Leaned deswirl vanes behind a centrifugal compressor in a gas turbine engine

Abstract

A compressor includes a deswirl assembly to improve aerodynamic coupling with the combustor. The assembly includes an annular housing and a plurality of vanes. The annular housing includes an inner and an outer annular wall disposed concentric to each other, and a flowpath defined therebetween. The plurality of vanes is disposed in the flowpath in a substantially annular pattern. Each vane has a leading edge, a trailing edge, a convex surface, and concave surface, and each of the convex and concave surfaces extends between the leading and trailing edges. Additionally, each vane extends between and is angled relative to the inner and the outer annular walls such that the concave surface faces the outer annular wall and the convex surface faces the inner annular wall. The vanes preferably have a uniform axial cross section for ease of manufacturing.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a gas turbine engine and, more particularly, to a deswirl assembly having leaned deswirl vanes for use in the gas turbine engine. BACKGROUND [0002] A gas turbine engine may be used to power various types of vehicles and systems. A typical gas turbine engine includes a fan section, a compressor section, a combustor section, a turbine section, and an exhaust section. The fan section induces air from the surrounding environment into the engine and accelerates a fraction of the air toward the compressor section. The compressor section compresses the pressure of the air to a relatively high level and directs the air to the combustor section. A steady stream of fuel is injected into the combustor section, and the injected fuel is ignited to significantly increase the energy of the compressed air. The high-energy compressed air then flows into and through the turbine section, causing rotationally mounted turbine blades therein to rota...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, it has been found that these deswirl assemblies generate greater flow angle variation across the span of the flowpath at the deswirl vane leading edge and therefore may not adequately condition air flow to a sufficiently low mach number in an acceptably efficient manner unless the overall axial length and / or radial envelope of the assembly is increased.

Because engines are continually designed to be smaller, the size increase may not be acceptable in newer aircraft.

However, although this configuration optimizes airflow through the deswirl assembly, manufacture of the assembly is relatively time-consuming and costly because each vane may need to be individually formed and shaped.

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