US 12,071,890 B1
Recovering water and/or heat energy from powerplant combustion products
Neil J. Terwilliger, Cheshire, CT (US)
Assigned to RTX CORPORATION, Farmington, CT (US)
Filed by Raytheon Technologies Corporation, Farmington, CT (US)
Filed on Mar. 8, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/119,182.
Int. Cl. F02C 3/30 (2006.01); F01D 25/32 (2006.01)
CPC F02C 3/30 (2013.01) [F01D 25/32 (2013.01); F05D 2220/323 (2013.01); F05D 2220/62 (2013.01); F05D 2220/72 (2013.01); F05D 2260/213 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A powerplant for an aircraft, comprising:
a mechanical load;
a turbine engine core configured to power the mechanical load, the turbine engine core including a core compressor section, a core combustor section and a core turbine section;
a recovery system including a condenser and an evaporator; and
a core flowpath extending sequentially through the core compressor section, the core combustor section, the core turbine section, the evaporator and the condenser from an inlet into the core flowpath to an exhaust from the core flowpath;
the recovery system configured to condense water vapor flowing through the core flowpath into water using the condenser, the recovery system configured to evaporate the water into steam using the evaporator and to provide the steam to the turbine engine core during a first mode of operation, and the recovery system configured to flow the water as liquid water through the evaporator during a second mode of operation without evaporation.