Active Predictive Control of Turbine Tip Clearance for Aero-Engine

Active control of turbine blade tip clearance continues to be a concern in design and control of gas turbines. Ever increasing demands for improved efficiency and higher operating temperatures require more stringent tolerances on turbine tip clearance. In this paper, a turbine tip clearance control apparatus and a model of turbine tip clearance are proposed. The active clearance control (ACC) of aero-engine turbine tip clearance is evaluated in a lapse-rate take-off transient, along with the comparative and quantitative analysis. The results show that the resultant active tip clearance control system has favorable steady-state and dynamic performance and benefits of increased efficiency, reduced specific fuel consumption, and additional service life.