Granted Patent B2

US 12,669,131 · App. 18/511,128 · Granted Jun 30, 2026

Inventors: Jixian Yao (Niskayuna, NY); Trevor H. Wood (Clifton Park, NY); Kishore Ramakrishnan (Rexford, NY); William J. Solomon (Montgomery, OH); Giridhar Jothiprasad (Clifton Park, NY); Aaron J. King (West Harrison, IN)

Assignee: General Electric Company

F04D29/384F04D19/002

Abstract

Claims (191)

1 . A turbomachine for an aircraft comprising:

an annular casing; and

a fan disposed inside the annular casing and mounted for rotation about an axial centerline, the fan including fan blades that extend radially outwardly toward the annular casing;

wherein the fan includes an average fan chord width of the fan blades (“c”), a diameter of the fan (“D”), a fan pressure ratio (“FPR”), and a redline corrected fan tip Mach number (“M tip,c (RL) ”) according to a First Performance Factor (“FPF”),

wherein

FPF

=

[

c

0.15

·

D

]

⁢

/

[

[

F

⁢

P

⁢

R

-

1

0.4

]

/

M

tip

,

c

(

R

⁢

L

)

]

-

1.23

,

wherein

m

1

·

[

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

-

1.1

]

+

6

>

FPF

>

m

1

·

[

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

-

1.1

]

+

Δ

⁢

y

1

,

and

wherein 0<Δy 1 <6;

wherein the fan includes a fan hub-to-tip ratio (“HTR”), a fan blade count (“BC”), FPR, and M tip,c (RL) according to a Second Performance Factor (“SPF”),

wherein

SPF

=

π

4

⁢

(

1

-

HTR

2

)

/

(

BC

20

)

/

(

FPR

-

1

0.4

)

/

M

tip

,

c

(

RL

)

-

0.97

,

wherein

m

2

·

[

M

t

⁢

ip

,

c

(

R

⁢

L

)

-

1

.

1

]

+

1.5

>

SPF

>

m

2

·

[

M

t

⁢

ip

,

c

(

R

⁢

L

)

-

1

.

1

]

+

Δ

⁢

y

2

,

and

wherein 0<Δy 2 <1.5.

2 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein M tip,c (RL) is within a range equal to or greater than 0.45 and equal to or less than 1.34.

3 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein m 1 is equal to 0.87 when M tip,c (RL) is greater than or equal to 1.1.

4 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein m 1 is equal to 3.34 when M tip,c (RL) is less than 1.1.

5 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein Δy 1 is equal to or greater than 0.0125 and less than 6.

6 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein Δy 1 is equal to or greater than 0.04 and less than 6.

7 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein Δy 1 is equal to or greater than 0.07 and less than 6.

8 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein Δy 1 is equal to or greater than 0.1 and less than 6.

9 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein the turbomachine has a gear ratio within a range equal to or greater than 3.2 and equal to or less than 5.0.

10 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein the fan blade includes an airfoil portion made from a polymer matrix composite (PMC) material, a metallic leading edge, a ratio c/D is between 0.16 and 0.21, and the fan has between 16 and 25 fan blades.

11 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein a ratio c/D is within a range equal to or greater than 0.1 and equal to or less than 0.3.

12 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein FPR is within a range equal to or greater than 1.2 and equal to or less than 1.5.

13 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein m 2 is equal to 0.41 when M tip,c (RL) is greater than or equal to 1.1.

14 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein m 2 is equal to 0.55 when M tip,c (RL) is less than 1.1.

15 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein Δy 2 is equal to or greater than 0.0075 and less than 1.5.

16 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein Δy 2 is equal to or greater than 0.02 and less than 1.5.

17 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein Δy 2 is equal to or greater than 0.04 and less than 1.5.

18 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein Δy 2 is equal to or greater than 0.06 and less than 1.5.

19 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein HTR is within a range equal to or greater than 0.1 and equal to or less than 0.5.

20 . The turbomachine of claim 1 , wherein BC is within a range equal to or greater than 10 and equal to or less than 18.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (345)