US 12,188,415 B2
Hydrogen-exhaust gas heat exchanger of a turbofan engine
Eyitayo James Owoeye, Houston, TX (US); and William Wesley Morton, Niskayuna, NY (US)
Assigned to General Electric Company, Evendale, OH (US)
Filed by General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US)
Filed on Aug. 4, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/365,534.
Application 18/365,534 is a continuation in part of application No. 17/730,570, filed on Apr. 27, 2022, granted, now 11,753,995.
Prior Publication US 2023/0375176 A1, Nov. 23, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. F02C 7/224 (2006.01); F02C 3/22 (2006.01); F02C 7/141 (2006.01)
CPC F02C 7/224 (2013.01) [F02C 3/22 (2013.01); F02C 7/141 (2013.01); F05D 2260/213 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A turbofan engine, comprising:
a core turbine engine defining a core air flowpath;
a fan positioned upstream of the core turbine engine; and
a hydrogen-exhaust gas heat exchanger in flow communication with an exhaust section of the core air flowpath, the hydrogen-exhaust gas heat exchanger defining a load capacity factor being determined by raising a product to a one-quarter power, the product being determined by multiplying a heat transfer surface area density associated with the hydrogen-exhaust gas heat exchanger by a process conductance parameter that relates an exhaust gas temperature at takeoff, an ambient air temperature at takeoff, a critical temperature of hydrogen, an exhaust gas mass flowrate at takeoff, a mass flowrate factor of hydrogen at critical condition, a fan diameter of the fan, and an overall pressure ratio of the turbofan engine, and
wherein the load capacity factor is between 2.92 and 24 for the fan diameter of the fan being between 0.5 and 5 meters and the heat transfer surface area density being between 500 m2/m3 and 13,000 m2/m3.