Gas Turbine Plenum Sensing for Bleed Offtake Status Detection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for determining the status of turbofan engine bleed offtakes are costly, prone to sensor malfunctions, and add significant weight to the engine, leading to potential false data and maintenance downtime.
Innovation Solution
Utilize internal sensing of a gas turbine engine to measure parameters such as temperature and pressure differentials between upstream and downstream plenums to determine the health status of bleed offtakes, eliminating the need for sensors on individual pipes and reducing maintenance frequency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If sensors are installed on individual bleed offtake pipes to determine engine status, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and weight increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple sensor functions into a single integrated sensor located in the plenum chamber. Instead of installing separate sensors on each bleed offtake pipe, the invention uses one sensor to measure plenum pressure, which indirectly provides information about the status of all bleed offtakes collectively, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining measurement capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces plenum pressure as an intermediary parameter to indirectly determine bleed offtake status. Rather than directly measuring parameters on individual pipes, the sensor measures plenum pressure which acts as a mediator reflecting the combined status of all bleed offtakes, simplifying the measurement system
2Reliability
If multiple sensors are installed on bleed offtake pipes to monitor engine health, then reliability is improved, but maintenance downtime increases due to more components requiring service
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reduces the number of sensors from multiple individual pipe sensors to a single plenum sensor, thereby reducing the number of components that require maintenance. This single sensor serves the function of monitoring the entire bleed offtake system, reducing maintenance downtime while maintaining reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the sensing function from the individual bleed offtake pipes and relocates it to the plenum chamber. This extraction simplifies the system by removing multiple sensors from complex pipe locations and consolidating the sensing function in a single accessible location, reducing maintenance requirements
3Measurement precision
If sensors are installed on individual bleed offtake pipes to detect operational issues, then measurement precision is improved, but weight of the engine increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple sensing functions into a single sensor located in the plenum chamber. Instead of having separate sensors on each bleed offtake pipe that would add significant weight, one sensor measures plenum pressure to infer the status of the entire bleed offtake system, thereby maintaining measurement precision while significantly reducing engine weight
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 reduces costs, maintenance downtime, and weight while effectively detecting operational issues and latent failures in the gas turbine engine.
Implementation Method 1
determine a pressure differential between the first plenum and the second plenum
Data Source
AI summary
A disclosed example non-transitory machine readable storage medium includes instructions to cause programmable circuitry to at least determine, based on output from at least one sensor, (i) a first parameter corresponding to a first position in a casing of a gas turbine engine, the first position at or downstream of a volume at which flows from respective ones of bleed offtakes are combined, and (ii) a second parameter corresponding to a second position in a casing of a gas turbine engine, the second position upstream from the first position, determine a status of at least one of the bleed offtakes or the at least one sensor based on the first and second parameters, and provide or indicate the status in response to the status indicating improper operation of at least one of the bleed offtakes or the at least one sensor.