Patents Examined by James McGlynn
  • Patent number: 9915149
    Abstract: A turbofan engine has a fan portion in fluid communication with a core stream and a bypass stream of air separated by splitters disposed both upstream and downstream of the fan portion. A fluid passage is defined between the splitters. The turbofan engine has a plurality of high pressure fluid jets originating from the low pressure side of the fan blades, the jets restricting the migration of the core stream into the bypass stream through the fluid passage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce North American Technologies Inc.
    Inventor: Edward C. Rice
  • Patent number: 9909507
    Abstract: A control system for a combustor system including a plurality of can combustors, each can combustor accommodating combustion of a plurality of combustion fluids in a combustion chamber thereof is provided. The control system may include a calculator calculating: a) a pressure drop for each respective can combustor of the plurality of can combustors between a selected combustion fluid upstream of the combustion chamber and a combustion flow within the combustion chamber of the respective can combustor, and b) a differential between the respective pressure drop for each of the plurality of can combustors and an average pressure drop across all of the plurality of can combustors. The differentials identify can-to-can variation. A controller can modify a combustion parameter of at least one can combustor to reduce the differential for the at least one can combustor. The system can work iteratively to reduce can-to-can variation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Scott Andrew Childers, Sanji Ekanayake, Brett Matthew Thompson
  • Patent number: 9890645
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a compressor section, a combustor fluidly connected to the compressor section, and a turbine section fluidly connected to the combustor and mechanically connected to the compressor section via a shaft. Multiple rotors are disposed in one of the compressor section and the turbine section. Each of the rotors includes a rotor disk portion having a radially inward bore, and is static relative to the shaft. Each rotor is axially adjacent at least one other rotor and a gap is defined between each rotor and an adjacent rotor. A cooling passage for a cooling flow is defined between the shaft and the rotors, and a cooling flow redirection component is disposed at the gap and is operable to redirect the cooling flow in the cooling passage into the gap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Michael G. McCaffrey, Elizabeth F. Vinson
  • Patent number: 9822705
    Abstract: A power augmentation system for a gas turbine that is electrically coupled to a power grid incudes, in serial flow order, a compressed air supply, a compressed air storage tank and an expansion turbine that is disposed downstream from the compressed air storage tank. An exhaust outlet of the expansion turbine is in fluid communication with at least one of an inlet section or a compressor of the gas turbine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Kihyung Kim, Diego Fernando Rancruel, Leslie Yung Min Tong, Stephen R. Watts, Kamlesh Mundra