Pressure Sensor Manifold With Labyrinth Cooling for Hot-Air Leakage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pressure sensors in gas turbine engines experience failures due to high temperature exposure through convective heating, primarily caused by leakage at AN style fitting interfaces, leading to inaccurate and unreliable readings.
Innovation Solution
A pressure sensing system with a housing that integrates a tube and manifold flange as a monolithic structure, sealed by welding or additive manufacturing, featuring a labyrinthine path and heat exchanger fins for heat exchange, eliminating the need for AN flair fittings and reducing temperature exposure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If AN style fitting interfaces are used for pressure sensors, then ease of installation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to leakage causing high temperature exposure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the pressure sensor housing with the AN style fitting interface into a single integrated component. The housing incorporates a threaded bore that directly receives the AN fitting, eliminating the need for separate mounting brackets or intermediate connectors. This integration ensures that the fitting interface is permanently sealed within the housing structure, preventing leakage while maintaining ease of installation through the standardized AN fitting interface.
2Measurement precision
If pressure sensors are located remotely with deadheaded lines, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional plumbing lines
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the pressure sensing function from the remote location and integrates it directly into the housing structure at the source of the pressure measurement. The pressure sensor is mounted within the housing that is directly attached to the component being monitored, eliminating the need for separate deadheaded lines and remote mounting. This extraction of the sensing function to the source location simplifies the overall system while maintaining measurement precision.
3Ease of manufacture
If tube and manifold flange are separately assembled, then ease of manufacture is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to potential leakage at joints
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the tube and manifold flange into a single integrated component with a unified structure. The tube is formed as one piece with the manifold flange, creating a metallurgically continuous structure that eliminates all joint interfaces between these components. This integration ensures that the sealing surfaces are continuous and leak-free, while the manufacturing process uses techniques such as laser cutting and bending to create the integrated structure from a single plate material.
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 system prevents high temperature air leakage, improves reliability, simplifies installation, and enhances the mean time between failures (MTBF) while maintaining accurate pressure sensing.
Implementation Method 1
heat exchanger with an external surface area for heat exchange with nacelle air
Implementation Method 2
heat exchanger, through which the tube defines a labyrinthine path
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A pressure sensing system includes a housing (102) that houses one or more pressure transducers (104) therein. A tube (110) is sealed to the housing at a first end (111) of the tube. One or more pressure transducers (104) are in fluid communication with a second end (113) of the tube through an inner passage of the tube for sensing pressure at the second end of the tube.