Intercooled Cooling Air Cycle Machine for Gas Turbine Pressure and Temperature Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cooling air methods for gas turbine engines fail to provide sufficient pressure and temperature reduction to key components, particularly in high-pressure areas, leading to operating temperatures that exceed material limits and hinder efficiency gains.
Innovation Solution
An intercooled cooling system with a staged cooling arrangement and air cycle machine, utilizing heat exchangers and a pump driven by an electric motor, which maintains speed control and incorporates temperature protection mechanisms, to deliver cooled air effectively to the turbine section.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional cooling air methods are used to cool turbine section components, then cooling air is provided to turbine components, but the cooling air is at insufficient pressure and temperature to effectively cool high-pressure areas and reduce component temperatures below material limits
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into multiple compressor stages (first compressor stage, second compressor stage) with intermediate cooling between stages. This segmentation allows progressive compression and cooling of air, enabling the system to deliver cooling air at both high pressure and low temperature to turbine components.
Solution Approach 2:
An intercooler is introduced as an intermediary device between compressor stages to cool the compressed air. This intermediary allows the system to manage both pressure and temperature independently, delivering cooling air that meets both pressure requirements for high-pressure areas and temperature requirements for component cooling.
2Productivity
If high temperatures are maintained in the turbine section to improve efficiency, then efficiency gains are achieved, but material limits are exceeded requiring improved cooling air
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides locally optimized cooling air quality for different turbine section requirements. High-pressure cooling air is delivered to high-pressure areas while maintaining appropriate temperatures, allowing different regions of the turbine section to receive cooling air with properties optimized for their specific thermal and pressure conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling system dynamically adjusts cooling air delivery based on engine operating conditions. The multi-stage compressor with intercooling can adapt to varying temperature and pressure requirements, allowing the engine to maintain high efficiency operating temperatures while providing adequate cooling when material limits are approached.
3Temperature
If a multi-stage compression and cooling system is implemented to deliver sufficient cooling air pressure and temperature, then cooling effectiveness is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The multi-stage compressor system with intercooling serves multiple functions: it compresses cooling air to high pressure, cools the air between stages, and delivers it to turbine components. This multi-functional system consolidates compression and cooling operations into an integrated architecture, managing complexity through functional integration rather than separate dedicated systems.
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
The intercooled cooling system effectively reduces component temperatures and provides sufficient pressure to improve gas turbine engine efficiency by delivering cooled air, addressing the limitations of conventional methods.
Implementation Method 1
air from the high compressor discharge has been tapped, passed through a heat exchanger, which may sit in the bypass duct
Implementation Method 2
An intercooled cooling system with a staged cooling arrangement and air cycle machine, utilizing heat exchangers
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~4
Figure 3
AI summary
A first cooling stage (210) is fluidly coupled to a bleed port (145) of a compressor (24) to receive and cool bleed air with the air stream (275) to produce a cool bleed air. A cooling pump (105) receives and increases a pressure of the cool bleed air to produce a pressurized cool bleed air. A second cooling stage (215) is fluidly coupled to the pump (105) to receive and cool the pressurized cool bleed air to produce an intercooled cooling air. A valve (196) is downstream of the first cooling stage (210), the valve selectively delivering air into a mixing chamber (180) where it is mixed with air from a tap (165) that is compressed to a higher pressure than the air from the bleed port (145), and the valve (196) also selectively supplying air from the first cooling stage (210) to a use (290) on an aircraft associated with the gas turbine engine (20).