3D printing is to aircraft manufacturing. 3D printing is like the wings of an airplane, helping manufacturers and designers to achieve the desire to fly higher, fly easier, fly safer, and see farther.
In this regard, GE9X already has 304 parts manufactured through additive manufacturing, covering seven types of 3D printed parts. Inspired by the vision of surpassing one's own, more companies have joined in to push the engine beyond one limit after another through 3D printing technology. In this issue, Hay Think brings everyone to appreciate the details of the development of the double-wall burner disclosed in the patent just obtained by Honeywell.
Realize the integration of double-wall structure
A turbofan gas turbine engine generally includes, for example, five main parts: a fan part, a compressor part, a combustor part, a turbine part, and an exhaust part. The fan part is usually located at the inlet part of the engine, and the fan introduces air from the surrounding environment into the engine and accelerates a part of the air toward the compressor part. The rest of the air introduced into the fan section is accelerated into the bypass air chamber and then exits the exhaust section.
The compressor section increases the pressure of the air received from the fan section, and the compressed air is then guided to the combustion section. In the combustion section, the fuel and air mixture is ignited in the burner to form combustion gas.
Improvement of double wall cooling method
In order to improve engine efficiency, designers and manufacturers of gas turbine engines continue to increase the operating temperature in the engine. At these rising temperatures, it becomes increasingly difficult to effectively cool the combustor and still maintain sufficient residual airflow to control emissions and outlet temperatures. To solve this difficulty, Honeywell has developed a double-wall cooling method to reduce the temperature of the burner wall.
The double-wall cooling method uses conventional sheet metal structures with sliding joints and inserts. This method has been proven to reduce wall temperature, but it also has certain disadvantages. For example, it is susceptible to manufacturing tolerances, which can lead to changes in cooling or pressure drop. Therefore, there is a need to develop new and more efficient cooling methods for burners and other double-walled hot-section structures to reduce the sensitivity to manufacturing tolerances. Leveraging on 3D printing, Honeywell has developed a burner with double-wall cooling to solve this demand.
The double-wall structure 300 (the first wall, the second wall and the base) is an integrated structure, which is manufactured using the selective laser melting additive manufacturing process. The double-wall structure is made of nickel-based superalloy, which can form impact cooling holes 308 After spraying the cooling channel 312, a coating and or thermal barrier coating is applied.
New space brought by the realization of structural integration
Unlike the conventional double-wall structure, the double-wall structure developed by Honeywell combines impingement cooling and jet cooling into a single structure. It is used to conduct heat from the thermal side wall and reduce the thermal gradient, thereby reducing the plane stress. This design also provides the smallest footprint and potentially reduces weight compared to traditional double-walled structures.
Each base has at least one outer surface facing the intermediate cavity, and each base has a main axis and extends through the intermediate cavity around its main axis. The impingement cooling holes extend through the second wall to allow cooling air flow into the intermediate cavity. Each discharge cooling channel has an inlet and an outlet, and each of the plurality of pedestals is located on the inner surface of the first wall. Each jet cooling channel is different from one of the plurality of bases and is arranged at a predetermined angle with respect to its associated main axis.
Hay Think`s Review
As mentioned by King Xiaoyan of ACAM in the "3D Printing Powered Power Equipment Development Report", in order to simplify the understanding of the application logic of 3D printing in power parts, the development requirements of power equipment can be summarized as bright spots: strong explosive power and high safety. 3D printing releases the freedom of design and manufacturing. It improves the kinetic energy of power equipment by optimizing the mixing ratio of fuel and air. On the other hand, 3D printing cooling channels or copper metal improves the fast heat dissipation performance of power equipment. Get higher security.
Cooling, everywhere
According to UTC's patent US10400674B2, UTC Joint Technology has developed a new cooling fuel injector system for the combustor section of a gas turbine engine. Apply 3D printing to the manufacture of complex VESL vascular structures. The fuel injector system component contains a vascular engineering (VESL) structure. The VESL structure is arranged between the walls of the fuel injector system component, and the VESL structure is surrounded by a gap, which is configured for the second cooling fluid to surround the VESL structure The nodes and branches pass.
It is not just that UTC has obtained innovations in fuel injector manufacturing through 3D printing. According to market research in 3D Science Valley, GE previously extended a part of the fuel injector to the inner diameter through the lining in order to balance the overall emission performance and thermal efficiency of the combustor The combustion gas flow field. However, this method exposing the fuel injector to the hot combustion gases may affect the mechanical life of the components and cause the accumulation of fuel coke. According to the market research of 3D Science Valley, GE has improved the cooling system used to extend the fuel injector into the combustion gas flow field through 3D printing technology.
GE`s patent approved on January 24, 2017 includes the fuel injector body, including the three-dimensional modeling information that determines that the body includes the cooling channel, the three-dimensional modeling is divided into multiple slices, and the electron beam melting technology is used to separate each The layer is melted and solidified, thereby manufacturing the fuel injector body. According to the market research of 3D Science Valley, the system includes a liner that defines a combustion airflow path through a combustion chamber, a fuel injector opening extending through the liner, and a fuel injector.