Patents Represented by Attorney Timothy J. Klima
  • Patent number: 7654089
    Abstract: This invention relates to a gas-turbine combustion chamber with at least one pilot burner (2) and at least one main burner (3) which are axially and radially offset relative to each other, said combustion chamber (1) comprising an outer flame-tube wall (4) and an inner flame-tube wall (5) each provided with ports for the introduction of air, and said main burner (3) being located at the outer flame-tube wall (4) and said pilot burner (2) being located at the inner flame-tube wall (5), characterized in that the outer flame-tube wall (4) is provided with a first arrangement (6) of ports and in that the inner flame-tube wall (5) is provided with a second arrangement (7) of ports.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2010
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Thomas Schilling, Thomas Dörr
  • Patent number: 7578777
    Abstract: Filter elements made up of least two axially aligned plugs are advanced in succession by a feed unit along a first path and in a first direction, with the plugs oriented along a second direction transverse to the first direction, toward a garniture section extending along a second horizontal path and in a third direction, on which they are formed into at least one continuous rod which is then divided up by a rotary cutter into single composite filters. A transfer unit linking the feed unit and the garniture section comprises a conveyor, rotatable about a first axis parallel to the second direction, equipped with carriers each presenting at least one slot designed to admit one filter element; the single carriers are pivotable independently relative to the conveyor about a second axis parallel to the first axis, and about a third axis transverse to the first axis, alternating between positions in which the slot extends parallel with the second direction and with the third direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2009
    Assignee: G.D S.p.A.
    Inventors: Fiorenzo Draghetti, Salvatore Rizzoli, Emanuele Giovannini
  • Patent number: 7571528
    Abstract: A method for the manufacture of highly loadable components by precision forging, e.g., of gas turbine compressor blades with different stress zones, initially provides for the production of a preform in a one-step forming operation, e.g., casting or sintering, with further deformable volume zones with a certain volume concentration in the highly loaded areas. The preform is subsequently finish-forged at a deformation rate which is limited by the respective volumes and is merely directed to the load and strength-specific recrystallization and structural requirements in the critical stress zones of the component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2009
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventor: Dan Roth-Fagaraseanu
  • Patent number: 7560838
    Abstract: A generator housing (1) of an engine generator is connected to a gearbox casing (17) via a cover plate (23) that bears the rotor shaft (5). The cover plate has a two-piece design and includes a bearing retainer ring (13) for a rotor shaft bearing (11) made of a rigid material and fastened only to the gearbox casing, and a heat-conducting ring (21) connected with both the gearbox casing and the generator housing. A centering cylinder (18) molded to the bearing retainer ring centers the generator housing and thus the stator (3) and rotor (4) while a spacer ring (20) and/or an adjustable spacer ring (10) ensure the exact axial positioning of the rotor or bearing retainer ring. The generator of this design is safe to operate and has a long service life.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2009
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventor: Matthijs van der Woude
  • Patent number: 7552590
    Abstract: A tube-type vortex reducer for the conduction of cooling air in a compressor (1) of a gas turbine, having radial secondary air tubes (2) arranged in a disk interspace (5) and attached to a compressor disk (3) at their radially outward end sections (33). Radially inward sections (30) of the secondary air tubes (2) are located fittingly and radially outward in recesses (31) of locating pads (32) of a compressor disk (3), and the radially outward sections (33) of the secondary air tubes (2) are carried radially shiftable in recesses (34) of locating arms (35) of the compressor disk (3) and are secured against radially inward movement by locking elements (36).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2009
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Steffen Drevs, Sacha Pichel
  • Patent number: 7549386
    Abstract: Apparatus for moving supports carrying sensors displaceable inside fixed guides integral with the towers of submarines, and the like, upon operation of an actuator, the actuator consisting of an electric motor coupled to one end of a screw actuator on which a screw nut integral with a rod is movable, the entire assembly being contained inside a housing with seals, from which the free end of said rod protrudes for fastening to the tube. The housing can include a first bearing and a second bearing or bushing for supporting the rod and the screw actuator coaxially within the housing. The housing can include a top chamber above the first bearing and a bottom chamber below the first bearing. One or both of the chambers can be filled with lubricating oil to dissipate heat and/or dampen noise. The bottom chamber can house the motor and include a dielectric oil. The motor can be controlled by an electronic actuating system using an angular position transducer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2009
    Assignee: Calzoni S.r.l.
    Inventor: Daniele Maria Bertin
  • Patent number: 7546734
    Abstract: A fuel injection device for a gas turbine includes an airflow passage 1 whose walls 2 are provided with at least one fuel opening 3 for the injection of fuel into the airflow, with the center axes 4 of the fuel openings 3 being inclined at least in a circumferential direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2009
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Thomas Dörr, Leif Rackwitz
  • Patent number: 7543500
    Abstract: Single-crystal components of gas turbine engines, like turbine blades, are inspected in the installed state within the engine for cracking in certain critical areas using longitudinal ultrasonic waves. A first, rough orientation of the ultrasonic waves onto the critical area is accomplished under camera-visual control using an ultrasonic probe whose shape conforms to the respective component area and which, therefore, can be form-fitted to the component. For fine-positioning of the ultrasonic waves in the critical area, a reference signal is generated at a component-specific geometrical contour adjacent to the critical area by second ultrasonic waves emitted at a local distance to the first ultrasonic waves. The presence of this signal ensures the safe, disturbance-free detection of cracks in the critical blade area by means of longitudinal sonic waves. The invention includes an apparatus for the performance of the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2009
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Holger Litzenberg, Heike Floege, Jochen Scholz, Anthony K. Dunhill
  • Patent number: 7543702
    Abstract: A pack of rigid type with a hinged lid for tobacco products comprises a cupped container (3; 26) presenting a front face (8) and two flank faces (10) of which the free edges (8a, 10a) combine to establish an open end (4) of the container, also a reinforcing frame (15) secured to the container (3; 26), presenting a breast piece (16), two side pieces (17) and a top edge (18) of U profile directed toward the lid (5; 27). The lid (5; 27) likewise is cupped, presenting a front face (11) and two flank faces (13) with respective free edges (11a, 13a), and closes the open end (4) of the container (3; 26). A coupon (19) is included in the pack, between the frame (15) and the tobacco products.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2009
    Assignee: G.D S.p.A.
    Inventors: Igino Conti, Fiorenzo Draghetti, Patrizia Persi
  • Patent number: 7535380
    Abstract: Optical device for indicating the glide angle for aircraft, comprising at least one unit (10) for generating a light ray with a predefined colour, at least one unit (20) for transmitting said light ray and creating a light image, and at least one unit (30) for remotely projecting said light image, characterized in that said generating unit (10) comprises at least one light source consisting of an LED (11) and said unit (20) for transmitting the light ray and creating a light image is of the optical fibre type (21, 22).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2009
    Assignee: Calzoni S.r.l.
    Inventors: Daniele Maria Bertin, Laura De Maria
  • Patent number: 7524164
    Abstract: On a two or multi-stage turbine, expansion rings are provided in all stages at the sides of the rotors for passive, continuous running gap control whose thermal expansion and contraction behavior corresponds to that of the rotors and which are connected to radially moveable upstream and downstream stator vanes (5, 7). The downstream stator vanes are assembled to the upstream stator vanes via a bridge (16; 17, 18) which is axially and circumferentially fixed and located flexibly in the radial direction on the outer casing (10) of the turbine. The stator vanes (6) arranged between the rotor disks are integrally connected to the bridge or, as separate components, held axially and circumferentially on the bridge to take up rolling and tilting moments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2009
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Thomas Wunderlich, Harald Schiebold, Peter Broadhead
  • Patent number: 7520719
    Abstract: Passive shroud cooling of rotor blades (5) is accomplished by a multitude of cooling-air flows introduced into the hot-gas flow upstream of the rotor blades on the outer circumference, these cooling-air flows, depending on the aerodynamic and geometrical conditions, being orientated at a defined radial angle and a circumferentially related tangential angle such that the cooling air primarily and essentially hits the thermally highly loaded bottom surface (11) of the outer shrouds (6) allover. In the apparatus for the performance of the method, cooling air passages (9) tangentially and radially orientated to the hot-gas flow are provided in an area of a casing section (3) which protrudes beyond the stator blades (1) in the downstream direction, this casing section (3) interrupting the transport of cooling air in the axial direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2009
    Assignees: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG, ALSTOM Technology Ltd
    Inventors: Erik Janke, Frank Haselbach, Christopher F. Whitney
  • Patent number: 7516815
    Abstract: A device for simulating sound produced by certain equipment, for example a rotor-stator arrangement of a turbomachine, or for generation of opposing sound fields for active sound control, including active sound reduction and active sound amplification, comprises flow obstacles (2) provided in a flow duct (1) flown by a fluid at which vortices (5, 6) are shed at a certain frequency depending on the shape and size of the flow obstacles and the velocity of flow. The quantity and spatial arrangement of the flow obstacles is selected such that a periodically spatially and temporally changing pressure field for the excitation of a sound field (8) of a certain modal content is produced by the entirety of the vortices shed. This sound field reacts synchronizingly on the vortex shedding. The resonant circuit so formed, whose vortex shedding frequency is in the range of the resonant frequency of the sound field to be excited, is the sound source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2009
    Assignee: Roll-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Marco Rose, Fredi Holste, Frank Arnold, Alastair D Moore
  • Patent number: 7510068
    Abstract: Filter cigarettes are turned out by a combination unit composed of a cigarette maker coinciding with a substantially horizontal first leg, also a filter tip attachment machine coinciding with a second leg, of which the downstream machine is equipped with an infeed roller turning on a horizontal axis lying transverse to the second leg. The first and second legs extend parallel one with another and are linked by a transfer unit rotatable about an essentially vertical center axis and incorporating a plurality of holders, each designed to take up two cigarette sticks from an outfeed end of the upstream machine and direct them through a semi-circular path to an infeed end of the downstream machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2009
    Assignee: G.D. S.p.A.
    Inventors: Salvatore Rizzoli, Fiorenzo Draghetti
  • Patent number: 7497319
    Abstract: Products (6) are fed in an ordered succession by a unit (100) comprising a conveyor unit (1) equipped with pockets (43, 53), an outfeed conveyor (3) on which products (6) advance in succession at a given pitch (p2), also a transfer unit (2) operating between the conveyor unit (1) and the outfeed conveyor (3). The conveyor unit (1) presents a first belt (4) and a second belt (5) placed one beside the other and equipped with independent motors (M1, M2), whilst the pockets (43, 53) are arranged in first and second groups, each comprising a given number (n) of pockets ordered at constant pitch (p1) and associated respectively with the first belt (4) and the second belt (5), so that the groups are alternated one with another along a predetermined path (P).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2009
    Assignee: Azionaria Costruzioni Macchine Automatiche A.C.M.A. S.p.A.
    Inventors: Fulvio Boldrini, Daniele Coi
  • Patent number: 7497648
    Abstract: A tool-holder for a milling machine is composed of a first rotating portion with a coupler attachable to a spindle drive shaft of the machine, a second rotating portion turning as one with the first portion and equipped with a chuck to hold a tool, and a mechanism designed to detect undulations on a surface being milled. The second rotating portion is capable of axial movement relative to the first rotating portion, so that when the tool-holder is traversed along a prescribed trajectory referable to a nominal surface, the undulations on the actual surface of the panel and the extent of their deviation from the nominal surface can be sensed and quantified through the agency of detection mechanism, and a corresponding axial movement induced in the second portion of the tool-holder to compensate the variation and maintain a constant milling depth, thereby improving the quality of finish-milling operations on technological materials such as panels of carbon fiber composite.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2009
    Assignee: JOBS S.p.A.
    Inventors: Roberto Muselli, Maurizio Ferrari
  • Patent number: 7484619
    Abstract: A wrapper with a hinged lid for tobacco products presents a front face (7), a rear race (8), two flank faces (9), a top end face (10) and a bottom end face (11), and comprises a container (13), a lid (15) hinged to the container along a crease lid (16), and a reinforcing frame (25). The wrapper (1) is fashioned from a flat diecut blank (37) comprising a central panel (41), two lateral panels (42) flanking the central panel (41) and an end panel (43), all aligned along a first axis (38), also an appendage (45) aligned with the central panel (41) along a second axis (39) perpendicular to the first axis (38), connected to one end of the central panel (41) and destined lo provide the lid (15). The frame (25) is incorporated directly into the blank (37), created by a process of deformation that involves selectively embossing portions (17a, 19a) of the front (17) and the flanks (19) of the container (13).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: GD S.p.A.
    Inventors: Silvano Boriani, Alberto Franchini, Fiorenzo Draghetti
  • Patent number: 7484937
    Abstract: The compressor blades of an aircraft engine are, in at least one natural-vibration critical area, designed such that at the blade leading edge (6), the leading edge shock wave (14) attaches to the leading edge (6), as a result of which a laminar boundary layer flow (7) on the suction side (13) quickly transitions into a turbulent boundary layer flow (9) which is kept constant and prevented from re-lamination by the further, continuous curvature of the suction side. Therefore, the transition, whose periodic movement is also suppressed, cannot communicate with a suction-side compression shock (10), preventing the compression shock from augmenting the natural vibrations of the blade occurring under certain flight conditions. The blade leading edge can, for example, be designed as an ellipse with a semi-axis ratio equal to or smaller than 1:4.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventor: Erik Johann
  • Patent number: 7485045
    Abstract: A bonded drive shaft includes an elongated tube having an internal bore and at least one end fitting for connecting to a drive component. The end fitting includes first and second locating portions that engage the internal bore to precisely and firmly locate the end fitting with respect to the tube. The end fitting also includes an adhesive gap portion positioned between the locating portions to form a generally annular adhesive receiving gap between the first locating portion, the second locating portion, the adhesive gap portion and the internal bore of the elongated tube. Adhesive is injected into the adhesive receiving gap to bond the end fitting to the elongated tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Inventor: Mark Williams
  • Patent number: 7478660
    Abstract: A labelling and/or marking machine (3) comprises a carousel (4) rotatable about a vertical axis (5), equipped peripherally with a set of pedestals (8) driven by respective motors (37) and supporting single containers (2), also applicator and/or marker devices (26, 27) occupying positions along a conveying path (17) followed by the containers (2). Each pedestal (8) is flanked by a corresponding CCD image sensor (31) such as will scan the lateral surface (29) of the container (2) to detect and recognize a known outline (32) presented by the surface (29), whereupon the pedestal (8) is made to rotate through a predetermined angle and thus bring the relative container (2) into the position required by the applicator and/or marker devices (26, 27).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2009
    Assignee: Azionaria Costruzioni Macchine Automatiche A.C.M.A. S.p.A.
    Inventors: Marco Sernesi, Giacomo Remelli, Stefano Cavallari