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A compressor of a gas turbine engine may have a bypass that routes a compressed air flow from within the compressor and directs the compressed air flow to a combustor. The bypass may have an inlet positioned just ahead of a downstream stage of the compressor and an outlet positioned to route the com

A compressor of a gas turbine engine may have a bypass that routes a compressed air flow from within the compressor and directs the compressed air flow to a combustor. The bypass may have an inlet positioned just ahead of a downstream stage of the compressor and an outlet positioned to route the compressed air flow from the bypass to a diffuser or directly to a combustor. A valve may be used within the bypass and may be located near the inlet, near the outlet, or both. The valve may have the form of an annular sleeve in some embodiments and may be actuated with an actuator. The various arrangements allow for a compressor having a variable compression ratio.

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1. An apparatus comprising: a gas turbine engine having a spool compressor in the form of a multi-stage compressor and driven by a spool shaft, the gas turbine engine also having a compressor bypass that includes a bypass valve, the compressor bypass operable to convey a flow stream from a downstrea

1. An apparatus comprising: a gas turbine engine having a spool compressor in the form of a multi-stage compressor and driven by a spool shaft, the gas turbine engine also having a compressor bypass that includes a bypass valve, the compressor bypass operable to convey a flow stream from a downstream stage of the multi-stage compressor;a combustor disposed downstream of the compressor within the gas turbine engine, the combustor operable to combust a mixture of fuel and a flow from the spool compressor; andan inter-stage clutch mechanism structured to selectively engage an upstream blade row of the multi-stage compressor to a downstream blade row of the multi-stage compressor, wherein the upstream blade row mechanically rotates the downstream blade row when engaged by the inter-stage clutch, and wherein the upstream blade row is rotatably independent of the downstream blade row when disengaged by the inter-stage clutch;wherein the combustor receives the flow stream from the compressor bypass when the inter-stage clutch mechanism is disengaged, wherein the flow from the spool compressor is the flow stream; andwherein the combustor receives the flow from the spool compressor that has passed through the downstream blade row when the inter-stage clutch mechanism is engaged. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the gas turbine engine includes a first pressure spool and a second pressure spool, the second pressure spool having the spool compressor, the multi-stage compressor including an intermediate blade row disposed between the upstream and the downstream blade rows, and the compressor bypass operable to extract the flow stream upstream from the intermediate and the downstream blade rows. 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the compressor bypass includes an inlet at least partially downstream of a vane and at least partially upstream of a rotating blade. 4. The apparatus of claim 1, which further includes a compressor outlet guide vane row operable to be rotated to a closed position, the compressor outlet guide vane row rotated to the closed position when the compressor bypass conveys the flow stream from the multi-stage compressor. 5. The apparatus of claim 4, which further includes a diffuser operable to receive the portion of the compressor flow stream, the diffuser including a high Mach diffuser position and a low Mach diffuser position, the high Mach diffuser position operable to convey the portion of the flow stream. 6. The apparatus of claim 1, which further includes a variable turbine nozzle having a variety of positions dependent on a mass flow rate through the compressor bypass. 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the spool shaft couples a turbine to the multi-stage compressor. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the inter-stage clutch mechanism is operable to selectively engage only the downstream blade row of multi-stage compressor. 9. The apparatus of claim 7, having a mode of operation characterized by selective disengagement of the at least one blade row of the compressor and selective extraction of the flow stream. 10. The apparatus of claim 1, which further includes a controller structured to operate the inter-stage clutch mechanism to engage and disengage the upstream blade row and the downstream blade row so as to effect a change in overall pressure ratio (OPR) depending on whether the upstream blade row is engaged or disengaged with the downstream blade row. 11. An apparatus comprising: a gas turbine engine having a spool compressor in the form of a multi-stage compressor driven by a spool shaft, the multi-stage compressor including a plurality of rows of rotatable compressor blades, the gas turbine engine also having a combustor operable to receive a flow from the spool compressor;a bypass valve disposed within the gas turbine engine having an open position and a closed position, the bypass valve operable to withdraw a portion of a flow stream when in the open position, the portion of the flow stream originating upstream from at least one row of the rotatable compressor blades;a duct in fluid communication with the multi-stage compressor and the combustor, the duct extending from the bypass valve and operable to deliver the portion to the combustor to be mixed with a fuel; andan inter-stage clutch mechanism operable to selectively rotatably couple an upstream stage blade row of the multi-stage compressor to downstream stage blade row of the multi-stage compressor, wherein the upstream stage blade row mechanically rotates the downstream stage blade row when rotatably coupled by the inter-stage clutch, and wherein the upstream stage blade row is rotatably independent of the downstream stage blade row when rotatably decoupled by the inter-stage clutch;wherein the combustor receives the portion of the flow stream from the bypass valve when the inter-stage clutch mechanism is disengaged, wherein the flow from the spool compressor includes the portion of the flow stream; andwherein the combustor receives the flow from the spool compressor that has passed through the downstream stage blade row when the inter-stage clutch mechanism is engaged. 12. The apparatus of claim 11, which further includes a turbine nozzle operable to be rotated between a first position and a second position, the turbine nozzle and the bypass valve actuated in response to a change in state of the gas turbine engine. 13. The apparatus of claim 11, which further includes an actuator and a valve arm, the actuator operable to translatingly drive the valve arm, the valve arm coupled with the bypass valve, wherein the valve arm is coupled with a piston ring to provide a seal. 14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the bypass valve is slidingly translated from the closed position to the open position, the closed position located upstream of the open position. 15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the diffuser is a variable diffuser operable to accept flow from the compressor or duct, the variable diffuser capable of accepting a first speed flow from the compressor and a second speed flow from the duct, the first speed flow related to the gas turbine engine operating at a first Mach number, the second speed flow related to the gas turbine engine operating at a second Mach number, the first Mach number lower than the second Mach number. 16. The apparatus of claim 11, which further includes an aircraft having the apparatus, the aircraft including a controller operable to command the bypass valve in response to a flight condition. 17. The apparatus of claim 11, which further includes a controller in control communication with the inter-stage clutch, the multi-stage compressor producing a first overall pressure ratio when the controller controls the inter-stage clutch to rotatably couple the upstream stage blade row to the downstream stage blade row, the multi-stage compressor producing a second overall pressure ratio when the controller controls the inter-stage clutch to rotatably decouple the upstream stage blade row from the downstream stage blade row, wherein the first overall pressure ratio is different than the second overall pressure ratio. 18. An apparatus comprising: a gas turbine engine multi-stage compressor driven by a shaft and operable to provide compressed air to a gas turbine engine combustor located at a downstream position;means for diverting at least a portion of the compressed air from at least a portion of the multi-stage compressor and delivering the portion of compressed air to the combustor, the means for diverting includes a bypass valve in fluid communication with the multi-stage compressor; andan inter-stage clutch mechanism operable to selectively rotatably engage an upstream blade row of the multi-stage compressor to a downstream blade row of the multi-stage compressor, wherein the upstream blade row mechanically rotates the downstream blade row when rotatably engaged by the inter-stage clutch, and wherein the upstream blade row is rotatably independent of the downstream blade row when not rotatably engaged by the inter-stage clutch;wherein the combustor receives the at least a portion of the compressed air from the bypass valve when the inter-stage clutch mechanism is disengaged; andwherein the combustor receives the compressed air that has passed through the downstream blade row when the inter-stage clutch mechanism is engaged. 19. A method comprising: opening a bypass valve provided in a gas turbine engine spool compressor, the gas turbine engine spool compressor being a multi-stage compressor driven by a spool shaft that includes an upstream stage blade row and a downstream stage blade row and operable to produce a spool compressor flow stream;as a result of the opening a bypass valve, flowing a compressor flow stream through a passageway that bypasses the downstream stage blade row of the compressor; anddelivering a mixture of the compressor flow stream and a fuel to be combusted within a combustor;mechanically disengaging the upstream stage blade row from the downstream stage blade row thereby reducing overall pressure ratio, wherein the combustor receives the spool compressor flow stream in the form of the compressor flow stream from the bypass valve when the upstream stage blade row is disengaged from the downstream stage blade row, and wherein the combustor receives the spool compressor flow stream that has passed through the downstream blade row when it is engaged to the upstream stage blade row. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the opening includes sliding an annular sleeve from a closed position to an open position. 21. The method of claim 19, which further includes diffusing the compressor flow stream prior to delivering to the combustor. 22. The method of claim 19, wherein the opening includes positioning a combustor valve to accept the compressor flow stream. 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the opening includes closing a compressor outlet guide vane. 24. The method of claim 19, wherein the opening includes determining a speed of an aircraft having the gas turbine engine.