Mantenimiento y

Operación de los
Motores de Turbina
de Gas
  LAYOUT AND MODULE CHARACTERISTICS:

 The design of today’s turbofan engines follows a

modular concept.
TÉCNICAS DE
MANTENIMIENTO
DE LAS TURBINAS
 This modular design essentially reflects
DE GAS.
maintenance aspects.

 Each of the modules has its own identity, service

history and specific inspection schedules.
 During a shop visit, any of the individual modules
can be removed from the engine as an entire unit
without disassembling it into its piece parts.

 Figure 2.5 illustrates the modular structure of a

typical two-spool turbofan engine (IAE V2500-A5).
  Modern aircraft are equipped with a multitude of
gauges to provide the flight crew with feedback
information about the engine condition.
ENGINE
OPERATING
PARAMETERS  The main operating parameters contain the speeds
of the engine spools and the engine pressure ratio
(EPR) for performance monitoring, as well as the
temperatures of the turbine gases for health
monitoring.
 A brief description of these key operating
parameters is given below:

 N1 and N2/N3 speeds

 In a jet engine, every main revolving section has a

separate gauge to monitor its RPMs.

 Depending on the engine type, the N1-gauge keeps

track of the LPC and/or fan speed.
 The core section is monitored by the N2-gauge,
whereas a three-spool engine has an additional N3-
gauge.

 Due to the high revolving velocities, the RPMs of

the engine spools are displayed as percentage of
the design RPM rather than actual RPM.

 The N1-speed is the primary indication of thrust on

most turbofans.
 Engine Pressure Ratio (EPR).

 The EPR is the total pressure ratio across the

engine and is defined as the ratio of the pressure at
turbine exit (exhaust) to the pressure at the intake.

 On some turbofans, it serves as primary thrust

indication gauge.
 Turbine Inlet Temperature (TIT).

 The TIT is the gas temperature from the combustor

exit as it enters the first HPT stage.

 As the highest temperature inside a gas turbine

engine, the TIT is one of the limiting factors for the
power output of an engine.

 However, it is difficult to measure therefore, the

exhaust gas temperature (EGT) is usually the
parameter measured.
 Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT):

 The EGT is the temperature of the exhaust gases as

they enter the tail pipe, after passing through the
LPT.

 It is expressed in degrees centigrade and can be

seen as one of the most important health
monitoring parameters.

 The engine gas temperatures have to be closely

monitored, as exceeding temperature limits may
lead to serious heat damage to the turbine
components.
 In addition, the EGT is a measure of the engine’s
efficiency in producing its design level of thrust.

 A high EGT may indicate that the engine has

suffered significant hardware deterioration during
service.

 Generally, the EGT reaches its maximum during

take-off or right after lift-off, as the engine
operates here at its peak.
 EGT Margin (EGTM):

 In order to measure the level of an engine’s

performance degradation, the so called EGT
margin has been introduced.

 The EGT margin of an engine is the difference

between the maximum tolerable EGT (Redline
EGT) and the peak EGT during take-off.

 This redline EGT is the absolute temperature limit,

which cannot be exceeded without damaging the
engine.
 Therefore, the EGT margin is a measure for how
well below this limit the engine operates in times of
maximum power output at take-off.

 As the EGT of an engine increases over time, due to

hardware deterioration, the EGT margin decreases.

 Theoretically, an engine can remain on wing until

its EGT margin has become zero.
 It is normally at its highest level when the engine is
new or has just been refurbished.

 The EGT margin is furthermore highly influenced

by the present outside air temperature (OAT).

 For a given thrust setting, the EGT rises at a

constant rate as the OAT increases.

 Figure 2.6 shows the relationship between take-off

EGT and OAT.
 The pictured curve is a result of the power
management schedule of the digital engine
controller (FADEC).

 It is programmed to provide constant maximum

thrust with increasing OAT.

 As the OAT rises, the air density decreases.

 Therefore, the throttle has to be increased in order
to maintain constant thrust, which results in an
increase in EGT.

 However, constant maximum thrust is only

maintained up to a certain OAT (corner point).

 The FADEC is then programmed to keep the EGT

constant for OATs higher then the corner point
temperature.
 This power management setting is called flat rating
and makes sure that the engine operates with
enough EGT margin also at high OATs.

 The constant EGT is maintained by reducing the

engine thrust as the OAT rises beyond the corner
point.

 Without flat rating, the EGT would continue to rise

with increasing OAT as the dashed line in fig. 2.6
indicates.
 The OAT at which the EGT would reach the redline
EGT, if maximum take-off thrust was maintained is
termed sea level outside air temperature limit
(SLOATL).

 The actual highest permitted thrust setting for a

given OAT can be determined by calculating the
SLOATL.
 Since the EGT margin is the main indicator for an
engine’s health status, it is normally expressed
independently from the OAT.

 That means the EGT margin is given as the

difference between redline EGT and the actual EGT
at maximum thrust at the corner point OAT
(fig.2.6).
  On-wing engine maintenance, also known as
engine line maintenance, includes all maintenance
ON-WING and inspection activities that can be done without
engine removal and disassembly on the flight line.
ENGINE
MAINTENANCE
 As such it is generally included into the line
maintenance schedule of the aircraft operation.
 As a result of the on-condition maintenance
concept, a great share of on-wing maintenance
activities involves Engine Condition Monitoring.

 The aim is to monitor and analyze the main

operating parameters as well as the internal
physical condition of the engine, in order to identify
potential problems before they become serious and
to provide data that can be used to determine the
most economic times for engine shop visits.

 A second group of tasks can be summarized as On-

Wing Repair and Replacement.
 In the recent past, more and more actions have
been developed to access the site of engine
damage directly on-wing and without complete
disassembly.

 As a result of this, more engine problems can be

fixed on-wing, which significantly extends the time
on-wing (TOW) of the engine.

 The following is a more detailed discussion on both

kinds of on-wing maintenance.
  Today’s ECM systems evolved as a result of aviation
authorities requiring flight crews to monitor basic
ENGINE engine performance parameters from the flight
CONDITION deck instruments.
MONITORING
(ECM)  The recorded data was then used by the
engineering departments of the airlines to
determine the maintenance programme for the
engine.
 Therefore, ECM data was historically recorded
manually and only during take-off and once in the
cruise.

 On modern aircraft, ECM information is gathered

automatically in higher number and quality and can
even be recorded and transmitted to a ground
station in real-time.
 The engine performance parameters that are
measured can be divided into two categories.

 The first consists of parameters that are not heavily

influenced by flight conditions and engine thrust
like:
 Engine vibrations as well as
 Oil temperature and
 Pressure.
 The second type of parameters comprise those that
are affected by flight conditions and thrust.

 These parameters include the gas path

temperatures like the:
 EGT,
 EPR,
 Fuel flow as well as the
 N1 and
 N2 speeds.
 In order to also provide data for indications of the
present flight conditions, parameters like:

 Altitude

 Mach number and

 Air temperature are measured and recorded as

well.
 The key objective of ECM is to plot the
performance trend data, so that it can be compared
to a model of how the engine is expected to behave
under the experienced flight conditions.

 Shifts in performance indicate hardware

deterioration or operational problems.

 Combinations of specific parameter changes are

known to be indications for specific deviations in
the engine.
 The data can be further interpreted to find out
which part of the engine is inducing the problems.

 This analysis of the recorded data is undertaken by

specialized ECM software usually provided by the
original equipment manufactures (OEMs).

 It is expected that future ECM systems will capture

more accurate data and have more elaborated data
interpretation capabilities than the current
generation.
 In addition to the recording and analysis of engine
performance data, ECM also includes monitoring
the physical condition of internal engine parts with
the help of inspection borescopes.

 An inspection borescope is an optical diagnosis tool

comprising of a long flexible tube and an optical
lense, that gives an magnified and illuminated view
of hardly accessible areas inside the engine.

 It allows to inspect internal engine parts for defects

such as cracks, stress fractures and corrosion.
 To sum up, ECM allows the concept of
on-condition maintenance of aircraft
engines.

 It helps to manage the timing of both

scheduled and unscheduled shop visits
and

 It prevents excessive hardware

deterioration and it provides initial alerts
that allow engines to be fixed on-wing
  Aircraft engines usually have a design
life that exceeds the achieved actual
ON-WING shop visit intervals by far.
REPAIR AND
REPLACEMENT
 This is due to part failures and
unexpected damages.
 For instance, the fan and LPT modules are
often the first areas to suffer environmental
damage due to their exposure to birds and
debris.

 The ECM systems described above, are able

to detect such problems and provide
information that help the maintenance
engineers to decide if an on-wing repair or
replacement should be conducted.

 Together with ECM systems, the on-wing

repair capabilities are getting more and
more sophisticated.
 Today, on-wing maintenance includes
repairs that historically have been high-
cost shop repairs.

 However, as a result of progressive

hardware deterioration, an engine
overhaul is eventually unavoidable.
 On-wing repair though, contributes to extend the
engine’s time on-wing as close to its design life as
possible, despite unexpected failures or damages.

 Also falling into this category is the replacement of

line replaceable units (LRUs).

 These are parts that are designed to be quickly

replaced on the flight line.
 They are usually sealed units like, sensors, pumps,
filters or tanks and can be replaced independently
from their surroundings.

 On-wing repair and replacement not only has the

benefit that it saves the time and money for engine
removal and complete disassembly, but also that
there is no need for a spare engine in order to keep
the aircraft in service.
 In addition, it can be included into the aircraft’s line
maintenance schedule.

 GE’s On Wing Support for instance, performs flight

line repairs like borescope blending of compressor
blades, fan module and gearbox workscopes as well
as top case compressor repairs.
 Another technique that falls into this category is
the so called engine water wash.

 It can be done without requiring additional ground

time and involves spraying about a hundred liters of
water repeatedly into the front of the turning but
not burning engine, where the engine cleans itself.

 This procedure reduces fuel consumption by

improving the EGT margin and therefore extends
the on-wing intervals.
 FIN DE LA PRESENTACIÓN