US 12,292,017 B1
Gas turbine engine with acoustic spacing of the fan blades and outlet guide vanes
Brandon Wayne Miller, Evendale, OH (US); Egbert Geertsema, Evendale, OH (US); Arthur W. Sibbach, Boxford, MA (US); Andrew Hudecki, Evendale, OH (US); Timothy Richard DePuy, Evendale, OH (US); John C. Schilling, Evendale, OH (US); Frank Worthoff, Evendale, OH (US); and Tsuguji Nakano, Evendale, OH (US)
Assigned to General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US)
Filed by General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US)
Filed on Jun. 14, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/744,069.
Int. Cl. F02K 3/06 (2006.01); F02C 7/045 (2006.01); F02C 7/24 (2006.01); F04D 29/66 (2006.01)
CPC F02K 3/06 (2013.01) [F02C 7/045 (2013.01); F02C 7/24 (2013.01); F04D 29/666 (2013.01); F05D 2220/36 (2013.01); F05D 2240/12 (2013.01); F05D 2260/96 (2013.01); F05D 2300/603 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A gas turbine engine comprising:
a core turbine engine comprising a low pressure turbine;
a gearbox assembly coupled to the low pressure turbine;
a fan coupled to the gearbox assembly and having a fan diameter and a plurality of fan blades with a blade solidity that is greater than or equal to 0.8 and less than or equal to 2.0;
a blade effective acoustic length (BEAL) defined as:

OG Complex Work Unit Math
wherein c is a chord length of a fan blade of the plurality of fan blades, S is a span of the fan blade, rr is a radius ratio of the fan, γ is a stagger angle of the fan blade, and Nb is the number of the plurality of fan blades;
a nacelle that includes a fan case that surrounds the fan, the fan case comprising an inlet disposed forward of the fan and an inlet length, wherein the inlet length is an axial distance between a leading edge of one of the plurality of fan blades and the inlet, as measured at a 75% span position of the fan blade;
a plurality of outlet guide vanes disposed aft of the fan and extending radially between the core turbine engine and the fan case;
an acoustic spacing from the fan blade trailing edge to an outlet guide vane leading edge;
an acoustic spacing ratio (ASR) defined as:

OG Complex Work Unit Math
wherein As is the acoustic spacing and Nv is the number of the plurality of outlet guide vanes; and
an inlet-to-nacelle (ITN) ratio defined as a ratio of the inlet length to a maximum diameter of the nacelle,
wherein the ASR of the gas turbine engine is 1.5 to 16.0, and the ITN ratio is 0.23 to 0.35.