US 12,410,758 B2
Three-stream gas turbine engine control
David Marion Ostdiek, Liberty Township, OH (US); Jeffrey S. Spruill, Hillsboro, OH (US); Stefan Joseph Cafaro, Chapel Hill, NC (US); and David Alexander Hiett, Cincinnati, OH (US)
Assigned to General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US)
Filed by General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US)
Filed on Jan. 10, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/571,642.
Prior Publication US 2023/0220815 A1, Jul. 13, 2023
Int. Cl. F02C 9/20 (2006.01); F02K 3/02 (2006.01); F02K 3/075 (2006.01); F02K 3/077 (2006.01)
CPC F02C 9/20 (2013.01) [F02K 3/02 (2013.01); F02K 3/075 (2013.01); F02K 3/077 (2013.01); F05D 2270/303 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A three-stream gas turbine engine for an aircraft, comprising:
a shaft;
a primary fan mechanically coupled with the shaft;
a mid-fan positioned downstream of the primary fan and mechanically coupled with the shaft;
an engine core;
a core cowl surrounding at least a portion of the engine core, a core flowpath being defined between the engine core and the core cowl;
an outer cowl surrounding at least a portion of the core cowl, a secondary bypass flowpath being defined between the core cowl and the outer cowl;
an effector, wherein the effector is an array of inlet guide vanes positioned upstream of the mid-fan;
a thermal management system having one or more heat exchangers disposed in the secondary bypass flowpath; and
one or more processors configured to:
determine an effector demand based on an effector schedule and a thermal demand associated with the thermal management system; and
cause the effector to adjust an airflow through the secondary bypass flowpath based at least in part on the effector demand, wherein causing the effector to adjust the airflow through the secondary bypass flowpath based at least in part on the effector demand includes:
setting the array of inlet guide vanes to a first position in accordance with the effector schedule when the thermal demand is at a first level; and
adjusting the array of inlet guide vanes to a second position when the thermal demand is at a second level that is greater than the first level, the second position being more closed than the first position in order to reduce temperature and mass flow of airflow through the secondary bypass flowpath and increase a rate of thermal exchange between the one or more heat exchangers and the airflow.