Hollow Gear Reservoir Structure for Misaligned Turbine Gearboxes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine gearbox assemblies face challenges in providing continuous and effective lubrication, damping vibrations, and accommodating gear misalignment while maintaining a lightweight design.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of hollow gears with internal reservoirs and flexible interconnecting members or struts, formed through electroforming or hydroforming, which provide emergency lubrication, damping, and impact resistance, and accommodate misalignment by allowing deformation and continuous lubricant supply.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hollow gears with internal reservoirs are used, then lubrication reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements hollow gears with internal reservoirs nested within the gear structure itself. The reservoirs are formed inside the hollow gear bodies, creating a nested configuration where the lubrication system is integrated within the gear components rather than being separate external systems. This nesting approach improves lubrication reliability while minimizing the increase in overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the lubrication function with the gear structure by integrating reservoirs and lubricant delivery passages directly into the hollow gears. This combining of multiple functions (structural support, lubrication storage, and lubricant delivery) into single components reduces the number of separate parts and simplifies the overall system architecture.
2Adaptability or versatility
If flexible interconnecting members are used, then adaptability to misalignment is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs flexible interconnecting members that can dynamically adjust to misalignment conditions. These members are designed with inherent flexibility allowing them to bend and conform to varying positional relationships between gears, enabling the system to adapt to misalignment without requiring precise manufacturing tolerances on all components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes flexible interconnecting members whose physical parameters (such as bend radius, flexibility modulus) are optimized to balance adaptability with manufacturing feasibility. By carefully selecting and controlling these parameters, the system achieves high adaptability to misalignment while maintaining practical manufacturing precision requirements.
3Weight of moving object
If hollow gears are used, then weight is reduced, but structural strength may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs composite material structures for the hollow gears, combining materials with different properties to achieve optimal strength-to-weight ratios. The hollow gear structures may incorporate reinforced walls, strategic material distribution, or composite constructions that maintain structural integrity while minimizing weight, thus resolving the contradiction between weight reduction and strength preservation.
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 solution ensures continuous lubrication, absorbs vibrations and loading, provides impact resistance, and maintains a lightweight design, effectively addressing the challenges of gear misalignment and thermal effects in gas turbine gearbox assemblies.
Implementation Method 1
The hollow gear provides a dampening system that absorbs vibrations and loading experienced in the gearbox assembly
Implementation Method 2
The hollow gears may accommodate misalignment among the gears
Data Source
AI summary
A gearbox assembly for a gas turbine engine includes a hollow gear. The hollow gear has one or more reservoirs configured to store a lubricant and one or more passages configured to supply the lubricant to one or more gear meshes in the gearbox assembly. The hollow gear provides a dampening system configured to absorb vibrations and loading experienced in the gearbox assembly and configured to provide impact resistance for the gearbox assembly.