JPH0629576B2 - Gas turbine engine starter - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gas turbine engine starting device, and more particularly to a gas turbine engine starting device for starting an engine with a starter motor driven by an auxiliary battery. is there.

[Prior Art] Gas turbine engines are becoming more valuable as a high-speed rotary drive source for use as a generator suitable as an emergency power source in areas where commercial power is not available or during power outages.

Such a gas turbine engine is operated at an external speed until the desired rotation speed is obtained at the time of starting, that is, until the turbine output due to ignition and combustion in the combustor reaches a rotation speed exceeding the horsepower consumed by the compressor. It is necessary to drive the engine with power. A gas turbine engine starting device having a starter motor is generally used as this drive device, and the starter motor is driven by an auxiliary battery.

FIG. 3 shows a conventional gas turbine engine starter.

A starter motor 12 is directly connected to the gas turbine engine 10, and the starter motor 12 is connected to a battery 13 via a contact 16 of a starter relay 14.
A starter switch SW is further connected to the battery 13, and the switch SW is an engine control controller 18 that performs various controls such as sequence control of engine accessories.
Is connected to the relay coil 20 of the starter relay 14.

In the operation of the gas turbine engine 10 according to the conventional apparatus up to the start, the starter switch SW is first turned on, and the engine control controller 18 sends an engine start signal to the relay coil 20. Upon receipt of this signal, the normally open contact 16 is closed and the starter relay 14
Is turned on. As a result, the starter motor 12 to which the voltage is applied starts driving, and the gas turbine engine 10 is started.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-described conventional apparatus, the start of the gas turbine engine 10 is always started when the starter switch SW is turned on, so that the voltage of the battery VB is reduced. In the case where the charge is low due to insufficient charging, various problems have occurred.

That is, a sufficient voltage is not supplied to the starter motor 12, and the rotation speed of the gas turbine engine 10 exceeds the horsepower consumed by the compressor (usually 20,000 rpm).
The problem is that the gas turbine engine 10 cannot stand on its own, ignition mistakes, etc. occur, fuel accumulates in the engine, and an engine overhaul is required to remove the gas turbine engine 10 because it cannot be lifted up to ~ 30,000 rpm. was there.

Further, if the battery voltage is significantly lowered, there is a problem that the engine control controller 18 that performs sequence control, fuel control, etc. of the engine auxiliary machine may malfunction.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems in the above conventional device, and an object thereof is to provide a starting device that does not start the gas turbine engine when the battery voltage is lowered due to insufficient charging. Especially.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, a gas turbine engine starter according to the present invention compares a battery voltage detector, a reference voltage generator, and a battery voltage with a reference voltage. An engine start control circuit is provided that includes a comparator and a starter motor controller that controls the starter motor to switch to a suppressed or released state by the output of the comparator.When the battery voltage is below a predetermined value, the gas turbine is driven without driving the starter motor. The feature is that the engine is not started.

[Operation] With the configuration described above, the gas turbine engine is not started immediately after the starter switch is turned on, but the engine can be started only when the battery voltage is equal to or higher than a predetermined value.

That is, first, a reference voltage generator generates a reference voltage of a predetermined value necessary for performing a reliable start of the gas turbine engine, and this voltage and the battery voltage divided to a desired value by the battery voltage detector are generated. Compare with a comparator.

Next, the comparator sends a signal corresponding to the result of comparing the voltages to the starter motor controller, and the starter motor controller drives the starter motor only when receiving a signal indicating that the battery voltage is higher than the reference voltage, Start the gas turbine engine.

As a result, when the battery voltage is low due to insufficient charging, the gas turbine engine is not started, so it is possible to prevent ignition failures and fuel accumulation in the engine due to the engine not being able to stand on its own. It is possible to prevent the malfunction of the controller for controlling the engine operated by.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
The same elements as those of the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the present embodiment, the engine control controller 18 is not directly connected to the relay coil 20 of the starter relay 14 as in the conventional case, but the engine start control circuit 22 is used.
Is connected to the relay coil via.

The engine start control circuit 22 compares the reference voltage with the battery voltage, sends an engine start signal from the engine control controller 18 to the relay coil 20 only when the battery voltage reaches a predetermined value, and connects the contact 16. It drives the starter motor 12, and comprises a reference voltage generator 24, a battery voltage detector 26, a comparator 28 and a starter motor controller 30.

The reference voltage generator 24 is composed of a current limiting resistor R ₁ connected to the output end of the starter switch SW and a Zener diode D. The reference voltage V ₁ determined by the voltage across the Zener diode D is the resistor R ₄ . Through comparator IC
It is supplied to the inverting input terminal of.

The battery voltage detector 26 is composed of a resistor R ₂ and a resistor R ₃ connected to the output end of the starter switch SW. The voltage V ₂ of the battery 13 divided by these resistors is the resistor R ₅ Is supplied to the non-inverting input terminal of the comparator IC via.

The resistors R ₄ and R ₅ are provided to prevent overcurrent supply to the comparator 28.

The comparator 28 is composed of a differential operational amplifier that can be used in a wide power supply voltage Vcc range of 3 to 36 V, and compares the set reference voltage V ₁ with the divided battery voltage V ₂ . When the battery voltage is VB as the voltage division ratio of the resistors R ₂ and R ₃ , when V ₂ obtained by V ₂ = VB · R ₃ / R ₂ + R ₃ is V ₂ ≧ V ₁ , that is, the battery voltage VB Is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the H level signal is changed to V ₂ <V
_{When it is 1} , that is, when the battery voltage VB is less than a predetermined value, L level signals are output and supplied to the starter motor controller 30.

The starter motor controller 30 includes a thyristor SCR, and the output of the comparator 28 is connected to the gate terminal 32 of the thyristor SCR via resistors R ₆ , R ₇ and a capacitor C.
Is supplied via an integrating and current limiting circuit. The gate terminal 32 of the thyristor SCR has a resistance R
₇ , the anode terminal is connected to the engine control controller 18, and the cathode terminal is connected to the relay coil 20.
It is connected to the.

The resistor R ₆ and the capacitor C are for providing a constant time constant and remove noise and the like, and the resistor R ₇ is provided for preventing overcurrent supply to the gate terminal of the thyristor SCR. There is.

The thyristor SCR operates when the output signal of the comparator 28 supplied to the gate terminal 32 through the resistors R ₆ , R ₇ and the capacitor C is at H level (when the gate signal is ON), that is, when the battery voltage is equal to or higher than a predetermined value. Then, the engine start signal sent from the engine control controller 18 is sent to the relay coil 20. By this.
The contact 16 of the starter relay 14 is connected, the voltage of the battery 13 is applied to the starter motor 12, the starter motor 12 starts driving, and the gas turbine engine 10 (not shown) is started.

On the other hand, the output signal of the comparator 28 is L level (gate signal O
FF), the thyristor SCR remains in the non-conductive state, the engine start signal is not sent to the relay coil 20, and the engine is not started.

FIG. 2 shows the relationship between the reference voltage V ₁ and the divided battery voltage V ₂ .

The vertical axis represents the reference voltage and the horizontal axis represents the voltage of the battery VB. If V ₂ is lower than V ₁ when the engine is started, the output of the comparator 28 becomes an L level signal (gate signal OFF), and the thyristor SCR is It becomes non-conductive. Further, if V ₂ is higher than V ₁ when the engine is started, the output of the comparator 28 becomes an H level signal, and the gate signal is applied to the thyristor SCR, so that the thyristor SCR becomes conductive.

The thyristor SCR has a characteristic that once the gate signal is applied and brought into the conductive state, the thyristor SCR can be energized even after the gate signal is turned off. Therefore, the engine start control circuit 22 determines the initial state of the battery VB. This is suitable for this embodiment.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the starter switch SW is turned on, the engine start control circuit 22 first operates prior to the starter relay 14. Therefore, even if the starter switch SW is turned on, the gas turbine engine is not always started, but only when the voltage of the battery VB is equal to or higher than a predetermined value that can reliably start the engine. The engine can be started by driving.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, when the battery voltage is equal to or lower than a predetermined value, that is, when the voltage has not reached a sufficient voltage to reliably start the gas turbine engine due to insufficient charging. Does not start the engine,
There is an effect that it is possible to prevent the gas turbine engine from being unable to stand on its own or erroneously ignited due to insufficient battery charge, and to prevent malfunction of the engine control controller due to insufficient supply voltage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram showing a relationship between a reference voltage V ₁ and a divided battery voltage V _2, and FIG. 3 is a conventional gas turbine. The block diagram of an engine starting device is shown. 12 ...... Starter motor 14 ...... Starter relay 16 ...... Contact 18 ...... Engine control controller 20 ...... Relay coil 22 ...... Engine start control circuit 24 ...... Reference voltage generator 26 ...... Battery voltage detector 28 ...... Comparator 30 …… Starter motor controller 32 …… Gate terminal

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-58-23250 (JP, A) JP-A-59-7749 (JP, A) Actually-opened Sho-58-42366 (JP, U) JP-B-63-63732 (JP , B2)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A gas turbine engine starter for starting an engine with a starter motor driven by a voltage from a battery, comprising a battery voltage detector, a reference voltage generator, and the battery voltage as the reference voltage generator. Including a comparator for comparing with a reference voltage generated by, and a starter motor controller for controlling the starter motor to switch to a suppressed or released state by a comparison output, and when the battery voltage is below a predetermined value, the starter motor is set to a suppressed state. A starting apparatus for a gas turbine engine, characterized in that the starting of the gas turbine engine is prevented.