RU2425243C1 - Nuclear turboprop gas turbine engine - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: engines and pumps.

SUBSTANCE: nuclear turboprop gas turbine engine includes nuclear reactor, propeller, housing, air intake, compressor, combustion chamber, turbine the housing of which has conical shape which diverges streamwise, heat exchanger-heater and jet nozzle. Engine is made as per three-shaft scheme and consists of outer, intermediate and inner shafts. Compressor consists of low and high pressure sections. Turbine consists of high, intermediate and low pressure sections. Rotor of low pressure turbine is connected by means of inner shaft to propeller. Rotor of intermediate pressure turbine is connected by means of 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. Additional heat exchangers are built in turbine housing so that they are partially arranged in turbine path and connected via supply air pipelines to cavity after high pressure compressor.

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.

The disadvantage is the very high fuel consumption consumed by the 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.

The disadvantage is low efficiency and, as a consequence, the high 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 motor. 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 Russian Federation No. 2334892, a prototype containing a screw, an air intake, a compressor, a combustion chamber, a high pressure turbine, a Sterling 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, a casing, an air intake, a compressor, a combustion chamber, a turbine, the casing of which is conical in shape, expanding in flow, a heat exchanger-heater and a jet nozzle, the engine is made according to a three-shaft scheme with external, intermediate and internal shafts, the compressor is made of a cascade of low and high pressure, the turbine contains cascades of high, medium and low pressure, the rotor of the low pressure turbine with it is single with an internal shaft with a screw, the rotor of the medium-pressure turbine is connected by an intermediate shaft to 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, the first and low pressure turbines are installed between the high and medium pressure turbines the second additional heat exchangers connected by recirculation pipelines with a nuclear reactor, while additional heat exchangers are built into the turbine housing thus ohm, partially housed in a turbine connected to a supply path and air conduits from the cavity to the high pressure compressor. The propeller can be connected to the internal shaft via a gearbox. The propeller may contain 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 technical solution (Figs. 1 ... 4) contains a screw 1, a shaft of a screw 2, a housing 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 engine contains, in turn, an air intake 7, a compressor 8 which is made two-stage 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 engine includes a turbine 15. The turbine 15 is made three-stage and contains a high pressure turbine 16, with nozzle 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 turbines 16, the medium-pressure turbine 19, and the low-pressure turbine 22 may comprise one or more stages. The following is a description using all single-stage turbines. The turbine 15 is enclosed in a conical housing 25, expanding upstream. A jet nozzle 26 is installed behind the low-pressure turbine 22. An external shaft 4 connects the rotor 14 of the high-pressure compressor 12 and the rotor 18 of the high-pressure turbine 16, an 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 inner shaft 6 they will connect the propeller 1 and the intermediate shaft 2. The engine has three heat exchangers: a heat exchanger-heater 27, installed between the high-pressure compressor 12 and the high-pressure turbine 16, the first additional heat exchanger 28, installed between the high pressure turbine 16 and the medium-pressure turbine 19, and a second additional heat exchanger 29 mounted between the medium-pressure turbine 19 and high pressure turbine 22 and partially mounted in the housing 25 of the turbine 15.

The engine comprises a nuclear reactor 30 connected by a recirculation pipe 31 (with respect to the heat exchangers), a pump 32 with a drive 33 with a heat exchanger-heater 27 and additional heat exchangers 28 and 29. The recirculation pipes 31 contain shut-off valves 34, 35 and 36. The nuclear to the reactor 30 and heat exchangers 27, 28 and 29 are connected exhaust pipes (relative to the heat exchangers) 37 with shut-off valves 38, 39 and 40. The engine includes a control unit 41, connected by electrical connections 42 to the poison nym reactor 30 and the actuator 33 (Figure 1). Two air pipelines 43 and 44 with regulators 45 and 46 with actuators 47 and 48 are connected to the outlet of the high pressure compressor 12. The outputs of the air pipelines 43 and 44 are connected, respectively, with additional heat exchangers 28 and 29.

An embodiment of the engine with a gearbox 49 (Fig. 2) is installed between the inner shaft 6 and the shaft 2 of the propeller 1. An embodiment of the propeller 1 with two rows of blades first 50 and second 51 is also possible. It is also possible (Fig. 4) when the second row of blades 51 is connected to the intermediate shaft 5. In this case, the first row of blades 50 can be connected to the inner shaft 6 directly (Fig. 4) or through a reducer 49 (in Figs. 1 ... 4 the last option is not shown).

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 41, a nuclear reactor 30 is started and the drive 32 of the pump 31 is turned on. Then, shut-off valves 34 ... 39 are opened. The coolant through recirculation inlet pipelines 31 is supplied to heat exchangers 27, 28 and 29, gives off heat and returns to the nuclear reactor 30 through exhaust pipelines 37. The engine is started with 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 through heat exchangers 27, 28 and 29 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 spins all rotors and screw 1. As a result The engine is running and ready to go. The engine is controlled according to the modes and it is turned off by the control unit 41 acting on the nuclear reactor 30 and the drive 33 of the pump 32 pumping the coolant (liquid sodium). When adjusting, it is possible to partially or completely shut off one of the heat exchangers 28 and 29 using the regulators 45 and 46 by means of actuators 47 and 48 by command from the control unit 41 (Fig. 1).

The application of the invention allowed the following.

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, a casing, an air intake, a compressor, a combustion chamber, a turbine, the casing of which is conical in shape, expanding in flow, a heat exchanger-heater and a jet nozzle, characterized in that the engine is made according to a three-shaft design with external, intermediate and internal shafts, the compressor is made of cascades of low and high pressure, the turbine contains cascades of high, medium and low pressure, the rotor of the low pressure turbine is connected internally with a screw shaft, the rotor of the medium-pressure turbine is connected by an intermediate shaft to 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, respectively, the first and second are installed between the high and medium pressure turbines and between the medium and low pressure turbines additional heat exchangers connected by recirculation pipes to the nuclear reactor, while additional heat exchangers are built into the turbine housing in such a way that but they are located in the turbine path and are connected by air supply pipelines to the cavity behind the high-pressure compressor. 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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