling passage to disturb the lubricant flow and increase the wetted area, then heat exchange performance is improved, but fabrication complexity and cost increase due to precise manufacturing tolerances required for pad height and contact with closing cover
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical state of the heat conducting matrix from rigid to flexible/compressible. The matrix is designed to be compressed between the intrados and extrados walls, transforming it from a rigid component requiring precise tolerances into a flexible element that adapts to manufacturing variations. This parameter change (from rigid to compressible) resolves the contradiction by enabling good thermal contact without stringent manufacturing constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat conducting matrix is designed as a flexible component that can be compressed between the intrados and extrados walls. This flexibility allows the matrix to deform and conform to the surfaces it contacts, ensuring good thermal coupling without requiring precise manufacturing tolerances. The compressible nature of the matrix similar to flexible shells enables it to bridge gaps and accommodate variations in wall positioning.
2Strength
If a closing cap is fixed on the vane body after pads are made to cover the distal end, then structural integrity is improved, but fabrication complexity increases due to the need for precise height tolerances to guarantee contact
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the geometric parameter of the heat conducting matrix from fixed rigid dimensions to compressible variable dimensions. The matrix is designed with initial dimensions that exceed the passage boundaries, allowing it to be compressed into the final configuration. This parameter change eliminates the need for precise height tolerances, as the compression process itself ensures contact between the matrix and the closing cover without requiring pre-coordinated manufacturing precision.
3Productivity
If conventional ACOC type exchangers are reduced or eliminated from the fan flow path, then global efficiency of the turbomachine increases, but heat dissipation capacity must be adapted to meet increasing lubricant cooling needs
Solution Approach 1:
The invention makes the guide vane multi-functional by integrating the heat exchanger function directly into its structure. The guide vane simultaneously performs its primary aerodynamic function (straightening airflow) and its secondary thermal function (cooling lubricant). The intrados and extrados walls of the guide vane serve both aerodynamic and heat transfer purposes, eliminating the need for separate ACOC exchangers while maintaining heat dissipation capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges the heat exchanger function with the guide vane structure. Instead of having separate components (guide vane and ACOC exchanger), the thermal management function is integrated into the guide vane itself through internal cooling passages and heat conducting matrices. This merging eliminates the need for separate exchanger components in the fan flow path while maintaining adequate heat dissipation capacity.
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
Facilitates cost-effective fabrication and improves heat exchange performance by ensuring good contact between the matrix and walls, adapting to irregularities, and rebalancing flow distribution, thereby increasing the global thermal efficiency of the turbomachine.
Implementation Method 1
said internal passage is equipped with at least one heat conducting matrix compressed between the intrados and the extrados walls
Implementation Method 2
said matrix defining firstly first intrados wall contact elements located in the first space and between which the lubricant in the first space will circulate, and secondly second extrados wall contact elements located in the second space
Data Source
AI summary
A guide vane arranged in an air flow from a fan of an twin-spool aircraft engine, the aerodynamic part of the vane including an internal lubricant cooling passage partly delimited by an extrados wall and an extrados wall of the vane. The passage is equipped with a heat conduction matrix compressed between the walls and separating a first lubricant circulation space from a second lubricant circulation space. Furthermore, the matrix defines firstly first contact elements of the intrados wall formed in the first space and between which the lubricant from the first space will circulate, and secondly second contact elements of the extrados wall formed in the second space and between which the lubricant from the first space will circulate.