Patents Assigned to Roll-Royce plc
  • Patent number: 11994067
    Abstract: An aircraft gas turbine engine includes a heat exchanger module, and a core engine including an intermediate-pressure compressor, a high-pressure compressor, a high pressure turbine, and a low-pressure turbine. The high-pressure compressor is connected to the high-pressure turbine by a first shaft, and the intermediate-pressure compressor is connected to the low-pressure turbine by a second shaft. The heat exchanger module includes a central hub and heat transfer elements extending radially from the central hub and spaced in a circumferential array, for transferring heat energy from a fluid within the heat transfer elements to an inlet airflow passing over the heat transfer elements prior to entry of the airflow into an inlet to the core engine. The gas turbine engine further includes a first electric machine connected to the first shaft and positioned downstream of the heat exchanger module, and a second electric machines connected to the second shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
    Inventors: Natalie C Wong, Jonathan A Cherry, Paul R Davies, David A Jones, Andrew J Newman, Benjamin J Sellers, Stephen J Bradbrook
  • Patent number: 11994075
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine for an aircraft and a method of operating a gas turbine engine on an aircraft. Embodiments disclosed include a gas turbine engine for an aircraft including: an engine core has a turbine, a compressor, and a core shaft; a fan located upstream of the engine core, the fan has a plurality of fan blades; a nacelle surrounding the engine core and defining a bypass duct and bypass exhaust nozzle; and a gearbox that receives an input from the core shaft and outputs drive to the fan wherein the gas turbine engine is configured such that a jet velocity ratio of a first jet velocity exiting from the bypass exhaust nozzle to a second jet velocity exiting from an exhaust nozzle of the engine core at idle conditions is greater by a factor of 2 or more than the jet velocity ratio at maximum take-off conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventor: Craig W Bemment
  • Patent number: 11993387
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine comprises, in axial flow sequence, a fan assembly, a compressor module, a turbine module, and an exhaust module. The gas turbine engine comprises first and second engine mount planes. The first and second engine mount planes are configured to support gas turbine engine in machine body. The gas turbine engine has axial length L, with axial length extending from inlet face of engine to exhaust face of engine. The first engine mount plane is positioned axially along gas turbine engine at first engine mount plane position, with first engine mount plane position within a range of between 0.24*L to 0.32*L from the inlet face of the engine. The second engine mount plane is positioned axially along gas turbine engine at second engine mount plane position, with second engine mount plane position within a range of between 0.73*L to 0.79*L from the inlet face of the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Jamie W Gallagher, Daniel Blacker, Hugh J Blakemore, Adrian M Manser, Jonathan V Watson, Alexander L Fry, Robert A Barker, James Thorp, Marie-Océane Parent
  • Patent number: 11994072
    Abstract: A method of operating a gas turbine engine is disclosed, the gas turbine engine comprising an engine core comprising a combustor arranged to burn a fuel; a turbine, the turbine comprising a plurality of turbine blades; a compressor arranged to be used as a source of cooling air for the turbine blades; and an inducer arranged to accelerate and direct the cooling air onto the turbine blades and comprising a plurality of airflow passageways and a modulating valve arranged to control cooling air flow into a subset of the passageways; and a fuel management system arranged to provide the fuel to the combustor, the fuel having a sulphur content of less than 30 ppm. The fuel management system comprises two fuel-oil heat exchangers through which oil and the fuel flow. The method comprises using the modulating valve to adjust the cooling air flow based on turbine inlet temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Craig W Bemment, Benjamin J Keeler, Christopher P Madden, Andrea Minelli, Peter Swann, Martin K Yates
  • Publication number: 20240165767
    Abstract: A system for monitoring and/or controlling a treatment process includes a treatment apparatus for carrying out the treatment process. The treatment apparatus includes a vibratory trough for receiving and retaining treatment media and a component support fixedly attached to the vibratory trough. The system includes a plurality of sensor devices respectively and fixedly disposed at a plurality of heights relative to the vibratory trough and configured to respectively measure a plurality of movement parameters of the treatment media at the plurality of heights and generate a plurality of movement signals corresponding to the plurality of movement parameters. The system includes a central controller configured to determine a plurality of process variables corresponding to the plurality of movement signals and control the treatment apparatus based at least on the plurality of process variables.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2023
    Publication date: May 23, 2024
    Applicants: ROLLS-ROYCE plc, ROLLS-ROYCE DEUTSCHLAND LTD & CO KG
    Inventors: Abhay GOPINATH, Arun Prasanth NAGALINGAM, Goetz G FELDMANN, Thomas HAUBOLD, Jeng Wei TEOH, Senthil Kumar ANANTHARAJAN
  • Publication number: 20240167393
    Abstract: A probe for determining the swirl angle of the exhaust gasses of a turbine engine, has an elongate body with a fastener, the elongate body having a tip at its proximal end and a head at its distal end, the elongate body having at least two passageways extending from the tip to the head, each passageway having an aperture at the tip and a port at the head which is connectable to a pressure sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 1, 2023
    Publication date: May 23, 2024
    Applicant: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventor: Simon PITT
  • Publication number: 20240165679
    Abstract: A method for cleaning a surface of a component includes placing a volume of a cleaning agent onto the surface of the component. The method further includes performing a repair operation of the component either before or after placing the volume of the cleaning agent. The repair operation results in a generation of contaminant particles. Upon contact of the cleaning agent with the contaminant particles, the cleaning agent absorbs the contaminant particles by adhesion. The method further includes removing the cleaning agent from the surface of the component after the contaminant particles are absorbed by the cleaning agent.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 1, 2023
    Publication date: May 23, 2024
    Applicant: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Najib Bin MOHAMED SALLEH, Sherilyn LIM
  • Publication number: 20240165795
    Abstract: An actuator pack for a continuum arm robot, the actuator pack including a plurality of actuator pack sections, with each section having a housing and an interface plate, each section further containing a bank consisting of a plurality actuators that are connected to their own respective drive electronics and the actuators being mounted to the housing or the interface plate and having their drive heads exposed through a hole in the interface plate, and wherein the sections of the actuator pack are configured to coupled together in one state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2023
    Publication date: May 23, 2024
    Applicant: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
    Inventors: Liam D. HARRISON, Ian KENNEDY, Thomas HOPPER, Andrew D. NORTON
  • Publication number: 20240165794
    Abstract: A connection plate for a continuum arm robotic, the connection plate having a collar for connecting to a continuum arm robot and a cut out section from one end and which extends to a plurality of apertures that are present within a face of the connection plate. A continuum arm robot including a robotic arm and a connection plate wherein the robotic arm includes a connection plate that connects to the end of the distal end of the continuum arm robot through a collar, the connection plate having a cut out section that extends from one end into a plurality of apertures that the distal end of the tendons passes through.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2023
    Publication date: May 23, 2024
    Applicant: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
    Inventors: Liam D. HARRISON, Ian KENNEDY, Thomas HOPPER, Andrew D NORTON
  • Patent number: 11988148
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine generates noise during use, and one particularly important flight condition for noise generation is take-off. A gas turbine engine is provided that has high efficiency together with low noise, in particular from the jet flow exiting the engine and the turbine. The combined contribution of the jet and the turbine to the Effective Perceived Noise Level (EPNL) at a take-off lateral reference point, defined as the point on a line parallel to and 450 m from the runway centre line where the EPNL is a maximum during take-off, is in the range of from 3 EPNdB and 15 EPNdB lower than the total engine EPNL at the take-off lateral reference point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Alastair D Moore, Robert J Telling
  • Patent number: 11988143
    Abstract: A system and a method for determining a high oil consumption in a gas turbine engine of an aircraft are provided. The method includes determining one or more engine and aircraft conditions. The one or more engine and aircraft conditions includes at least one of an oil quantity, an oil temperature, an oil pressure, an engine speed, an aircraft altitude, and an aircraft attitude. The method further includes determining a trend in oil conditions based on at least the one or more engine and aircraft conditions. The trend in oil conditions provides at least one of a rate of consumption of oil or a time duration of remaining oil. The method further includes determining the high oil consumption based on a comparison of the trend in oil conditions with a threshold or a comparison model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Peter A Beecroft, Dongfeng Shi, Daniel Cutting, James A Cooke
  • Patent number: 11988157
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine comprising a combustor and a fuel management system. The fuel management system comprises a fuel supply line, recirculation line and heat exchanger. The fuel supply line is configured to supply fuel to the combustor. The recirculation line is configured to recirculate excess fuel from the fuel supply line to an engine-located fuel tank via a fuel cooling device. The fuel cooling device is configured to reject heat from the excess fuel in the recirculation line. The heat exchanger is configured to reject heat from a thermal load of the gas turbine engine to fuel in the fuel management system. The heat exchanger is disposed on the fuel supply line or on the recirculation line. The fuel supply line is configured to receive fuel from an external source and from the engine-located fuel tank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Richard G Mochrie, Graeme E F Sutcliffe, Jade Whittle
  • Patent number: 11988100
    Abstract: A blower assembly for providing air to an airframe system, including a rotor configured to be mechanically coupled to a spool of a gas turbine engine and a flow modifier configured to receive and/or direct flow to the rotor; wherein the blower assembly is configured to permit relative movement between the rotor and the flow modifier to move between: a compressor configuration in which the rotor is configured to be driven to rotate by the spool and to receive and compress air from the gas turbine engine, and discharge the compressed air for supply to the airframe system; and a turbine configuration in which the rotor is configured to receive air from an external air source to drive the spool to rotate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventor: Christopher A Murray
  • Patent number: 11988169
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine for an aircraft having an engine core configured with a turbine, a compressor, and a core shaft connecting the turbine to the compressor. A fan located upstream of the engine core, the fan comprising a plurality of fan blades, with a nacelle surrounding the gas turbine engine, and a bypass duct outlet guide vane extending radially across the bypass duct between an outer surface of the engine core and the inner surface of the nacelle. An outer wall axis is defined joining the radially outer tip of the trailing edge of the bypass duct outlet guide vane and the rearmost tip of the inner surface of the nacelle. An outer bypass duct wall angle is defined as the angle between the outer wall axis and the centreline, and the outer bypass duct wall angle is in a range from ?15 to ?2.5 degrees.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
    Inventors: Richard G Stretton, Michael C Willmot
  • Patent number: 11988141
    Abstract: An aircraft comprises a machine body. The machine body encloses a turbofan gas turbine engine and a plurality of ancillary systems. The turbofan gas turbine engine comprises, in axial flow sequence, a heat exchanger module, a fan assembly, a compressor module, a turbine module, a combustor module, and an exhaust module. The machine body comprises either one or two fluid inlet apertures. The or each fluid inlet aperture is configured to allow a fluid flow to enter the machine body and to pass through the heat exchanger module. The heat exchanger module is configured to transfer a waste heat load from the gas turbine engine and the ancillary systems to the fluid flow prior to an entry of the fluid flow into the fan module, and thence into the compressor module, the turbine module, the combustor module, and the exhaust module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Natalie C Wong, Thomas S Binnington, David A Jones, Daniel Blacker
  • Patent number: 11988170
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine generates noise during use, and one particularly important flight condition for noise generation is take-off. A gas turbine engine that has high efficiency provides low noise, in particular from the fan and the turbine that drives the fan. Values are defined for a noise parameter NP that results in a gas turbine engine having reduced combined fan and turbine noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Alastair D Moore, Robert J Telling
  • Patent number: 11988144
    Abstract: A method of operating a gas turbine engine including an engine core including a turbine, compressor, combustor to combust a fuel, and core shaft connecting the turbine and compressor; a fan upstream of the engine core; a fan shaft; a gearbox that receives an input from the core shaft and outputs drive to the fan via the fan shaft; a primary oil loop system to supply oil to the gearbox; and a heat exchange system. The method includes controlling the heat exchange system to adjust fuel viscosity to be lower than or equal to 0.58 mm2/s on entry to the combustor at cruise conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Craig W Bemment, Alastair G Hobday, Benjamin J Keeler, Christopher P Madden, Andrea Minelli, Andrew T Smith, Peter Swann, Martin K Yates
  • Patent number: 11988098
    Abstract: In a gas turbine engine of the type having a high-pressure (HP) spool and a low-pressure (LP) spool, methods of increasing surge margin and compression efficiency at a given thrust are provided. One method increases compression efficiency and includes transferring mechanical power from the HP spool to the LP spool to reduce a corrected speed of a HP compressor therein and raise a working line of a LP compressor therein. Another method increases surge margin and includes transferring mechanical power from the LP spool to the HP spool to increase a corrected speed of a HP compressor therein and lower a working line of a LP compressor therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventor: Caroline L Turner
  • Patent number: 11986897
    Abstract: A method for the removal of debris (75) from an aperture (60), the aperture comprising a first aperture diameter (64) and extending along a first axis (62) over a first distance (63), the method comprising the steps of aligning a beam of energy (80) with the first axis such that the beam of energy is coaxially aligned with the aperture, the beam of energy comprising both an energy sufficient to remove the debris, and a first beam diameter (82) which is less than the first aperture diameter; and, exposing the debris to the beam of energy in order to remove the debris from the aperture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: James Kell, Graeme E Rigg, Shamraze Ahmed, Monica M Castro Palacios, Adam Clare
  • Publication number: 20240159165
    Abstract: A turbine shroud segment, e.g. for a gas turbine engine, which is coolable by a supply of cooling air, e.g. from a gas turbine engine compressor. The turbine shroud segment has a segment casing that has a radially outer surface and a radially inner surface. The segment casing houses a main plenum, a first layer of impingement chambers, a second layer of impingement chambers, and a plurality of effusion passages. The first layer of impingement chambers fluidly communicates with the main plenum via transfer passages that are formed in the segment casing. The second layer of impingement chambers fluidly communicates with the first layer of impingement chambers via impingement passages that are formed in the segment casing. The effusion passages run between impingement chamber core surface, which is a radially inner surface of an impingement chamber, and the radially inner surface of the segment casing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2023
    Publication date: May 16, 2024
    Applicant: Rolls-Royce plc
    Inventors: Rupert J. Taylor, Ngungunyana Mhlanga, Grant Mathieson, Ryan R. Allen, James Revell, Dinesh Perumalsamy, Carlos Javier Diaz Rodriguez