GB2184609A - Power supply for gas turbine engine electronic control system - Google Patents

Power supply for gas turbine engine electronic control system Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2184609A
GB2184609A GB08531478A GB8531478A GB2184609A GB 2184609 A GB2184609 A GB 2184609A GB 08531478 A GB08531478 A GB 08531478A GB 8531478 A GB8531478 A GB 8531478A GB 2184609 A GB2184609 A GB 2184609A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
control system
power supply
power
windings
engine
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
GB08531478A
Other versions
GB8531478D0 (en
Inventor
Paul Howard Riley
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Rolls Royce PLC
Original Assignee
Rolls Royce PLC
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Rolls Royce PLC filed Critical Rolls Royce PLC
Priority to GB08531478A priority Critical patent/GB2184609A/en
Publication of GB8531478D0 publication Critical patent/GB8531478D0/en
Publication of GB2184609A publication Critical patent/GB2184609A/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • HELECTRICITY
    • H02GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02KDYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES
    • H02K19/00Synchronous motors or generators
    • H02K19/16Synchronous generators
    • H02K19/36Structural association of synchronous generators with auxiliary electric devices influencing the characteristic of the generator or controlling the generator, e.g. with impedances or switches
    • H02K19/365Structural association of synchronous generators with auxiliary electric devices influencing the characteristic of the generator or controlling the generator, e.g. with impedances or switches with a voltage regulator
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01FMAGNETS; INDUCTANCES; TRANSFORMERS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
    • H01F30/00Fixed transformers not covered by group H01F19/00
    • H01F30/06Fixed transformers not covered by group H01F19/00 characterised by the structure
    • H01F30/12Two-phase, three-phase or polyphase transformers
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H02GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02KDYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES
    • H02K19/00Synchronous motors or generators
    • H02K19/16Synchronous generators
    • H02K19/36Structural association of synchronous generators with auxiliary electric devices influencing the characteristic of the generator or controlling the generator, e.g. with impedances or switches
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H02GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02KDYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES
    • H02K21/00Synchronous motors having permanent magnets; Synchronous generators having permanent magnets
    • H02K21/48Generators with two or more outputs
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F05INDEXING SCHEMES RELATING TO ENGINES OR PUMPS IN VARIOUS SUBCLASSES OF CLASSES F01-F04
    • F05BINDEXING SCHEME RELATING TO WIND, SPRING, WEIGHT, INERTIA OR LIKE MOTORS, TO MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS COVERED BY SUBCLASSES F03B, F03D AND F03G
    • F05B2220/00Application
    • F05B2220/50Application for auxiliary power units (APU's)

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Control Of Eletrric Generators (AREA)

Abstract

The electronic control system (12, 14) of a gas turbine aero engine is powered from windings (25, 28) on the stator (20) of an engine-driven A.C. generator (16). To render the power supply (10) to the control system independent of operation of the engine with minimum complication, the stator (20) of the generator (16) is provided with one or more additional windings (18) which are not connected to the control system but which are connectable by a switch (22) to an independent source of A.C. power, namely the 3-phase power system of the aircraft. When the additional winding (18) is connected to the independent power source and the rotor (24) is not being driven by the engine, the generator (16) acts as a transformer having a 3-phase A.C. power output to the control system (12, 14) through the other stator windings (25-28). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Power supply for gas turbine engine electronic control system This invention relates to power supplies for electronic control systems of the type used to control gas turbine engines. The invention is particularly, but not exclusively, applicable to such control systems known as Full Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC) systems.
Currently, FADEC systems are being increasingly applied to give enhanced automatic control of gas turbine aero engines in new civil aircraft as they come into the market. Normally, a FADEC system comprises at least two identical but separate digital electronic control units in order to provide the system with fail-safe redundancy in case one of the control units should fail. Each control unit has its own control iane to the engine and is likewise provided with its own power supply input circuitry to ensure that the control units are electrically isolated from each other. While the engine is operating, each control unit is powered from an engine-driven A.C. generator specially provided for the task and therefore each control unit's power input circuitry includes a rectifying device in the form of a shunt regulator.To cope with the need to power the control units while the engine is stationary and being started, and with the need to perform ground tests of the control units without powering up the engine first, each control unit is also connectable, by automatic or manual switching means, to the aircraft battery power supply, one standard for this being 28 volts D.C. This cannot be fed directly to the components within the control units since these components require a different voltage, namely the voltage output from the shunt regulator. Therefore, each control unit's power supply input circuitry must include an inverter and other power conditioning circuitry to produce an A.C. power supply from the aircraft's D.C. powerfor feeding to the shunt regulator.
The complication of the control units' power supply input circuitry engendered by the above measures is undesirable and is a cause of reduced reliability of the control units, but has hitherto been thought to be unavoidable for certain types of FADEC systems because of the need for a convenient means of powering the control units while the engine is not running.
However, the present invention enables simplification of the power supply arrangements while still allowing the control units to be powered when the engine is stationary.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a power supply for an electronic control system of a gas turbine engine, in which the control system is connected for power to a plurality of windings on the stator of an A.C. generator having an enginedriven magnetic rotor, the stator being provided with at least one additional winding not connected to the control system but connectable to an independent source of A.C. power, whereby when the additional winding is connected to the independent power source and the rotor is stationary, the generator acts as a transformer having an A.C. power output to the control system through the statorwindings connected thereto, the power supply to the control system thereby being independent of operation of the engine. When the engine is running the independent source of A.C.
power is disconnected and the generator operates in the ordinary way to supply power to the electronic control system.
Preferably, all the windings are three phase windings, and preferably the control system comprises at least two independent control units, each control unit being powered from a plurality of independent stator windings, each of which is connected to only one of the control units.
Other aspects of the invention will appear from the accompanying description and claims.
An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a diagram indicating the connection of duplicate FADEC control units to an engine-driven generator which has been modified in accordance with the invention.
In more detail, the power supply system 10 for the two identical control units 12 and 14 comprises an industry-standard 3-phase permanent magnet high reactance (constant output current) generator 16, which has been modified by adding an extra 3-phase winding 18 to the stator 20. This extra winding 18 is connectable to the aircraft's 3-phase power distribution system through a three pole switch 22, which could be installed in the flight station. The three phase power is supplied either by an auxiliary power unit on the aircraft when the aircraft is operational, or from a ground power supply when it is not, and is normally 115 volts A.C.
at 400 Hz.
The generator 16 comprises a rotor 24which comprises the permanent magnets -- and the stator 20, which comprises an armature holding the normal 3-phase power windings 25 to 28. In fact, several such windings provide power for each control unit 12 and 14, but for simplicity the diagram shows the units 12 and 14 being powered only by pairs of windings 25,26 and 27,28 respectively. The windings are shown separately for clarity.
When the engine is running, the two control units 12 and 14 are powered by the generator 16 in its normal working mode, the necessary flux change in the windings 25 to 28 being produced by the revolving permanent magnet rotor 24. When the engine is not running, the two control units can still be powered from their windings 25 to 28, but the necesaryflux change in these windings is now produced by connecting the additional 3-phase winding 18 to the aircraft's 3-phase A.C. power supply by means of switch 22, thereby causing the generator to act like a transformer.
It will be realised that unlike the acknowledged prior art, the system just described does not require the control units to be provided with D.C. power input circuitry which includes power conditioning circuitry and an inverter. The invention therefore leads to a reduced number of components in the system and consequent increased reliability.
A further benefit of the invention compared to the prior art is that isolation between the aircraft power supply and each control unit is preserved, because the control units are connected only to the generator 16, which suppiies power only to the control units.
Note also that isolation between the control units themselves is maintained, because they always remain connected to separate windings on the stator 20.
The cost of these benefits is that the inclusion of the extra winding 18 will probably add 10 to 15% to the bulk of generator 16. The winding will have the number of turns necessary to produce acceptable voltage leveis in the windings connected to the control units. In this respect a further point which can be made is that the total power available from windings 25 to 28 when the winding 18 is receiving the 115 volt A.C. 400 Hz 3-phase aircraft power supply may be less than the maximum the generator 16 would produce when rotating with the engine. However, this is not a problem since control system testing and enging starting procedures need less power than full flight control of the engine.
Although the control units' supply system described above is a three phase system, it would be possible to supply the control units from a similar single phase system provided that the power supply input circuits of the control units contained large enough smoothing capacitors.
The specialist will also realise that the simple manually operated switch 22 indicated above could easily be replaced by an automatic switch which would trigger "on" or "off" according to the voltage level being generated by the generator 16.

Claims (6)

1. A power supply for an electronic control system of a gas turbine engine, in which the control system is connected for power to a plurality of windings on the stator of an A.C. generator having an enginedriven magnetic rotor, the stator being provided with at least one additional winding not connected to the control system but connectable to an independent source of A.C. power, whereby when the additional winding is connected to the independent power source and the rotor is stationary, the generator acts as a transformer having an A.C. power output to the control system through the stator windings connected thereto, the power supply to the control system thereby being independent of operation of the engine.
2. A power supply according to claim 1 in which the windings connected to the control system and the at least one additional winding are three phase windings.
3. A power supply according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the control system comprises at least two independent control units, each control unit being powered from a plurality of independent stator windings, each of which is connected to only one of the control units.
4. A power supply for an electronic control system of a gas turbine engine substantially as described in this specification with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawing.
5. An electronic control system for a gas turbine engine having power supply means according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
6. An electronic control system according to claim 5, the control system being of the digital type.
GB08531478A 1985-12-20 1985-12-20 Power supply for gas turbine engine electronic control system Withdrawn GB2184609A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB08531478A GB2184609A (en) 1985-12-20 1985-12-20 Power supply for gas turbine engine electronic control system

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB08531478A GB2184609A (en) 1985-12-20 1985-12-20 Power supply for gas turbine engine electronic control system

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB8531478D0 GB8531478D0 (en) 1986-02-05
GB2184609A true GB2184609A (en) 1987-06-24

Family

ID=10590095

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB08531478A Withdrawn GB2184609A (en) 1985-12-20 1985-12-20 Power supply for gas turbine engine electronic control system

Country Status (1)

Country Link
GB (1) GB2184609A (en)

Cited By (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2350946A (en) * 1999-06-07 2000-12-13 Delphi Tech Inc Motor vehicle power supply
CN1065683C (en) * 1996-03-12 2001-05-09 常州市港口机械有限公司 AC. generator and axle ac generator voltage regulator
WO2004107540A1 (en) * 2003-05-27 2004-12-09 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. Electric machine
US7709980B2 (en) 2003-05-27 2010-05-04 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. Architecture for electric machine
US8499874B2 (en) 2009-05-12 2013-08-06 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Gas turbine energy storage and conversion system
US8669670B2 (en) 2010-09-03 2014-03-11 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Gas turbine engine configurations
US8866334B2 (en) 2010-03-02 2014-10-21 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Dispatchable power from a renewable energy facility
US8984895B2 (en) 2010-07-09 2015-03-24 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Metallic ceramic spool for a gas turbine engine
US9051873B2 (en) 2011-05-20 2015-06-09 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Ceramic-to-metal turbine shaft attachment
FR3057120A1 (en) * 2016-10-03 2018-04-06 Safran Helicopter Engines ELECTRICAL MACHINE FOR AIRCRAFT TURBOPROPULSOR
US10094288B2 (en) 2012-07-24 2018-10-09 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Ceramic-to-metal turbine volute attachment for a gas turbine engine

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB464730A (en) * 1936-07-22 1937-04-23 Markes & Co Ges Mit Beschraenk Improvements in single phase alternating current motors
GB710726A (en) * 1951-12-21 1954-06-16 Vickers Armstrongs Ltd Improvements in or relating to electrical apparatus arranged to have an alternating current output
GB1172562A (en) * 1966-01-05 1969-12-03 Garrard Engineering Ltd Improvements in or relating to Electric Motors

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB464730A (en) * 1936-07-22 1937-04-23 Markes & Co Ges Mit Beschraenk Improvements in single phase alternating current motors
GB710726A (en) * 1951-12-21 1954-06-16 Vickers Armstrongs Ltd Improvements in or relating to electrical apparatus arranged to have an alternating current output
GB1172562A (en) * 1966-01-05 1969-12-03 Garrard Engineering Ltd Improvements in or relating to Electric Motors

Cited By (20)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN1065683C (en) * 1996-03-12 2001-05-09 常州市港口机械有限公司 AC. generator and axle ac generator voltage regulator
GB2350946A (en) * 1999-06-07 2000-12-13 Delphi Tech Inc Motor vehicle power supply
GB2350946B (en) * 1999-06-07 2003-10-08 Delphi Tech Inc Power supply system in a motor vehicle
WO2004107540A1 (en) * 2003-05-27 2004-12-09 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. Electric machine
US6965183B2 (en) 2003-05-27 2005-11-15 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. Architecture for electric machine
US7126313B2 (en) 2003-05-27 2006-10-24 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. Architecture for electric machine
US7709980B2 (en) 2003-05-27 2010-05-04 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. Architecture for electric machine
US7919894B2 (en) 2003-05-27 2011-04-05 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. Architecture for electric machine
US8708083B2 (en) 2009-05-12 2014-04-29 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Gas turbine energy storage and conversion system
US8499874B2 (en) 2009-05-12 2013-08-06 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Gas turbine energy storage and conversion system
US8866334B2 (en) 2010-03-02 2014-10-21 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Dispatchable power from a renewable energy facility
US8984895B2 (en) 2010-07-09 2015-03-24 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Metallic ceramic spool for a gas turbine engine
US8669670B2 (en) 2010-09-03 2014-03-11 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Gas turbine engine configurations
US9051873B2 (en) 2011-05-20 2015-06-09 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Ceramic-to-metal turbine shaft attachment
US10094288B2 (en) 2012-07-24 2018-10-09 Icr Turbine Engine Corporation Ceramic-to-metal turbine volute attachment for a gas turbine engine
FR3057120A1 (en) * 2016-10-03 2018-04-06 Safran Helicopter Engines ELECTRICAL MACHINE FOR AIRCRAFT TURBOPROPULSOR
WO2018065709A1 (en) * 2016-10-03 2018-04-12 Safran Helicopter Engines Aircraft turboprop equipped with an electrical machine
CN109792199A (en) * 2016-10-03 2019-05-21 赛峰直升机发动机 Equipped with the aircraft turbine airscrew engine of motor
US10807724B2 (en) 2016-10-03 2020-10-20 Safran Helicopter Engines Aircraft turboprop engine provided with an electric machine
CN109792199B (en) * 2016-10-03 2021-01-29 赛峰直升机发动机 Electric machine equipped aircraft turboprop

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Publication number Publication date
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WAP Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1)