Gas Turbine Engine Control System Preventing Relight After Mechanical Failure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current gas turbine engine control systems attempt to relight or reignite after a severe mechanical failure, such as a fan blade detachment, posing a fire hazard and requiring costly hardware fixes.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that determine specific process condition rate changes exceeding failure thresholds to confirm a severe mechanical failure, preventing engine restart by using processors and memory devices to execute instructions that prevent relighting, thereby ensuring safety without increasing engine cost or weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the control system attempts to relight or reignite after a severe mechanical failure, then the engine may be restarted, but this creates a fire hazard
Solution Approach 1:
The control system applies preliminary anti-action by detecting indicators of severe mechanical failure (such as unexpected N1 or N2 shutdowns, or shutdowns following high compressor discharge temperatures) and preventing relight attempts before a fire hazard can occur. The system proactively identifies failure conditions and blocks the relight function to eliminate the harmful effect at its source.
2Reliability
If hardware fixes are implemented to prevent relighting after severe mechanical failure, then safety is improved, but the cost and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical/hardware fixes with a software-based control system solution. Instead of adding physical hardware components to prevent relighting, the invention uses control logic and algorithms within the existing engine control unit to detect failure indicators and prevent relight attempts, thereby achieving safety improvement without increasing hardware complexity or cost.
3Measurement precision
If the control system monitors multiple process conditions and their rates of change to detect severe mechanical failure, then detection accuracy is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system achieves multi-functionality by using a single integrated control algorithm to monitor multiple process conditions (N1, N2, compressor discharge temperature, etc.) and their rates of change. This universal approach allows the system to detect various types of severe mechanical failures using the same monitoring framework, improving detection accuracy without proportionally increasing system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for shutting down a gas turbine engine in response to a severe mechanical failure include determining a rate of change of one or more process conditions. If the rate of change of the one or more process conditions exceeds a respective predetermined failure threshold, a potential severe mechanical failure of the gas turbine engine may be determined. Steps may be taken to confirm the potential severe mechanical failure of the gas turbine engine. In response, an engine restart is prevented.