IP Library Granted Patent US 12662958
Granted Patent B2
US 12662958 · App. 19/265,709 · Granted Jun 23, 2026

Gas turbine engine

Inventors: Daniel Alan Niergarth (Norwood, OH); Jeffrey Donald Clements (Mason, OH); Jeffrey S. Spruill (Hillsboro, OH); Erich Alois Krammer (West Chester, OH); Matthew Kenneth MacDonald (Austin, TX); Scott Alan Schimmels (Miamisburg, OH)
Assignee: General Electric Company
F02C3/06F02C7/36F02C9/28F05D2200/13F05D2200/14F05D2200/221F05D2240/60
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12662958
App. No.
19/265,709
Granted
Jun 23, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A gas turbine engine includes a turbomachine having an engine core including a high-pressure compressor, a combustion section, a high-pressure turbine, and a high-pressure shaft coupled to the high-pressure compressor and the high-pressure turbine. The engine core has a length (L CORE ), and the high-pressure compressor has an exit stage diameter (D CORE ). The high-pressure compressor defines a high-pressure compressor exit area (A HPCExit ) in square inches. The gas turbine engine defines a redline exhaust gas temperature (EGT) in degrees Celsius, a total sea level static thrust output (Fn Total ) in pounds, and a corrected specific thrust, wherein the corrected specific thrust is greater than or equal to 42 and less than or equal to 90, the corrected specific determined as follows: Fn Total ×EGT/(A HPCExit 2 ×1000). The high-pressure shaft is characterized by a high-speed shaft rating (HSR) from 1.5 to 6.2, and a ratio of L CORE /D CORE is from 2.1 to 4.3.

Claims (193)

1 . A gas turbine engine comprising:

a turbomachine comprising a compressor section having a high-pressure compressor, a combustion section, and a turbine section having a high-pressure turbine arranged in serial flow order, the turbomachine includes an engine core including the high-pressure compressor, the combustion section, and the high-pressure turbine, the engine core having a length (L CORE ) in inches, the high-pressure compressor having an exit stage diameter (D CORE ) in inches, the high-pressure compressor defining a high-pressure compressor exit area (A HPCExit ) in square inches, and the high-pressure compressor including a high-pressure compressor flowpath and a plurality of stages of high-pressure compressor rotor blades and high-pressure compressor stator vanes, wherein the gas turbine engine defines a redline exhaust gas temperature (EGT) in degrees Celsius, a total sea level static thrust output (Fn Total ) in pounds, and a corrected specific thrust, wherein the corrected specific thrust is greater than or equal to 42 and less than or equal to 90, the corrected specific thrust determined as follows: Fn Total ×EGT/(A HPCExit 2 ×1000); and

a high-pressure shaft coupled to the high-pressure compressor and the high-pressure turbine, the high-pressure shaft characterized by a high-pressure shaft rating (HSR LP ) from 0.8 to 1.6, and HSR LP is given by:

HSR

L

P

=

1

k

*

N

1

r

/

l

*

D

C

O

R

E

*

(

L

C

O

R

E

D

C

O

R

E

)

2

,

where N1 r/l is a redline speed of a low-pressure shaft in RPM, and k is a constant with a value of 10 6 inch-RPM.

2 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the high-pressure compressor includes eight stages, nine stages, ten stages, or eleven stages.

3 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the high-pressure compressor includes nine stages, ten stages, or eleven stages.

4 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the high-pressure turbine includes one stage or two stages.

5 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , further comprising:

a fan; and

a reduction gearbox, wherein the fan is driven by the turbomachine across the reduction gearbox.

6 . The gas turbine engine of claim 5 , wherein a gear ratio of the reduction gearbox is within a range of 6.0 to 14.0.

7 . The gas turbine engine of claim 6 , wherein the fan comprises a plurality of unducted rotor blades that are variable pitch rotor blades.

8 . The gas turbine engine of claim 5 , wherein a gear ratio of the reduction gearbox is within a range of 3.2 to 4.5.

9 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , further comprising:

an inlet duct downstream of the primary fan and upstream of the compressor section of the turbomachine; and

a secondary fan located within the inlet duct, wherein a ratio of a radius of the unducted fan to a radius of the secondary fan is at least 3.3 and less than or equal to 7.

10 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the redline exhaust gas temperature (EGT) is from 1,063° C. to 1,282° C.

11 . The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein a ratio L CORE /D CORE is a function of a high-pressure shaft operating parameter (HSP X ) given by:

HSP

X

=

(

A

e

x

)

2

*

P

STD

*

OPR

T

/

O

FN

T

/

O

*

(

N

S

t

g

/

10

)

2

,

where N Stg is the number of stages in the high-pressure compressor, A EX equals A HPCExit , P STD is standard pressure in pounds per square inch, OPR T/O is an overall pressure ratio of the gas turbine engine at takeoff flight conditions corresponding to a maximum thrust rating for an engine core configuration, and FN T/O is a sea-level static thrust in lbf of the gas turbine engine at takeoff flight conditions corresponding to the maximum thrust rating for the engine core configuration.

12 . The gas turbine engine of claim 11 , wherein L CORE /D CORE is less than

4

.

0

8

(

HSP

X

-

8

)

0.14

.

13 . The gas turbine engine of claim 11 , wherein HSP X is from 3.8 in 2 to 69.1 in 2 .

14 . The gas turbine engine of claim 11 , wherein A EX is from 11 in 2 to 95 in 2 .

15 . The gas turbine engine of claim 11 , wherein P STD is approximately 14.7 psi.

16 . The gas turbine engine of claim 11 , wherein OPR T/O is from 26.3 to 82, and wherein FN T/O is from 12,674 lbf to 107,480 lbf.

17 . The gas turbine engine of claim 11 , wherein A EX is given by:

A

E

X

=

π

*

(

R

TIP

,

EX

2

-

R

HUB

,

E

X

2

)

,

where R TIP,EX is a radius in inches of a tip of a high-pressure compressor blade of the exit stage of the high-pressure compressor, and R HUB,EX is a radius in inches of a hub of the high-pressure compressor at the exit stage.

18 . The gas turbine engine of claim 17 , wherein R TIP,EX is from 4.73 in. to 15.83 in., and wherein R HUB,EX is from 4.31 in. to 14.85 in.

19 . A method of operating the gas turbine engine of claim 1 , the method comprising operating the gas turbine engine to generate an engine thrust, a redline speed of the high-pressure shaft (N2 r/l ) in RPM being from 10,580 RPM to 35,788 RPM.

20 . A gas turbine engine comprising:

a turbomachine comprising a compressor section having a high-pressure compressor, a combustion section, and a turbine section having a high-pressure turbine arranged in serial flow order, the turbomachine includes an engine core including the high-pressure compressor, the combustion section, and the high-pressure turbine, the engine core having a length (L CORE ) in inches, the high-pressure compressor having an exit stage diameter (D CORE ) in inches, the high-pressure compressor defining a high-pressure compressor exit area (A HPCExit ) in square inches, and the high-pressure compressor including a high-pressure compressor flowpath and a plurality of stages of high-pressure compressor rotor blades and high-pressure compressor stator vanes, wherein the gas turbine engine defines a redline exhaust gas temperature (EGT) in degrees Celsius, a total sea level static thrust output (Fn Total ) in pounds, and a corrected specific thrust, wherein the corrected specific thrust is greater than or equal to 42 and less than or equal to 90, the corrected specific thrust determined as follows: Fn Total ×EGT/(A HPCExit 2 ×1000);

a power turbine in flow communication with the high-pressure turbine;

a low-pressure shaft coupled to the power turbine; and

a high-pressure shaft coupled to the high-pressure compressor and the high-pressure turbine, the high-pressure shaft characterized by a high-pressure shaft rating (HSR LP ) from 0.8 to 1.6 and HSR LP is given by:

HSR

L

P

=

1

k

*

N

1

r

/

l

*

D

C

O

R

E

*

(

L

C

O

R

E

D

C

O

R

E

)

2

,

where N1 r/l is a redline speed of a low-pressure shaft in RPM and k is a constant with a value of 10 6 inch-RPM.