RU2424441C1 - Nuclear turboprop gas turbine engine - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: engines and pumps.

SUBSTANCE: nuclear turboprop gas turbine engine includes nuclear reactor, propeller, air intake, compressor, combustion chamber, turbine, heat exchanger-heater and jet nozzle. Engine is made as per three-shaft scheme and consists of outer, intermediate and inner shafts. Compressor includes low and high pressure spools, and turbine includes high, intermediate and low pressure spools. Rotor of low pressure turbine is connected through inner shaft to propeller. Rotor of intermediate pressure turbine is connected through intermediate shaft to rotor of low pressure compressor. High pressure turbine rotor is connected through outer shaft to rotor of high pressure compressor. The first and the second additional heat exchangers connected through recirculation pipelines to nuclear reactor are installed respectively between turbines of high and intermediate pressure and between turbines of intermediate and low pressure.

EFFECT: higher engine acceleration and reliability.

4 cl, 4 dwg

Description

The invention relates to engine building, including aircraft and stationary engines, in particular to turboprop engines - HPTs in which a nuclear reactor is used.

Known aircraft combined engine according to the application of the Russian Federation for invention No. 2002115896, containing a gas turbine engine and a rocket engine.

Disadvantage: very high fuel consumption consumed by a rocket engine.

Known aviation gas turbine engine according to the patent of the Russian Federation No. 2211935, containing a compressor, a combustion chamber, a turbine and a jet nozzle.

Disadvantages: low efficiency and, as a result, a large specific fuel consumption inherent in turbojet engines compared to piston engines.

The disadvantages of this engine: the very small power of electric machines, due to the fact that they are placed on a small diameter and have one step. In addition, there are problems with cooling the stator windings located inside the engine. This design is applicable for using an electric machine as a starter or as an auxiliary electric generator to power the units of a gas turbine engine and aircraft.

Known turboprop gas turbine engine according to the patent of the Russian Federation No. 2334892, a prototype that contains a turboprop gas turbine engine with a nuclear power plant, comprising a screw, an air intake, a compressor, a combustion chamber, a high pressure turbine, a Stirling engine and a jet nozzle installed behind the high pressure turbine.

The disadvantages of this engine are its poor pickup during transient conditions due to the inertia of the nuclear reactor and low reliability: in the event of a nuclear reactor failure, the engine completely loses its functionality.

Objectives of the invention: improving engine throttle response in transient conditions and increasing engine reliability.

The solution of these problems was achieved in an atomic turboprop gas turbine engine containing a nuclear reactor, a screw, an air intake, a compressor, a combustion chamber, a turbine, a heat exchanger-heater and a jet nozzle, in that the engine is designed according to a three-shaft scheme with external, intermediate and internal shafts, the compressor is made cascade of low and high pressure, the turbine contains cascades of high, medium and low pressure, the rotor of the low pressure turbine is connected by an internal shaft to the screw, the rotor of the medium pressure turbine is is interposed by an intermediate shaft with a rotor of a low-pressure compressor, and the rotor of a high-pressure turbine is connected by an external shaft to a rotor of a high-pressure compressor, between the high and medium pressure turbines and between the medium and low pressure turbines, the first and second additional heat exchangers are installed, connected by recirculation pipes to the nuclear reactor . The propeller can be connected to the internal shaft via a gearbox. The propeller contains two rows of blades. The second row of blades can be connected to the countershaft.

The invention is illustrated in figure 1 ... 4, where:

figure 1 shows a diagram of the engine,

figure 2 shows a diagram of an engine with a gearbox,

figure 3 shows a diagram of an engine with a propeller having two rows of blades,

figure 4 shows a diagram of the engine in which the second row of blades is connected to the countershaft.

The proposed solution (figure 1 ... 4) contains a screw 1, a shaft of a screw 2, a gas generator 3. The engine is made of a three-shaft and contains an external shaft 4, an intermediate shaft 5 and an internal shaft 6. The gas generator 3 contains, in turn, an air intake 7, a compressor 8, which is made in two stages and contains a low pressure compressor 9 having a stator 10 and a rotor 11, and a high pressure compressor 12 containing a stator 13 and a rotor 14. In addition, the gas generator 3 comprises a turbine 15. The turbine 15 is made in three stages and contains a high pressure turbine 16 with nozzles by an apparatus 17 and a rotor 18, a medium-pressure turbine 19 with a nozzle apparatus 20 and a rotor 21 and a low-pressure turbine 22, respectively, with a nozzle apparatus 23 and a rotor 24. The high-pressure turbine 16, the medium-pressure turbine 19 and the low-pressure turbine 22 may contain one or several steps. The following is a description using all single-stage turbines. Behind the low pressure turbine 19, a jet nozzle 25 is installed.

The external shaft 4 connects the rotor 14 of the high pressure compressor 12 and the rotor 18 of the high pressure turbine 16, the intermediate shaft 5 connects the rotor 11 of the low pressure compressor 9 and the rotor 21 of the medium pressure turbine 19, and the internal shaft 12 connect the propeller 1 and the intermediate shaft 5. Engine has three heat exchangers: a heat exchanger-heater 26 installed between the high-pressure compressor 12 and the high-pressure turbine 16, the first additional heat exchanger 27 installed between the high-pressure turbine 16 and the medium-pressure turbine tions 19 and a second additional heat exchanger 28 mounted between the medium-pressure turbine 19 and high pressure turbine 22.

The engine contains a nuclear reactor 29 connected by a recirculation pipe 30 (with respect to the heat exchangers), a pump 31 with a drive 32 with a heat exchanger-heater 26 and additional heat exchangers 27 and 28. The recirculation pipes 30 contain shut-off valves 33, 34 and 35. The nuclear exhaust pipes (with respect to the heat exchangers) of recirculation pipes 36 with shut-off valves 37, 38 and 39 are connected to the reactor and heat exchangers 26, 27 and 28. The engine comprises a control unit 40 connected by electrical connections 41 to the nuclear th reactor 29 (FIG. 1).

An embodiment is possible with a gearbox 42 (FIG. 2) mounted between the inner shaft 6 and the propeller shaft 2 1. An embodiment of the screw 1 is also possible with two rows of blades - the first 43 and second 44. An option is also possible (FIG. 4), when the second row of blades 44 is connected to the intermediate shaft 5. In this case, the first row of blades 43 can be connected directly to the inner shaft 6 (Fig. 4) or through a gearbox 42 (the last variant is not shown in Figs. 1 ... 4).

Three engine operation options are possible.

1. Only the heat exchanger-heater works.

2. The heat exchanger-heater and the first additional heat exchanger work.

3. All three heat exchangers work.

Starting and running the engine.

Preliminarily, upon command from the control unit 40, a nuclear reactor 29 is started and the drive 32 of the pump 31 is turned on. Then, shut-off valves 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 and 38 are opened. The coolant is supplied to the heat exchangers 26, 27 and 28 through the inlet recirculation pipe 30, heat and through the exhaust pipes 36 is returned to the nuclear reactor 29. The engine is started by a starter (the starter is not shown in FIGS. 1 ... 6) by unwinding one of the shafts 4, or 5, or 6. As a result, the air compressed in the compressors 10 and 12 passes heat exchangers 26, 27 and 28 and a high pressure turbine 16, a medium-pressure turbine 19 and a low-pressure turbine 22. Compressed air passes through the turbines 16, 19 and 22 and untwists all the rotors and screw 1. As a result, the engine is started and ready for operation. The engine is controlled according to the modes and it is turned off by the control unit 40 acting on the nuclear reactor 29 and the drive 32 of the pump 30 pumping the coolant (liquid sodium). When adjusting, it is possible to turn off one of the heat exchangers 26, 27 and 28.

The application of the invention allowed:

1. Improve engine throttle response.

2. To increase the reliability of the engine, because if one heat exchanger fails, it can continue to work with a slight loss of power.

3. To increase the efficiency of a gas turbine engine due to a more rational engine layout, the presence of a screw giving additional traction, the absence of a rigid kinematic connection between the compressor and the turbine. This made it possible to design optimal compressor and turbine, for example, at different operating speeds and optimally coordinate their joint work.

4. To ensure optimal engine operation in transient conditions due to the fact that turboprop engines create part of the propeller thrust, and part due to the jet nozzle.

5. Significantly reduce fuel consumption during aircraft operation and generally abandon chemical fuel in all modes using only atomic energy, this is important in connection with the exhaustion of hydrocarbon fuel resources, its cost increase and the lack of an alternative to this type of fuel. The use of hydrogen, which has a cost hundreds of times greater than kerosene, is unpromising in the next 100 years, and the use of liquefied natural gas due to its poor energy characteristics and the difficulty in operating cryogenic equipment is very limited.

6. To facilitate the working conditions of the screw due to its non-rigid connection with the compressor stages and the possibility of their mutual slippage and mismatch of the rotors of the compressor and screw rotors.

7. Facilitate starting and stopping the engine through the use of a three-shaft scheme, when using which it is enough to untwist one of the rotors with a starter to start the engine.

8. To reduce the weight and dimensions of the engine by achieving greater compression ratios in a three-shaft engine compared to a two-shaft.

Claims (4)

1. An atomic turboprop gas turbine engine containing a nuclear reactor, a screw, an air intake, a compressor, a combustion chamber, a turbine, a heat exchanger-heater and a jet nozzle, characterized in that the engine is designed according to a three-shaft scheme with external, intermediate and internal shafts, the compressor is made in cascade of low and high pressure, the turbine contains cascades of high, medium and low pressure, the rotor of the low pressure turbine is connected by an internal shaft to the screw, the rotor of the medium pressure turbine is connected by an intermediate Scrap with the rotor of the low-pressure compressor, and the rotor of the high-pressure turbine is connected by an external shaft to the rotor of the high-pressure compressor, between the high and medium pressure turbines and between the medium and low pressure turbines, the first and second additional heat exchangers are installed, connected by recirculation pipes to the nuclear reactor. 2. The atomic turboprop gas turbine engine according to claim 1, characterized in that the propeller is connected to the internal shaft through a gearbox. 3. The atomic turboprop gas turbine engine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the propeller contains two rows of blades. 4. The atomic turboprop gas turbine engine according to claim 3, characterized in that the second row of blades is connected to the intermediate shaft.

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