TECHNICAL FIELD

The application relates generally to gas turbine engines and, more particularly, to an anti-icing system of a gas turbine engine.

BACKGROUND OF THE ART

Icing on flow surfaces of gas turbine engines, such as engine intake splitter, can cause problems with engine operation due to inlet distortion due to blockage and foreign object damage (FOD) due to ingestion into the core. In aircraft, traditional de-icing and/or anti-icing methods and systems require high temperature bleed air from the engine to be ducted to the inlet or areas requiring anti-icing. The bleed air in high pressure ratio engines is at a high temperature and materials have to carefully chosen to sustain such high temperatures. In the event that materials with relatively low melting points are used for the flow surfaces of the gas turbine engines, additional equipment may be required to control bleed air feed used to de-ice such surfaces.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, there is provided an anti-icing system for a gas turbine engine comprising: a phase-change fluid housed in an anti-icing cavity, the phase-change fluid and cavity configured to be in heat exchange relationship with a surface of the gas turbine engine to be anti-iced, and a heating circuit having at least one heat exchanger in the anti-icing cavity for boiling the phase-change fluid, the heating circuit in fluid communication with a compressor discharge of the gas turbine engine to direct compressor bleed air to the heat exchanger.

In another aspect, there is provided a method for anti-icing a surface of a gas turbine engine comprising: directing bleed air of the gas turbine engine to a heat exchanger in communication with a phase-change fluid in a closed anti-icing cavity to boil the phase-change fluid into a vapour state, and condensing the phase-change fluid in the vapour state by heating the anti-icing surface conductively with the phase-change fluid.

In another aspect, there is provided a gas turbine engine comprising: an anti-icing surface, a closed anti-icing cavity adapted to be in heat exchange with of the gas turbine engine, a phase-change fluid in the anti-icing cavity, and a heating circuit having at least one heat exchanger in a liquid pool of the phase-change fluid in the anti-icing cavity for boiling the phase-change fluid, a vapor of the phase-change fluid releasing heat to the anti-icing surface to condense, the heating circuit in fluid communication with a compressor discharge of the gas turbine engine to direct compressor bleed air to the heat exchanger.

