RU2435049C1 - Nuclear turboprop gas turbine engine - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: engines and pumps.

SUBSTANCE: nuclear turboprop gas turbine engine includes nuclear reactor, propeller, engine housing, air intake, compressor, combustion chamber, turbine, heat exchanger-heater and jet nozzle. Engine is made as per three-shaft scheme and consists of outer, intermediate and inner shafts. Compressor consists of low and high pressure sections. Turbine consists of high, intermediate and low pressure sections. Rotor of low pressure turbine is connected by means of inner shaft to propeller. Rotor of intermediate pressure turbine is connected by means of intermediate shaft to rotor of low pressure compressor. High pressure turbine rotor is connected through outer shaft to rotor of high pressure compressor. Radial partitions are installed between high and intermediate pressure turbines and between intermediate and low pressure turbines. Outside the engine housing there installed is heat exchanger-heater, the first and the second additional heat exchangers connected via recirculating pipelines to nuclear reactor and inlet and outlet air pipelines to cavities after compressor and before high pressure turbine, after high pressure turbine and before intermediate pressure turbine, after intermediate pressure turbine and before low pressure turbine.

EFFECT: higher engine acceleration and reliability.

5 cl, 5 dwg

Description

The invention relates to engine building, including aircraft and stationary engines, in particular to turboprop engines - HPTs in which a nuclear reactor is used.

Known aircraft combined engine according to the application of the Russian Federation for invention No. 2002115896, containing a gas turbine engine and a rocket engine.

The disadvantage is the very high fuel consumption consumed by the rocket engine.

Known aviation gas turbine engine according to the patent of the Russian Federation No. 2211935, containing a compressor, a combustion chamber, a turbine and a jet nozzle.

The disadvantage is the low efficiency and, as a consequence, the high specific fuel consumption inherent in turbojet engines compared to piston engines.

The disadvantages of this engine: the very small power of electric machines, due to the fact that they are placed on a small diameter and have one step. In addition, there are problems with cooling the stator windings located inside the motor. This design is applicable for using an electric machine as a starter or as an auxiliary electric generator to power the units of a gas turbine engine and aircraft.

Known turboprop gas turbine engine according to the patent of the Russian Federation No. 2334892, a prototype that contains a turboprop gas turbine engine with a nuclear power plant, containing a screw, an air intake, a compressor, a combustion chamber, a high pressure turbine, a Sterling engine and a jet nozzle installed behind the high pressure turbine.

The disadvantages of this engine are its poor pickup during transient conditions due to the inertia of the nuclear reactor and low reliability: in the event of a nuclear reactor failure, the engine completely loses its functionality.

Objectives of the invention: improving engine throttle response in transient conditions and increasing engine reliability.

The solution of these problems was achieved in an atomic turboprop gas turbine engine containing a nuclear reactor, a screw, an air intake, a compressor, a combustion chamber, a turbine, a heat exchanger-heater and a jet nozzle, in that the engine is designed according to a three-shaft scheme with external, intermediate and internal shafts, the compressor is made from cascades of low and high pressure, the turbine contains cascades of high, medium and low pressure, the rotor of the low pressure turbine is connected by an internal shaft to the screw, the rotor of the medium pressure turbine connected by an intermediate shaft to the rotor of the low pressure compressor, and the rotor of the high pressure turbine is connected by an external shaft to the rotor of the high pressure compressor, between the high and medium pressure turbines and between the medium and low pressure turbines, respectively, the first and second additional heat exchangers are connected, connected by recirculation pipes to the nuclear reactor . The propeller can be connected to the internal shaft via a gearbox. The propeller contains two rows of blades. The second row of blades can be connected to the countershaft.

The invention is illustrated in figure 1 ... 5, where:

figure 1 shows a diagram of the engine,

figure 2 shows a diagram of the engine with regulators,

figure 3 shows a diagram of an engine with a gearbox,

figure 4 shows a diagram of an engine with a propeller having two rows of blades,

figure 5 shows a diagram of the engine, in which the second row of blades is connected to the intermediate shaft,

The proposed solution (figure 1 ... 5) contains a screw 1, a shaft of a screw 2, a housing 3. The engine is made of a three-shaft and contains an external shaft 4, an intermediate shaft 5 and an internal shaft 6. The engine contains, in turn, an air intake 7, a compressor 8, which is made two-stage, and contains a low-pressure compressor 9 having a stator 10 and a rotor 11, and a high-pressure compressor 12 containing a stator 13 and a rotor 14. In addition, the engine includes a turbine 15. The turbine 15 is made three-stage and contains a high pressure turbine 16 s nozzle apparatus 17 and this position the 18 middle-pressure turbine 19 with the nozzle assembly 20 and a rotor 21 and a low pressure turbine 22, respectively, with the nozzle assembly 23 and the rotor 24. The high pressure turbine 16, intermediate pressure turbine 19 and low pressure turbine 22 may comprise one or more steps. The following is a description using all single-stage turbines. Behind the low pressure turbine 22, a jet nozzle 25 is installed.

The external shaft 4 connects the rotor 14 of the high pressure compressor 12 and the rotor 18 of the high pressure turbine 16, the intermediate shaft 5 connects the rotor 11 of the low pressure compressor 9 and the rotor 21 of the medium pressure turbine 19, and the internal shaft 6 connects the propeller 1 and the rotor 24 of the low pressure turbine 22. The engine has three heat exchangers: a heat exchanger-heater 26, a first additional heat exchanger 27 and a second additional heat exchanger 28 installed outside the engine casing 3.

The engine contains a nuclear reactor 29 connected by a recirculation pipe 30 (with respect to the heat exchangers), a pump 31 with a drive 32 with a heat exchanger-heater 26 and additional heat exchangers 27 and 28. The recirculation pipes 30 contain shut-off valves 33, 34 and 35. The nuclear exhaust pipes (with respect to the heat exchangers) recirculation pipes 36 with shut-off valves 37, 38 and 39 are connected to the reactor and heat exchangers 26, 27 and 28. In addition, air supply pipes are connected to the heat exchangers 26, 27 and 28 holes 40 and exhaust air pipelines 41. The other ends of the air pipelines 40 and 41 are connected to the engine cavities 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 and 47. Radial partitions 48 are made inside the engine between the cavities 45 and 42, 49 between the cavities 46 and 43 and 50 - between the cavities 47 and 44 (figures 1 and 2). The engine comprises a control unit 40 connected by electrical connections 41 to a nuclear reactor 29 (Fig. 1).

A possible embodiment of the engine circuit with regulators 51 installed in the outlet air pipelines 41 (figure 2). These regulators are designed for smooth regulation of each of the three stages of the engine in order to optimize their operation and to improve the throttle response, i.e. reduce inertial processes associated with the inertia of a nuclear reactor 29.

An embodiment is possible with a gearbox 52 (FIG. 3) installed between the inner shaft 6 and the shaft 2 of the propeller 1. An embodiment of the screw 1 with two rows of blades first 53 and second 54 (FIG. 4) is also possible. It is also possible (Fig. 4), when the second row of blades 54 is connected to the intermediate shaft 5. In this case, the first row of blades 53 can be connected directly to the internal shaft 6 (Fig. 5) or through a gearbox 52 (Fig. 1 ... 5 the last option is not shown).

Three engine operation options are possible.

1. Only the heat exchanger-heater works.

2. The heat exchanger-heater and the first additional heat exchanger work.

3. All three heat exchangers work.

Starting and running the engine.

Preliminarily, on command from the control unit 40 (Fig. 1), a nuclear reactor 29 is started and the drive 32 of the pump 31 is turned on. Then, shut-off valves 33, 34, 35, 37, 38 and 39 are opened. The coolant is supplied to the heat exchangers 26 through the inlet recirculation pipe 30, 27 and 28, gives off heat and returns to the nuclear reactor 29 through the exhaust pipes 36. The engine is started with a starter (the starter is not shown in FIGS. 1 ... 5) by unwinding one of the shafts 4 or 5, or 6. As a result, the compressed air in compressors 10 and 12, heat exchangers 26, 27 and 28 and a high turbine pass pressure 16, the medium pressure turbine 19 and the low pressure turbine 22. Compressed air passes through the turbines 16, 19 and 22 and untwists all of the rotor and screw 1. As a result, the engine is started and ready for operation. The engine is controlled according to the modes and it is turned off by the control unit 40 acting on the nuclear reactor 29 and the drive 32 of the pump 30 pumping the coolant (liquid sodium). When adjusting, it is possible to turn off one of the heat exchangers 26, 27 and 28.

The application of the invention allowed:

1. Improve engine throttle response.

2. To increase the reliability of the engine, since in case of failure of one heat exchanger it can continue to work with a slight loss of power.

3. Increase the efficiency of the gas turbine engine due to a more rational engine layout, the presence of a screw that provides additional traction, the absence of a rigid kinematic connection between the compressor and the turbine. This made it possible to design optimal compressor and turbine, for example, at different operating speeds and optimally coordinate their joint work.

4. To ensure optimal engine operation in transient conditions, due to the fact that turboprop engines create part of the propeller thrust, and part due to the jet nozzle.

5. Significantly reduce fuel consumption during operation of the aircraft and generally abandon chemical fuel in all modes, using only atomic energy, this is important in connection with the exhaustion of hydrocarbon fuel resources, its cost and lack of an alternative to this type of fuel. The use of hydrogen, which has a cost hundreds of times greater than kerosene, is unpromising in the next 100 years, and the use of liquefied natural gas due to its poor energy characteristics and the difficulty in operating cryogenic equipment is very limited.

6. To facilitate the working conditions of the screw due to its non-rigid connection with the compressor stages and the possibility of their mutual slippage and mismatch of the rotors of the compressor and screw rotors.

7. Facilitate starting and stopping the engine through the use of a three-shaft scheme, when using which it is enough to untwist one of the rotors with a starter to start the engine.

8. To reduce the weight and dimensions of the engine by achieving greater compression ratios in a three-shaft engine compared to a two-shaft.

Claims (5)

1. An atomic turboprop gas turbine engine containing a nuclear reactor, a screw, an engine casing, an air intake, a compressor, a combustion chamber, a turbine, a heat exchanger-heater and a jet nozzle, characterized in that the engine is designed according to a three-shaft scheme with external, intermediate and internal shafts, a compressor made of a cascade of low and high pressure, the turbine contains cascades of high, medium and low pressure, the rotor of the low pressure turbine is connected by an internal shaft to the screw, the rotor of the medium pressure turbine is connected It is connected by an intermediate shaft with the rotor of the low pressure compressor, and the rotor of the high pressure turbine is connected by an external shaft to the rotor of the high pressure compressor, radial partitions are installed between the high and medium pressure turbines and between the medium and low pressure turbines, a heat exchanger-heater is installed outside the engine casing, the first and the second additional heat exchangers connected by recirculation pipelines with a nuclear reactor and inlet and outlet air pipelines, respectively, with after the compressor and before the high pressure turbine, after the high pressure turbine and before the medium pressure turbine, after the medium pressure turbine and before the low pressure turbine. 2. Atomic turboprop gas turbine engine according to claim 1, characterized in that flow regulators are installed in the supplying air pipelines. 3. The atomic turboprop gas turbine engine according to claim 1, characterized in that the propeller is connected to the internal shaft through a gearbox. 4. Atomic turboprop gas turbine engine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the propeller contains two rows of blades. 5. The atomic turboprop gas turbine engine according to claim 3, characterized in that the second row of blades is connected to the intermediate shaft.

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