Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
List of Amendments
Sub-Module &
Amendment No. Issue Date: Date Inserted: Inserted By: Date Removed: Removed By:
Pages:
MODULE 14
Sub Module 14.1
TURBINE ENGINES
TURBOSHAFT ENGINE................................................................. 24
CONTENTS
COMPARISON AND EVALUATION OF GAS TURBINE ........... 26
14.1.1 GAS TURBINE ENGINE....................................................... 1
TURBOJET CHARACTERISTICS AND USES.............................. 26
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION OF GAS TURBINE ENGINE .......... 1
TURBOPROP CHARACTERISTICS AND USES ............................ 2
AIR INTAKE ....................................................................................... 3
TURBOFAN CHARACTERISTICS AND USES ............................ 27
AIR INTAKE DESIGN REQUIREMENTS ....................................... 3
14.1.2 FUEL SYSTEM & FADEC ................................................ 30
AIR INTAKE TYPES: ........................................................................ 4
GAS TURBINE ENGINE FUEL SYSTEM ...................................... 30
COMPRESSORS................................................................................. 6
COMPONENTS OF THE FUEL SYSTEM ..................................... 31
COMPRESSOR REQUIREMENTS .................................................. 6
FUEL CONTROL UNIT (F.C.U.).................................................... 32
COMPRESSOR TYPES ..................................................................... 7
TYPICAL ENGINE FUEL SYSTEM ............................................... 32
THE AXIAL-FLOW COMPRESSOR ........................................... 8
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS......................................................... 34
THE CENTRIFUGAL-FLOW COMPRESSOR ................................ 9
ELECTRONIC ENGINE CONTROL SYSTEMS ............................ 37
COMBUSTION CHAMBER ............................................................ 10
FULL AUTHORITY DIGITAL ENGINE CONTROL (FADEC) ... 38
TURBINE SECTION ........................................................................ 11
FADEC COMPONENTS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS.................... 40
EXHAUST SECTION ....................................................................... 12
FADEC POWER SUPPLY............................................................... 41
ACCESSORY GEAR BOX ................................................................ 14
FUEL METERING BY FADEC ....................................................... 42
TYPES OF GAS TURBINE ENGINE .............................................. 15
DATA ENTRY PLUG....................................................................... 42
TURBOFAN ENGINE ...................................................................... 17
FADEC INTERFACE UNUT ........................................................... 44
TURBO JET ENGINE ...................................................................... 20
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES ..................................... 45
TURBOPROP ENGINE ................................................................... 22
The gas turbine engine is a relatively new form of aircraft A typical gas turbine engine consists of:
propulsion unit, having first flown successfully as an
experimental power plant during the Second World War and 1. An air inlet
only truly beginning to replace the piston engine in commercial 2. Compressor section
aircraft in the early 1950’s. 3. Combustion section
4. Turbine section
The gas turbine may be used to accelerate a mass of gas 5. Exhaust section
through the engine and a propelling nozzle ,in which case it is 6. Accessory section
known as a turbo-jet ,to drive a propeller (turbo-prop) , a large
fan (turbo-fan) ,or to drive the rotor of helicopter (turbo-shaft)
early examples of aircraft using the first two propulsion
methods were De Havilland Comet and the Vickers Viscount
most present day large transport aircraft use the turbo-fan
engines.
SUBSONIC INTAKES
For a typical gas turbine engine, the velocity of the airflow at the
compressor inlet is normally not in excess of Mach 0.5, this
ensures high compressor efficiency.
SUPERSONIC INTAKES
COMPRESSORS
COMPRESSOR REQUIREMENTS
A compressor is designed to supply a specific quantity of
compressed air to combustion chamber with the least To perform maximum efficiency, the compressor must satisfy a
expenditure of the power produced by the turbine. number of requirements. The most important are:
The amount of air passing through a compressor will depend
upon: It must produce the desired pressure rise.
Air density Compression must be performed with minimum losses.
Aircraft speed Large losses, waste power taken from the turbine.
Engine r.p.m.
Where possible, the tip speed of the rotating blades or
COMPRESSION PRINCIPLE impeller should be subsonic. A speed of Mach 0.9 at any
point on the radius is normally the design maximum
By increasing the velocity (and hence the kinetic energy) of the preferred.
air flowing through the rotating part of the compressor, and then
slowing down the air to the static portion (by diffusion), the
kinetic energy is converted into pressure energy.
COMPRESSOR TYPES
Fig.1-5
From inlet to exit, the air flows along an axial path and is
compressed at a ratio of approximately 1.25:1 per stage. The
action of the rotor increases the compression of the air at each
stage and accelerates it rearward through several stages. With
this increased velocity, energy is transferred from the
compressor to the air in the form of velocity energy. The stator
blades act as diffusers at each stage, partially converting high
velocity to pressure.
CENTRIFUGAL-FLOW COMPRESSOR
The two main functional elements are the impeller and the
diffuser. Although the diffuser is a separate unit and is placed
inside and bolted to the manifold, the entire assembly (diffuser
and manifold) is often referred to as the diffuser. The impeller,
whose function is to pick up and accelerate the air outwardly to
the diffuser.
COMBUSTION CHAMBER
TURBINE SECTION
EXHAUST SECTION
OUTER SHELL
In some cases, tie rods are not used for supporting the inner
cone. If such is the case, the hollow struts provide the sole
support of the inner cone, the struts being spot-welded in
position to the inside surface of the duct and to the inner cone
respectively.
STRUTS
The radial struts actually have a two-fold function. They not only
support the inner cone in the exhaust duct, but they also
perform the important function of straightening the swirling
exhaust gases that would otherwise leave the turbine at an
angle of approximately 45°.
Fig.1-11
Engine:
Aircraft Systems:
Hydraulic pump.
Electrical generator.
Centrifugal flow
Axial flow
Centrifugal-Axial flow.
Turbo-fan engine
Turbo-jet engine
TURBOFAN ENGINE
This fan section can consist of several slightly larger diameter
In the turbofan engine, part of the compressor airflow is compressor stages or a single considerably larger diameter
separated from the main compressor airflow and diverted to stage; the latter is the most commonly used version found in
flow along an annular concentric duct around the engine so as contemporary engines.
to by-pass the rest of the compressor, the combustor, and the
turbine. This separated by-pass airflow, according to design, is
either reintroduced into the main airflow at the exhaust, prior to The additional power required in driving the larger compressor
the exhaust nozzle or may be accelerated to the ambient means the turbine driving the compressor needs to extract more
through a separate propelling nozzle. energy from the gas flow; therefore, the turbine of a turbofan
engine usually has more turbine stages than the turbine of a
Several terms are used to identify the air that is diverted from turbojet.
the compressor, such as by-pass airflow, secondary airflow, fan
discharge or cold stream, while the airflow that passes through Also as more energy is extracted from the hot gas flow, less
the engine is termed as core airflow, primary airflow or hot energy will be present in the core airflow to develop thrust,
stream. which results in lower core jet velocities.
In a typical turbofan engine, the size of the forward part of the In a turbofan engine thrust is generated by the acceleration of
compressor that handles both airflows is usually made larger so the both the core airflow and the by-pass airflow. Therefore, the
as to full fill core engine airflow requirements while still turbofan engine accelerates a relatively larger amount of air at a
permitting considerable amount of air to be by-passed. This relatively slower velocity than the turbojet engine. This will result
enlarged portion of the compressor is called the fan, hence the in greater propulsive efficiency at low air speeds; therefore an
term turbo fan. aircraft equipped with a turbofan engine will have better short-
field take-off characteristics than if the aircraft is equipped with a
turbojet engine.
Turbojet engine produces thrust solely by the acceleration of the Because of this the efficiency of the turbojet is sustained at its
hot gasses from the turbine to a high velocity at the exhaust best at high altitude and high airspeed. Therefore, turbojet
nozzle. engines are well suited for highflying, high-speed aircraft that
operate over sufficient range to make the climb to their best
In turbojet engines, all of the air entering the intake passes operating altitude worthwhile.
through the compressor, combustor, turbine and the exhaust.
But, the thrust of a turbojet engine is much dependent upon the
Turbojet engines are also known as pure jet or straight jet ram air pressure at the inlet, which is a function of the forward
engines. speed of the aircraft. Therefore, turbojet engine equipped
aircraft need longer runways for take-off.
In comparison with other types of gas turbine engines, the
turbojet accelerates a small mass of air to a very high velocity to
produce thrust.
TURBOPROP ENGINE
TURBOSHAFT ENGINE
Turbo shaft engine is a gas turbine engine that delivers power Turbo shaft engine delivers the maximum shaft output at very
through a shaft to operate some machine other than a propeller low speeds and low altitudes. Usually providing shaft power to
In aviation turbo shaft engines are used to power helicopters slow moving vehicles such as helicopters, the turbo shaft
and tilt-rotor aircraft. engine receives negligible benefit from the low forward speed.
Similar to the turboprop the power output shaft maybe coupled Therefore, the intake of a turbo shaft engines is designed
to and driven directly by the turbine that drives the compressor, instead to cause as minimum loss as possible, at such low
or by a turbine of its own. forward velocities.
Fig.1-19e
SECONDARY FUNCTION
14.1.2 FUEL SYSTEM AND FADEC
The secondary function is
GAS TURBINE ENGINE FUEL SYSTEM
To use fuel as a cooling medium for engine and
The fuel system of a gas turbine engine serves two main IDG oil.
functions. They can be classified as the primary function and
To use pressurized fuel as servo pressure to
the secondary function.
operate certain engine system actuators and
PRIMARY FUNCTION valves (VIGV / VSV / VBV actuators, AOHE
valve etc).
The primary function of the fuel system is
These functions are performed according to the inputs from the
To supply the engine combustion chamber with
the required amount of fuel (metered), in proper Human or the auto pilot (Thrust Demand
state (filtered and pressurized) for easy starting, Start/shutdown command)
in-flight relighting acceleration/deceleration and Atmospheric conditions (TAT, P0)
stable running under all operating conditions of Engine itself (EGT, CDP, RPM).
the engine.
To automatically control Engine gas temperature
(EGT) and Speed of the rotating assemblies
(RPM) within the safe margin.
Also some means must be provided to stop the
engine when required.
Flow divider
Fuel nozzles.
FUEL CONTROL UNIT (F.C.U.) The fuel flow is calculated according to these parameters.
Calculated fuel signal is then used by the metering module to
This is one of the major components of the fuel system. The control the fuel flow to the combustion chamber. On
primary function of the unit is metering of fuel. Other functions conventional fuel control systems computing module is a hydro
include fuel shutoff, over speed protection and supply of servo mechanical unit, where all the inputs are received and
fuel to various fuel pressure operated actuators. interpreted using rods, cams, pipes and pneumatic bellows.
Speed of individual spools to prevent over speeding The fuel flow begins at the aircraft fuel tank and is assisted by
wing mounted boost pumps. Fuel is delivered to the fuel system
components as shown in Fig. 2-2.
Turbine gas temperature to prevent damage to the hot
section of the engine.
(FCU)
FUEL NOZZLES
FLOW DIVIDER
FUEL PUMP
FUEL/ OIL
FUEL FLOW
TRANSMITTER
The fuel passes to the engine driven pump at a fairly low GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
pressure, this ensures an adequate head of pressure at the
inlet to the pump, preventing cavitations of the pump during A gas turbine fuel system must satisfy the following
normal operation. requirements:-
The fuel flow is then directed through the fuel heater. However, The pilot must have control of the engine power at all times.
this may be an optional extra depending on the design
requirements of the system. The fuel heater ensures that any The fuel flow must be such that the engine has good
ice particles are removed from the fuel before the fuel reaches acceleration capabilities.
the Fuel Control Unit (FCU). Hot air for heating the fuel is drawn
from the engine compressor. The fuel fed to the burners must burn readily and easily.
The fuel control unit meters and supplies the correct amount of Engine starting must be easy.
fuel to the engine burners depending upon throttle position and
the various environmental conditions that affect the engine Automatic safety devices must be built into the system to
performance. It is a hydro mechanical computer, consisting of prevent over speeding and overheating (over temping) of the
two parts, a metering section and a computing section. The fuel engine.
control unit is fitted with a fuel filter. The system must be designed to automatically control the
following variations:-
A fuel flow transmitter indicates to the flight deck crew the
amount of fuel flowing from the fuel control unit to the engine. (i) Aircraft forward speed
(ii) Altitude
The fuel cooled oil cooler, although part of the fuel system has a (iii) Acceleration
primary function to cool the oil from the engine lubricating (iv) Air temperature
system. The cold fuel cools the oil and at the same time the oil (v) Engine rpm
heats the fuel. (vi) Gas temperature.
The flow divider directs the fuel flow to either the primary or the
secondary fuel nozzles. These nozzles provide an atomized
flow of fuel into the engine combustion chamber for burning
purposes.
Normal fuel flow is from the fuel pump to the fuel heater, the
operation of the heater depends on the icing indications sensed
by the differential pressure switch. The fuel then passes through
the filter and on to the fuel control unit which meters the fuel to
the engine depending upon the many parameters it senses.
From the FCU fuel flows to the flow meter which indicates to
the crew the amount of fuel going to the engine. After passing
through the fuel meter the fuel helps to cool the oil in the oil
cooler to an acceptable level. From the oil cooler the fuel
passes to the flow divider which will direct fuel to either the
primary or secondary fuel nozzles. In some cases the aircraft
will have dual flow nozzles, and if this is the case, it will negate
the need for a flow divider.
ELECTRONIC ENGINE CONTROL SYSTEMS The American manufacturers took a different approach. They
tried to increase the efficiency of the engine by optimizing the
Until recently the controlling thrust (mainly fuel flow) of most gas engine operating conditions with the use of electronics. They
turbine engines were achieved with conventional methods, initially installed several electronic amplifiers on the engine,
which employed cables, bell cranks, pulleys and push pull rods which made fine adjustments and refined the engine operating
to give input to a hydro-mechanical fuel control unit, which parameters as per the pilot inputs and inputs from the engine
controlled the fuel flow. such as RPM, EGT, CIT and thrust demand signal.
Although this type of conventional controls are still available on Due to the advancements made in this field of electronic engine
the engines that are currently in use and also being control, in the early 1980s the aviation community accepted the
manufactured, with the advancements in the field of the term “Full Authority Digital Engine Control” (FADEC) as a
electronics the engine manufacturers are increasingly opting to general term used to identify electronic engine control systems.
hand over the control of the engine to computers.
The advantage of FADEC is the speed and accuracy with which
As the engines with purely conventional control systems were the engine is controlled. This has been found to give significant
relatively slow to respond to inputs and were relatively inefficient savings in specific fuel consumption in airline use.
in operation, the engine manufactures recognized that, with the
use of computers they could improve this situation. With this Further improvements has enabled the handing over of
view engine manufacturers started experimenting on using secondary engine control functions such as engine fuel and oil
computers for the purpose of engine control. temperature, bleed valves and variable stator vanes to the
FADEC for programming and control during all engine operating
By the onset of the decade of 1970 leading engine conditions.
manufacturers on either side of the Atlantic Ocean has started
experimenting on some form of electronic device associated The primary purpose of an electronic engine control system is to
with the engine control. reduce the pilot's work load by computing, displaying and
maintaining the selected engine settings as a function of
British engine manufacturer Rolls Royce introduced an external sensors and selected flight modes.
electronic unit, just for the purpose of monitoring the engine
operation, which was called an Engine Supervisory Unit (ESU).
Further development they introduced a unit called Full Authority
Fuel Controller (FAFC), which had the total control of the fuel
supply to the engine combustion chamber, as per the inputs it
received.
ISO: 9001 – 2008 Certified For Training Purpose Only
PTC/CM/B2 Basic/M14/01 Rev. 00
14.1 - 37 Mar 2014
Training Centre Module 14 – PROPULSION
Category ’ B2’ Basic Sub Module 14.1 – Turbine Engines
FULL AUTHORITY DIGITAL ENGINE CONTROL (FADEC) Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) is a centralized
electronic computer controlled system. It control the engine fuel
FADEC is an acronym that stands for ”Full Authority Digital flow (thrust) and most or all other systems associated with the
Engine Control”. The term is used in the real and model engine operation within the safe margins at all operating
turbine engine world to describe the engine control unit or ECU conditions of the engine in the most efficient manner according
as many people might call it. to the inputs in to the system and information the system has in
its memory. The inputs FADEC receive are from the
The FADEC is a small computer that monitors and controls
various functions on the model jet engine to start it, keep it Human / auto pilot
running safely and efficiently, and shut it down. Aircraft systems
Atmospheric conditions
Although there could be variations in the operation of FADEC The engine itself
systems of different engines the basic architecture of most of
these systems are the same. This system also carries out the functions of monitoring engine
parameters. It generates or assist to generate cautions and
warnings in the cockpit if an engine parameter drift towards or
exceed the parameter limits. FADEC also transmit engine
parameter values for the usage of other aircraft computers and
systems.
FADEC COMPONENTS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS If at any time the control channel was identified as defective, the
control of the engine will be handed over to the monitor channel,
The primary component in the FADEC system is an Engine thus making it the control channel. Even if the both channels are
Electronic Controller (EEC). On some engines it is also called healthy normally at every engine start the monitor and the
as Electronic Control Unit (ECU) or Electronic Control Box control channels will switchover. On some engine models this
(ECB). This unit is shock mounted and provided with some channel changeover takes place after the engine shutdown.
means of cooling.
The EEC is generally a two channel digital unit, which use two
high integrity computers as two channels. The two Channels are
generally identified as Channel A and Channel B. Each Channel
is supplied with identical inputs from aircraft and FADEC system
sources. Thus each Channel can monitor and control the
operation of the engine and transmit engine data to the aircraft.
At any moment of engine operation, one channel is the monitor
computer while the other Channel is the control computer. The
control computer can access the input and the output interfaces
of the monitor computer. This is so that it can stay in control if a
related input or output becomes defective. A failure such as the
failure of the control computer circuits causes control to be
given to the monitor computer.
The EEC controls the flow of fuel to the combustion system by The function of the Data Entry Plug (DEP) is to supply the
operation of a Fuel Metering Unit (FMU), which is generally an engine related data (in coded form) for EEC operation. This
electro hydraulic unit. The FMU contains control valves, which data is used by the EEC to calibrate the performance of the
are directly controlled by torque motors, which are electrically engine in relation to:
operated by the EEC. The EEC may control some values with
the help of solenoids.
The engine type
OTHER COMPONENTS CONTROLLED BY THE FADEC The engine manufacturers type test
SYSTEM The aircraft operation.
Engine rating
The operation of HP/ IP bleeds valves
The angular position of the Variable Stator Vanes
The operation of the turbine case cooling or active The DEP is only programmed with the applicable data for the
clearance control valves particular engine on which it is installed. It is possible to alter the
The operations of the air-cooled oil cooler/ fuel-cooled oil operating characteristics such as the flat rating of the engine by
cooler to control and maintain oil and/or fuel reprogramming the DEP. If removed it must not be installed on
temperature. to a different engine unless it is reprogrammed for that particular
The hydraulic/pneumatic operation of the thrust reverser engine. Thus to prevent easy removal of the DEP (and possible
incorrect installation to a different engine) it is generally,
permanently attached to the engine with a lanyard and
considered as a part of the engine.
Better systems integration with engine and aircraft systems. If a total FADEC failure occurs, the engine fails.