Patent ID: 11965463
Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
Field: Engines, pumps, turbines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F | IPC F

Claim 0:
1. A turbofan gas turbine engine comprising:
a bypass duct at least partially surrounding a core engine, the bypass duct defining a first general flow direction for bypass air flowing inside the bypass duct;
a fan delivering the bypass air to the bypass duct and core air to the core engine; and
a fluid cooler including:
an inlet duct having an inlet protruding into the bypass duct and receiving a portion of the bypass air into the inlet duct;
a heat exchanger in fluid communication with the inlet duct, the heat exchanger facilitating heat transfer between a fluid and the portion of bypass air received into the inlet duct, the heat exchanger defining a second general flow direction for the portion of bypass air through the heat exchanger, the second general flow direction being different from the first general flow direction defined by the bypass duct;
a guide vane disposed inside the inlet duct and interacting with the portion of bypass air inside the inlet duct, the guide vane having a leading edge, a trailing edge and a chord line extending from the leading edge to the trailing edge, a mid point of the chord line being disposed closer to the heat exchanger than to the inlet of the inlet duct, the guide vane having a non-uniform thickness between the leading edge and the mid point of the chord line; and
an outlet duct conveying the portion of bypass air from the heat exchanger to the bypass duct;

wherein:
a first portion of the heat exchanger protrudes inside the bypass duct;
a second portion of the heat exchanger is disposed outside of the bypass duct;
the first portion of the heat exchanger is forward of the second portion of the heat exchanger relative to the first general flow direction for bypass air flowing inside the bypass duct; and
the guide vane defines two separate flow paths to the heat exchanger for the portion of bypass air received into the inlet duct, the two separate flow paths having expanding cross-sectional areas toward the heat exchanger to provide diffusion of the portion of bypass air received into the inlet duct upstream of the heat exchanger.