US 11,746,713 B2
Fuel control system
Ibrahim Sanusi, Derby (GB); Andrew R Mills, Derby (GB); and Derek S Wall, Derby (GB)
Assigned to ROLLS-ROYCE PLC, London (GB)
Filed by ROLLS-ROYCE plc, London (GB)
Filed on Feb. 19, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/794,620.
Claims priority of application No. 1903062 (GB), filed on Mar. 7, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0284207 A1, Sep. 10, 2020
Int. Cl. F02C 9/52 (2006.01); F02C 9/54 (2006.01)
CPC F02C 9/52 (2013.01) [F02C 9/54 (2013.01); F05D 2270/30 (2013.01); F05D 2270/303 (2013.01); F05D 2270/44 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A control system of a gas turbine engine having a fuel flow metering valve which regulates a fuel flow to the gas turbine engine, and one or more variable geometry components which are movable between different set points to vary an operating configuration of the gas turbine engine, the control system comprising:
an engine fuel control sub-system configured to provide a fuel flow demand signal for controlling the fuel flow metering valve;
a variable geometry control sub-system configured to determine current set points to be adopted by the one or more variable geometry components given a current engine operating condition in order to comply with one or more engine constraints;
an optimiser configured to receive the current set points, determine adjusted values of the set points which optimise, while complying with the one or more engine constraints, an objective function modelling a performance characteristic of the gas turbine engine, the objective function configured to adapt to a change in engine performance with time, and adjust values of the set points, thereby generating adjusted values of the set points that account for differences between a plurality of different gas turbine engines, including the gas turbine engine, so that the adjusted values of the set points are specific to the gas turbine engine at a given time; and
a feedback loop in which the adjusted values of the set points determined by the optimiser are configured to be sent to the variable geometry control sub-system to vary the current set points.