NOSE COWL MOUNTED OIL LUBRICATING AND COOLING SYSTEM

Abstract: An oil lubricating and cooling system is positioned in the engine cowl (2) and includes a heat exchanger (84), a compressor (50) for delivering air from air inlets (65) in the surface of the cowl (2) through the heat exchanger (84) and hence to air outlets (104) also in the cowl sur­ face and oil pumps (74,76) also located within the cowl (2) for circulating oil from the sump (42) in the cowl (2) to the heat exchanger (84) to the reduction gear (14,16,20) within the cowl (2) that serve to drive a fan also suppor­ ted within the cowl (2) and having the blades (32) exten­ ding outwardly therefrom. The reduction gear (14,16,20), compressor (50) and pumps (74,76) are all driven from the engine shaft (19), the end of which is located in the cowl (2).

Description: This invention relates to a gas turbine engine having a nose cone, a fan having a support ring mounted for rotation and driven by a reduction gear system and having fan blades thereon, and an oil lubricating and cooling system having oil pump means for pumping oil from an oil sump to an air/oil heat exchanger and to the reduction gear system for lubricating and cooling it, duct means for flowing cooling air through the heat exchanger, said duct means having air inlet openings and communicating with air outlet means, and drive means connected to the reduction gear system and to the oil pump means. A gas turbine engine having an oil lubricating and cooling system of this type is disclosed in GB-A-750 200. When the oil pumps and coolers are mounted external to the compressor case as in GB-A-750 200 referred to above there is a need for oil lines passing across the gas path through the gas turbine and the result is a complexity in the overall lubrication and cooling system. Furthermore the cooling air must then be taken either from pressurized sources within the engine or from the aircraft and directed to the heat exchanger. This usually necessitates large air ducts with accompanying weight and losses. When the cooling air is taken, for example, from the fan air duct downstream of the fan, or from a fan intermediate stage as in GB-A-750 200 referred to, the temperature rise across the fan decreases the cooling potential of the cooling air and thus a large heat exchanger and large cooling air ducts are needed in order to supply adequate cooling air for the purpose. The aim of the invention is to provide a gas turbine engine having an improved oil lubrication and cooling system which is of reduced complexity and weight and provides a greater cooling effect. To achieve this the gas turbine engines according to the invention is characterized in that the oil pump means, the oil sump and the heat exchanger are all located in the nose cone, that said air inlet openings and outlet means are formed in the outer surface of the nose cone, and that an air pump means driven by said drive means is arranged in said duct means. Accordingly, there is no need to pass the oil lines through the gas path. Further, the cooling air is taken into the system and moved through the heat exchanger by an air pump that does not significantly raise the temperature of the air. Thus, the cooling effect is much greater, the airflow is much less and the size of the heat exchanger can be much smaller with lower performance losses. Thus the location of the heat exchanger, the lubricant passages and the cooling air circulation within the nose a cone results in a substantial saving in the weight of the system. The air pump means provides cooling flow at static conditions before ram air is available. An air control can be used to reduce the air flow when heat exchanger cooling requirements are reduced. Another preferred feature is the location of the air inlet near the tip of the nose cone so that the ram effect can be utilized to improve the cooling air flow and the air discharge is also located so as to pass through a series of cascades on the outer surface of nose cone for de-icing purposes. A particular advantage is a reduction in the size of the heat exchanger and all the ducting by reason of having the cooling air entering the heat exchanger at a much lower temperature than the oil to be cooled so that a much smaller quantity of cooling air is needed. Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the specification and claims and from the accompanying drawings which illustrate an embodiment of the invention. In the drawings: The single figure is a longitudinal sectional view through the nose cone or cowl in which the oil lubrication and cooling system is positioned. Referring to the drawing, the cone 2 is supported on a fixed structure 4 mounted on the forward side of the cage 6 of the gear box. Downstream of the gear box the structure is supported from the compressor housing 8 through struts 10 and support structure 12 secured to the inner ends of the struts and to the cage. Cage 6 supports the intermediate gears 14 of a reduction gear system that includes the sun gear 16 driven from a sleeve 18 connected to one of the turbine shafts 19. The intermediate gears are surrounded by a ring gear 20 secured to the inner sleeve 22 for an assembly of vanes 24. An outer sleeve 26 on the outer ends of the vanes supports a rotating housing 28 that at its rearward end is connected to a fan disk 30 for driving it. The disk 30 supports a row of fan blades 32. The vane assembly is supported at its forward end on a bearing 34 on the cage 6, the outer race 36 of the bearing forming a part of the vane assembly. A seal structure 38 downstream of the bearing 34 prevents leakage of oil at this point and other seals 40 between the forward end of the inner sleeve 22 and the trailing edge of nose cone 2 prevents leakage at this point. The arrangement of the support structure 4 is such as to form a chamber 42 forward of the ring gear 20 in which the oil after cooling the reduction gear may be collected for re-use. The support structure 4 has a forwardly extending sleeve 44 having an integral disk 46 at its forward end to support the shaft 48 for a centrifugal pump 50 which pressurizes the cooling air. This disk 46 also has a forwardly extending sleeve 52 to support the casing 54 for the pumps impeller in which the compressed air from the impeller is collected to be supplied to the heat exchanger. It is obvious that, where benificial, this system could also be arranged with the pump after the heat exchanger, acting as a suction device. A sleeve 56 splined at its rearwend end to the sleeve 18 and at its forward end to the impeller shaft 48 drives the pump impeller. The latter has a forwardly extending hub 60 forming the inner wall for the pump inlet. An extension sleeve 62 extending forwardly from the compressor casing forms the outer wall for the inlet. This sleeve 62 is secured to the downstream end of an air inlet 64 that consists of several inlet ducts 65 open to the outer wall of the nose cone 2 near its forward end and extending inwardly to define an annular passage 66 communicating with the inlet to the pump and heat exchange system. A controlling air valve could be used with the system, for example, within the passage 66 is a valve 68 having an external crank arm 69 by which to adjust the position of the valve to control the flow of air to a limited extent to the pump. The mechanism for controlling this valve is not a part of the present invention and need not be described. Other methods of controlling the airflow such as unclutching the pumps are also invisional. An oil pump 70 is mounted on the structure 4 rearwardly of the disk 46 as by webs 72. The pump 70 is a multi-stage pump in that it has a pressure pump 74 and a scavenge pump 76 both driven from a common shaft 78 carrying a gear 80 meshing with a gear 82 on the shaft 48. Also mounted on the nose cone is the heat exchanger 84 which receives air from the casing 54 through a connecting duct 86. From the heat exchangert 84 the air discharges into a chamber 88 that surrounds the heat exchanger. Oil from the sump 42 is drawn through pipe 90 to the scavenge pump 76 and from this pump through a pipe 92 to the heat exchanger. Oil from the heat exchanger is piped to an oil tank 94 through a duct 96. The thank is preferably supported on the nose cone 2 for convenience close to the heat exchanger 84. From the tank oil enters the pressure pump 74 through a duct 98 from which it is discharged through an oil filter 100 to a discharge duct 102 to the several places requiring lubrication and/or cooling such as the reduction gear. An important feature is that all the oil system is within an area that requires very little ducting and does not necessitate the passage of oil across the gas flow through the turbine. As the oil is cooled the cooling air from the pump 50 passes through the heat exchanger 84 and is discharged into the chamber 88 from which it passes through a series of cascades 104 to flow onto and over the outer surface of the nose cone and could be used for de-icing the cowl in this area. With this arrangement a minimum of ducting is necessitated for ducting the complete airflow into and out of nose cone and through the heat exchanger. It should be understood that the system can be designed for maximum cooling at required times in the engine operation when cooling requirements are a maximum. At other times a flow control device could be used such as by closing the valve 68 to a greater or lesser degree, the flow to the air pump may be significantly reduced more or less so that only the required amount of air is pumped. Obviously the valve may be positioned as a function of the temperature of the oil leaving the heat exchanger thereby assuring the maximum amount of cooling for the oil. Although the valve may be controlled by oil temperature it is obvious that other control means may be provided. The important criteria are that the pumping requirements be maintained at a minimum that will still assure adequate cooling of the oil. Because of this arrangement the temperature of the air reaching the heat exchanger is much lower than it would be it bled from the engine compressor, and thus there is a greater temperature difference available for cooling the oil. In this way a lesser amount of air is needed and the ducts can all be relatively small. The heat exchanger may also be smaller than would otherwise be needed. With the entire cooling system and the lubrication system both enclosed with the nose cone and the inner wall of the air inlet system, the extent of ducting required is reduced to a minimum with a resulting weight reduction and simplification of the system.

Claims: 1. A gas turbine engine having a nose cone (2), a fan having a support ring (30) mounted for rotation and driven by a reduction gear system (14, 16, 20) and having fan blades (32) thereon, and an oil lubricating and cooling system having oil pump means (70) for pumping oil from an oil sump (42) to an air/oil heat exchanger (84) and to the reduction gear system for lubricating and cooling it, duct means (60, 62, 66, 86) for flowing cooling air through the heat exchanger (84), said duct means having air inlet openings (65) and communicating with air outlet means (104), and drive means (18, 19, 56, 78, 80, 82) connected to the reduction gear system (14, 16, 20) and to the oil pump means (70), characterized in that the oil pump means (70), the oil sump (42) and the heat exchanger (84) are all located in the nose cone (2), that said air inlet openings (65) and said air outlet means (104) are formed in the outer surface of the nose cone (2), and that an air pump means (50) driven by said drive means (18, 19, 56, 78, 80, 82) is arranged in said duct means (60, 62, 66, 86). 2. Gas turbine engine according to claim 1, characterized in that the duct means (60, 62, 66, 86) has a valve means (68) for controlling the flow of air through the air pump means (50). 3. Gas turbine engine according to claim 1, characterized in that the oil pump means (70) comprises two commonly driven pumps (74, 76), one (76) to pump oil from the oil sump (42) to the heat exchanger (84) and the other to pump oil from the heat exchanger (84) to the reduction gear (14, 16, 20). 4. Gas turbine engine according to claim 1, characterized in that the air inlet openings (65) are located close to the forward end of the surface of the nose cone (2) and the air outlet means are air outlet openings (104) located rearwardly of the air inlet openings (65). 5. Gas turbine engine according to claim 1, characterized by including an oil filter (100) and an oil tank (94) both mounted within the nose cone (2). 6. Gas turbine engine according to claim 1, characterized in that the air pump means (50) is arranged upstream of the heat exchanger (84). 7. Gas turbine engine according to claim 1, characterized in that the air pump means is arranged downstream of the heat exchanger.

Inventors: BRODELL, ROBERT F., DENNISON, WILLIAM T.
Applicants: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
Application year: 1988
Main classification: F02C7
IPC codes: F02C7, A61M1