Rolls-Royce

A method of generating a map of forces transmitted between a tool of a machining apparatus and a workpiece during a machining operation. The method comprises receiving a measured force signal representative of forces transmitted between a tool of an apparatus and a workpiece during the machining operation; determining a corrected force signal by applying a correction function to the measured force signal, the correction function at least partly removing effects of resonance of the apparatus from the measured force signal; obtaining a plurality of corrected force data points from the corrected force signal; and mapping the corrected force data points to a plurality of position data points, each position data point representative of a position of the tool relative to the workpiece during the machining operation.

A method for scanning an object in a scanning apparatus comprises: placing the object into a container which surrounds the object, a volume of the container surrounding the object comprising a supporting material that supports the object in a fixed position relative to the container; disposing the container on a support of the scanning apparatus so that the container is positioned between an imaging beam emitting element and an imaging beam receiving element disposed on opposite sides of the support, the support configured to allow movement of the container relative to the emitting and receiving elements to allow creation of a plurality of projections of the object each taken at a different relative position; operating the scanning apparatus at the multiple relative positions to produce the plurality of projections; and: processing the projections to create an image of the object. The method is characterised in that the support is configured to allow the container to be rotated to any angular position within a spherical coordinate system.

An aerodynamic component (100) for a gas turbine (1000). The aerodynamic component (100) has a wall-shaped body (10) with a first surface (22) on a first side (20) of the wall-shaped body (10), and a second surface (26) on a second side (24) of the wall-shaped body (10). The second side (24) is opposite of the first side (20). The wall-shaped body (10) has at least one channel (30) extending from an inlet (32) at the first surface (22) to an outlet (42) at the second surface (26). A bead (60) extends at least partially around a circumference (44) of the outlet (42). The bead (60) protrudes away from the second surface (26).

A system (100, 200, 300, 400, 700) for controlling a flexible device (102, 202, 302, 402, 702) whilst inspecting or repairing a component (104) includes a first sensor (106, 206, 306, 406, 706) coupled to the flexible device that generates an information related to a current curvature of the first sensor and a controller (112) including memories (116) and processors (114). The processors (114) receive, from the first sensor, information related to the current curvature of the first sensor, determine a predicted pose and a current shape of the first sensor, determine a current shape of the flexible device, and adjust the current shape of the flexible device.

A system (100, 200, 300, 700) for controlling a continuum robot (102, 202, 302, 702) whilst inspecting or repairing a component (104) includes a sensor (106, 206, 306, 706) that includes a Fibre Bragg grating sensor, is disposed in a helical arrangement (110) and indicates a curvature of the sensor. The sensor further includes one or more sensing components (708) embedded therein configured to generate information indicative of the current shape of the sensor at different portions of the sensor. The system further includes a controller (116) configured to receive, from the sensor, the curvature of the sensor, determine a current shape of the sensor based at least on the curvature of the sensor, determine a current shape (κ(s)) of the continuum robot based at least on the current shape of the sensor, and adjusting the current shape (κ(s)) to a desired shape of the continuum robot.

There is provided a gas turbine engine (10) comprising: a bypass duct (22), a compressor stage (14, 15), a cooling duct (61, 62) and an ejector (52). The cooling duct (61, 62) has an inlet (71) which opens into the bypass duct (22). The ejector (52) extends continuously through the cooling duct (61, 62) along an extension direction (204). The ejector (52) includes an aperture (53) and an aerodynamic structure (900). The aperture (53) is configured to discharge gas received from the compressor stage (14, 15) into the cooling duct (61, 62). The aerodynamic structure (900) is configured to generate a plurality of vortex pairs (902, 904) downstream of the aperture (53) within a flow of gas conveyed through the cooling duct (61, 62) along a bulk flow direction (202).

A method of operating a hydraulic system of a hydrogen-fuelled engine, comprising: flowing a hydraulic liquid through a first flow path within a hydraulic liquid conduit (232), the hydraulic liquid comprising an unsaturated hydrocarbon; flowing the hydrogen fuel through a second flow path within a hydrogen fuel conduit (206) in contact with the hydraulic liquid conduit (232) towards the hydrogen-fuelled engine; measuring a physical property relating to a degree of hydrogenation of the hydraulic liquid; and determining a hydrogen leak from the first flow path to the second flow path from a change in the measured physical property.

A method (200) for scanning a plurality of components (102) of similar design includes providing an imaging beam source (108), an imaging beam receiver (114), and a support platform (104). The method (200) includes disposing the plurality of components (102) on the support platform (104) such that the plurality of components (102) is positioned axi-symmetrically and spaced apart from each other by a first angular range (AR1). The method (200) further includes collecting a first projection (120) of at least one component (102) of the plurality of components (102) at the imaging beam receiver (114). The first projection (120) includes a combination of a primary image (PI) of the at least one component (102) and a scatter image (SI) of the at least one component (102). The method (200) further includes collecting a second projection (122) of the at least one component (102) at the imaging beam receiver (114).

A method (2000) of determining an overall fuel allocation for a plurality of missions carried out by at least one aircraft (1), the missions being supplied with fuel from a fuel source (70) comprising amounts of a first fuel (72) and a different second fuel (74), is disclosed. The method comprises obtaining (2002) an initial proposed fuel allocation for each mission; performing (2004) an overall optimisation in which the proposed fuel allocation of at least one mission is modified within the constraints of the total available first and second fuels from the fuel source to maximise an overall utility value over all missions, each mission being associated with a respective mission utility value for a given fuel allocation, the mission utility value being determined according to at least one of a predicted contrail outcome and a predicted local air quality outcome; and determining (2006) the overall fuel allocation for the plurality of missions based on the overall optimisation.

An engine system 400 comprises a fuel system 200 arranged to supply fuel to the combustor 304 of a gas turbine engine 300. A fuel store 200 stores the fuel as a cryogenic liquid and includes a primary pump arranged to pump the cryogenic liquid to a secondary pumping arrangement 227 via a fuel outlet 218. The secondary pumping arrangement substantially increases the pressure of the cryogenic liquid to prevent boil off prior to delivery of thereof to a heating arrangement 232 which vaporises the cryogenic liquid using waste heat from the gas turbine engine to produce fuel in the form of a supercritical fluid which is delivered to the combustor. The system 400 allows fuels, such as hydrogen, methane and ammonia, which are of interest for carbon-neutral or fully decarbonised aviation and which typically need to be stored as cryogenic liquids to achieve volumetric and/or energy densities consistent with aviation, to be efficiently stored, pumped, conditioned and delivered to the engine of the system.