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Copyright 1982 by ASME
forcing this to happen. A modern turboprop propul - cruising with good fuel efficiencies.
sion system featuring today's gas turbine technolo- The propfan development has suggested that
gy, reduction gearbox technology, and advanced pro - aircraft may cruise at 0.8 Mach No. with signifi -
pellers will be available. Turbofans will continue cantly higher efficiency than the most modern turbo-
to play a major role in the long range aircraft -
fan can provide. This technology has not yet demon -
sumes a small portion of their fuel. Table 1 por- Another major component of the turboprop en-
trays these data for 1977. gine is the reduction gearbox. Experience with
production 5000-shp (3,730-kW) class turboprops cur-
rently flying leads DDA to believe strongly that the
Navy AF 80 r `
Installed 70 m cip
Re \` \`,
Flight hours 42% 15% efficiency
Fuel consumed 22.5% 6%
60
Turbofan
FY 1977 DOD data
50
The T56 first flew in the mid-1950s on the Second-stage gearing Planetary spur Planetary
C130 (Figure 4) and went into commercial production gear helical gear
as the 501-D13. The most recent major gearbox de -
velopments associated with the T56 were in the late Bearings All separable Many races
1960s when the T56 A-18 gearbox was developed under components integral with
shafting
o Propeller brake
o Negative Torque Signal from ring gear
position
o Elimination of lock tabs on nut locks
o Gear cooling/lubrication by high pressure -
y
r"
Figure 3. Lockheed XFV vertical takeoff fighter. Figure 4. Early C130 aircraft.
As the T56 family of gearboxes matured, it Development of the early T56s was conducted to
became apparent that manufacturing of the critical meet the military requirements then prevalent. The
components was really an extension of the design and final judge in the case of the T56 was a 150 - hr
qualification test wherein the gearbox was consid -
ered an integral part of the engine. It is to be
noted that this is a different philosophy from that
of helicopter transmission development. When a
turboprop gearbox could pass this test, it was ready
for flight.
In addition, prior to running the qualifica -
tion tests, many hours were spent in gearbox devel -
opment on back - to - back rigs (see Figure 9). These
rigs proved to be very valuable for reasons men -
tioned later.
Total test time required for these tests was
significant. In the case of the T56 A-18 (the
Damp result of a long evolution), more than 4000 hr were
spent in back-to-back testing. Thus, the gearbox
rings
TE81-9050 im
Figure 5. T56 main drive gear.
15
Cycles to rupture TE81-7017
Co
^^^Undamped Figure 7. S-N curve for 9310 gear material.
= 10 (69) ^^_.--,+
a) Damper ring
T
05
Co (34)
a
2 3 4 5
Gear speed, rpm/1000 TE81-7016
s
m
a)
U
U 0.1
0
f)
(60.8)
plane and mission requirements. Nonetheless, it is simply, it will define the gearbox reduction ratio
not expected that we will stray too far from our (see Table 3). (The design points shown in Table 3
experience base. are just two of a whole spectrum of possibilities.)
ing will be part of the gearbox design require- peller. It is interesting to note that these re -
fluence on the propulsion system design and that a rangement. Airframe requirements as well as the ex-
requirement for line replaceable units will force perience of the propulsion system designer will lead
the design to modularity. to a choice of a propeller aligned with the engine
The T56 system, shown in Figure 12, has a center line or offset from the engine center line.
unique flexibility associated with the offset of The T56 experience has been with offset gearing.
the first stage gearing. This offset of the gear
- -
However, the propellers for the Russian Bear power
ing allows use of the same basic propulsion system plant are aligned with the engine center line.
in different airframes, including airframes in The requirement for low noise will manifest
which the propeller must be offset above the engine itself in helical gearing. Maintainability require -
center line and those in which the propeller must ments will be reflected in a high degree of modular -
be below the engine center line. ity, and life requirements will show up in critical
component material and size selection as well as in
IMPACT ON NEXT GENERATION
multiple torque paths even in low power gearboxes.
-- -
TE81-7019
Figure 11. 12,000-shp gearbox tested at DDA. Figure 12. T56 propulsion system.
Table 4 presents some considerations ex - tegral gearbox must be made. The T56 family of en-
pected to affect the next generation of gear gen - gines uses a remotely mounted gearbox that is rigid-
eral arrangement. This table shows four different ly attached to the power section with struts. Inlet
possibilities for gearbox general arrangement with -
ducting is sheet metal that passes between the
out including the choice of reduction ratio. struts and around the drive shaft. Other manu -
General arrangement selection. ture. The choice of incorporating the gearbox into
the main front power section structure or leaving it
Choice Affected by to be a remotely mounted component is an interesting
trade-off. The selection of an integral gearbox or
Offset or in line gearbox
- Inlet requirement a remotely mounted gearbox would be expected to af-
accessory drives fect weight and cost. Modularity for maintainabili -
prop control requirements ty will be more difficult with a gear case integral
with the power section front structure.
Remote or integral gearbox Maintainability
Weight/cost Accessory Drives
Accessory drive
requirements The T56 family of gearboxes employed an acces -
the future. The scheme shown in Figure 13 (a) driven. If this is the case, then the starter would
reflects prop controls that have access to the prop become an accessory mounted on the power section
shaft bore without use of hydraulic or electrical along with the fuel pumps, oil pumps, and ignition
slip rings. The engine inlet design for this scheme generator.
is conservative if the axial space for the "S" turn The gearbox accessories would be individually
is not restricted. mounted, but in a modular, easily maintained manner.
The scheme shown in Figure 13 (b) has the These accessories would include oil pumps, propeller
virtue of symmetry. However, the propeller controls brake (if required), and propeller controls.
may require a hydraulic slip ring. The inlet is
also limited by boundary layer flow and may be more
difficult to design than the offset arrangement.
Nonetheless, this approach might be desirable when
the effects of weight and airframe interfaces are
considered.
The selection of arrangement (a) or (b) in
Figure 13 must also consider the effects of reduc -
_
Pinion gear
rotation,
Coin drive
_r__ia-i
gear rotation,
Plover gear
tooth mesh,
Yonion
gear mesh,
what has been accomplished in large gearbox develop-
ment in the past. The T56 A-18 gearbox was devel-
oped at DDA in the late 1960s. It was a logical im-
1992 cps 6450 cps
230 cps 56 cps
provement over the then current T56 gearboxes, and
TE81-7013
Vibration frequency
yet it took about 4000 hr of back-to-back gearbox
Figure 14. Vibration effectsd of helical gearing testing (see Figure 9 for back-to-back rig) to have
compared with spur gearing. this gearbox ready for military flight test. A
can be successfully run at aircraft system speeds box will not stand in the way of an advanced turbo-
(7). It is not just in simplification that tapered prop propulsion system.
bearings can be expected to be a benefit for the
gearbox. Their capacity and resultant life while
thrust loaded will make them a logical propshaft REFERENCES
thrust bearing to achieve the life requirements of
1 Nored, D. L., Conference on Propeller Pro -
the next-generation gearbox.
pulsion, CS 79 3974, presented 22-24 April 1980,
- -
s' ,l r n re ; -,,
Dayton, Ohio.
2 Dugan, J. F., and Miller, B. A., "The NASA
High Speed Turboprop Program," NASA Technical Memor
- -
Fault detection techniques for turboprop gear-
andum 81561 prepared for Aerospace Congress spon -
ing could benefit from some detail development ef-
sored by the SAE, October 1980, Los Angeles, Calif.
fort. The reduction in cost of ownership for a
3 "Study of Turboprop Systems Reliability and
gearbox equipped with a good fault detection system
Maintainability Costs," NASA CR-135192, prepared by
is expected to be significant. This technology,
Detroit Diesel Allison under contract NAS 3-20057,
when properly developed, will yield the most useful
June 1978.
life for each gearbox.
4 Kruse, D. L., "Propulsion Needs as Seen by
the Airlines," presented at AIAA meeting, 13-14
April 1980, Washington, D.C.
5 Holbrook, G. E., and Rosen, G., "Evolution
CONCLUSION of the Turboprop for High-Speed Air Transportation,"
ASME paper 78-GT-201, presented April 1978, London.
The principal conclusion to be drawn is that 6 Lenski, J. W., Jr., "Advanced Transmission
an advanced reduction gear can be designed for the Components Investigation Program -Bearing and Seal
-
will be required. New technology developments are ler Bearing to 2.4 Million DN," NASA Technical Mem -
not required but can enhance the next generation - orandum 81414 for ASLE meeting, August 1980, San
gearbox. Francisco, Calif.