US 12,345,178 B1
Turbofan engine including a fan actuation system
Randy M. Vondrell, Newport, KY (US); and Keith A. Miedema, Fairfield, OH (US)
Assigned to GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, Evendale, OH (US)
Filed by General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US)
Filed on Dec. 29, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/400,746.
Int. Cl. F03D 7/02 (2006.01); F01D 5/14 (2006.01); F01D 7/02 (2006.01); F01D 17/26 (2006.01); F03D 17/00 (2016.01); F03D 80/70 (2016.01); F02C 7/057 (2006.01); F02K 3/06 (2006.01)
CPC F01D 7/02 (2013.01) [F01D 5/141 (2013.01); F01D 17/26 (2013.01); F03D 7/0224 (2013.01); F03D 17/029 (2023.08); F03D 80/701 (2023.08); F02C 7/057 (2013.01); F02K 3/06 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A turbofan engine comprising:
a fan having a plurality of fan blades, the fan being an open fan, and each of the plurality of fan blades being rotatable about a pitch axis; and
a fan actuation system including one or more actuators for rotating the plurality of fan blades about the pitch axis and one or more thrust bearings, wherein the fan actuation system is characterized by a fan actuation system envelope in a range of 660 to 1860, the fan actuation system envelope being given by:

OG Complex Work Unit Math
wherein NFB is a number of the plurality of fan blades, DFT is a fan tip diameter of the plurality of fan blades in a range of 120.0 inches to 168.0 inches, Mcruise is a Mach number of the turbofan engine at cruise operating conditions, and RTB is a thrust bearing radius of the one or more thrust bearings in a range of 20 inches to 27 inches.