Patents Examined by Liam McDowell
-
Patent number: 9239012Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a fan shaft and a support which supports the fan shaft. The support defines at least one of a support transverse and a support lateral stiffness. A gear system drives the fan shaft. A flexible support at least partially supports the gear system, and defines at least one of a flexible support transverse and a flexible support lateral stiffness with respect to at least one of the support transverse and the support lateral stiffness. An input to the gear system defines at least one of an input transverse and an input lateral stiffness with respect to at least one of the support transverse and the support lateral stiffness. A method of designing a gas turbine engine is also disclosed.Type: GrantFiled: January 26, 2015Date of Patent: January 19, 2016Assignee: United Technologies CorporationInventors: Michael E. McCune, Jason Husband
-
Patent number: 9133713Abstract: A turbine blade for a gas turbine engine includes an airfoil that includes leading and trailing edges joined by spaced apart pressure and suction sides to provide an exterior airfoil surface extending from a platform in a radial direction to a tip. The external airfoil surface is formed in substantial conformance with multiple cross-sectional profiles of the airfoil described by a set of Cartesian coordinates set forth in Table 1. The Cartesian coordinates are provided by an axial coordinate scaled by a local axial chord. A circumferential coordinate is scaled by a local axial chord, and a span location. The local axial chord corresponds to a width of the airfoil between the leading and trailing edges at the span location.Type: GrantFiled: July 2, 2012Date of Patent: September 15, 2015Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATIONInventor: Eunice Allen-Bradley
-
Patent number: 9133729Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a flex mount for a Fan Drive Gear System defined by a lateral and transverse stiffness relatonship.Type: GrantFiled: September 20, 2012Date of Patent: September 15, 2015Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATIONInventors: Michael E. McCune, Jason Husband
-
Patent number: 9121288Abstract: A turbine blade is provided comprising: a root; an airfoil comprising an external wall extending radially from the root and having a radially outermost portion; and a damping structure. The external wall may comprise first and second side walls joined together to define an inner cavity of the airfoil. The damping structure may be positioned within the airfoil inner cavity and coupled to the airfoil so as to define a tuned mass damper.Type: GrantFiled: May 4, 2012Date of Patent: September 1, 2015Assignee: Siemens Energy, Inc.Inventors: Christian X. Campbell, Stephen J Messmann
-
Patent number: 9121294Abstract: A gas turbine engine airfoil includes leading and trailing edges, pressure and suction sides extending from airfoil base to airfoil tip, trailing edge cladding made of cladding material bonded to composite core made of composite material, cladding material less brittle than composite material, composite core including central core portion extending downstream from leading edge portion to trailing edge portion of composite core, and trailing edge cladding including wavy wall and trailing edge. Pressure and suction side flanks of trailing edge cladding may be bonded to pressure and suction side surfaces of trailing edge portion. Waves of wavy wall may extend normal to and away from the pressure and suction side surfaces. Trailing edge cladding may include wavy pressure and suction side trailing edge guards including waves of wavy wall. Airfoil may extend outwardly from platform of a blade. Root may include integral dovetail.Type: GrantFiled: December 20, 2011Date of Patent: September 1, 2015Assignee: General Electric CompanyInventors: Nicholas Joseph Kray, Daniel Edward Mollmann, Dong-Jin Shim, Trevor Howard Wood
-
Patent number: 9114875Abstract: A lead lag damper (10, 11) for a helicopter rotor unit has a rotor and a hub (8), said rotor having N rotor modes, with N being the number of blades. This centered single lead lag damper (10, 11) for the entire rotor unit has an essentially cylindrical shape, with an elastomer material shear element between a first side (7) and a second side (9) having a homogenous resistance to shear deformation and being axially preloaded, so that the lead lag damper (10, 11) acts in a homogenous manner in the rotor inplane eigenmodes. Thus, the lead lag damper (10, 11) acts as a single unit on the critical inplane mode of the rotor, which is having N identical blades (1-4). The elastomeric material is loaded by a uniform shear deformation in contrary to the commonly used oscillatory deformation.Type: GrantFiled: July 31, 2012Date of Patent: August 25, 2015Assignee: Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbHInventors: Bernard Enenkl, Rupert Pfaller
-
Patent number: 9115584Abstract: A turbomachine system includes a rotor that defines a longitudinal axis of the turbomachine system. A first blade is coupled to the rotor, and the first blade has first and second laminated plies. A first band is coupled to the first blade and is configured to resist separation of the first and second laminated plies.Type: GrantFiled: April 24, 2012Date of Patent: August 25, 2015Assignee: General Electric CompanyInventors: Herbert Chidsey Roberts, Glenn Curtis Taxacher
-
Patent number: 9115799Abstract: A ram air turbine gearbox housing includes a housing body that has a first flange that defines a first plane and a second flange that defines a second plane that is transverse to the first plane. The housing body extends around an axis and has a first axial end and an opposite, second axial end that are each open to an internal cavity of the housing body. The housing body includes a radially-enlarged section at least partially defining an oil sump within the internal cavity of the housing body.Type: GrantFiled: March 27, 2012Date of Patent: August 25, 2015Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand CorporationInventor: David Everett Russ
-
Patent number: 9109579Abstract: A windmill having a hub sealing apparatus for sealing an interface between a hub and a blade of the windmill, The hub sealing apparatus includes a bottom sealing ring configured to be sealed to the hub, a top sealing ring configured to be rotatably sealed to the blade, and a middle sealing ring configured to be sealed to the top sealing ring and the bottom sealing ring, so as to connect the top and bottom sealing rings.Type: GrantFiled: July 31, 2012Date of Patent: August 18, 2015Assignee: INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTEInventors: Jung-Kuei Lin, Yun-Yuan Chang
-
Patent number: 9108742Abstract: An example ram air turbine stow abort assembly includes a release pin movable between an engaged position that prevents rotation of a drive shaft and a released position that allows rotation of the drive shaft. A release lever is rotatable about an axis in response to the release pin being in the engaged position or the released position. A pawl has a link to the release lever. The link causes the pawl to move toward the axis from a locking position to a clearance position. The pawl is positioned to engage a lock when in the locking position to prevent movement of the ram air turbine assembly to a stowed position when the turbine blades are misaligned.Type: GrantFiled: March 27, 2012Date of Patent: August 18, 2015Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand CorporationInventor: David Everett Russ
-
Patent number: 9103225Abstract: A blade outer air seal for a gas turbine engine includes a wall, a forward hook, and an aft hook. The wall extends between the forward hook and the aft hook, which are adapted to mount the blade outer air seal to a casing of the gas turbine engine. The wall includes a cored passage extending along at least a portion of the wall. The cored passage extends radially and axially through a portion of the aft hook to communicate with one or more apertures along a trailing edge of the aft hook.Type: GrantFiled: June 4, 2012Date of Patent: August 11, 2015Assignee: United Technologies CorporationInventors: Paul M. Lutjen, Shawn J. Gregg, Thurman Carlo Dabbs, Ken F. Blaney, Russell E. Keene, Bruce E. Chick
-
Patent number: 9103326Abstract: A bedplate assembly of a wind turbine is provided. The bedplate assembly includes a rotor shaft with a first end coupled to a rotatable hub of the wind turbine via a rotor flange and a second end coupled to a gearbox. The bedplate assembly also includes a bedplate support frame coupled to the gearbox and to the rotor shaft for supporting the gearbox. The bedplate support frame includes a torque arm support device for supporting torque arms of the gearbox. The bedplate support frame also includes a circular support for housing a shaft support bearing for supporting the rotor shaft at the first end. Further, the bedplate support frame includes a cross-structure located under the rotor shaft, wherein the cross-structure comprises one or more arms connected internally to a first side wall and a second side wall.Type: GrantFiled: July 31, 2012Date of Patent: August 11, 2015Assignee: General Electric CompanyInventors: Daniel Jason Erno, Fulton Jose Lopez, Robert Michael Zirin
-
Patent number: 9103216Abstract: A turbine of a gas turbine, in particular of a gas turbine aircraft engine, having a rotor that has at least one moving blade ring and having a stator that has at least one guide blade ring, moving blades of the, or each, moving blade ring and/or guide blades of the, or each, guide blade ring being fashioned as hollow blades having at least one cavity, wherein on at least one side of at least one moving blade and/or guide blade fashioned as a hollow blade, in a blade wall holes are made that connect the, or each, cavity to the surrounding environment of the respective moving blade and/or guide blade, so that the respective cavity can be used as a resonator or sound muffler in order to reduce the sound radiated by the turbine during operation.Type: GrantFiled: September 1, 2007Date of Patent: August 11, 2015Assignee: MTU AERO ENGINES GMBHInventors: Fritz Kennepohl, Detlef Korte
-
Patent number: 9097133Abstract: A compressor tip clearance management system includes a compressor section having a low pressure compressor and a high pressure compressor arranged downstream from the low pressure compressor. A variable stator vane is arranged upstream from the high pressure compressor. The variable stator vane is connected to an actuator, and a controller is in communication with the actuator. The controller is configured to provide a command to the actuator to move the variable stator vane in response to a high pressure compressor clearance condition. A high pressure compressor rotor speed is altered, and the high pressure compressor clearance condition is changed to a desired clearance.Type: GrantFiled: June 4, 2012Date of Patent: August 4, 2015Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATIONInventors: Yuan Dong, Lisa I. Brilliant, Daniel Carminati, Steven J. Sirica
-
Patent number: 9097262Abstract: A fan includes an impeller having a plurality of blades. Each of the plurality of blades has a trailing edge portion positioned rearmost in a rotation direction and a leading edge portion positioned foremost in the rotation direction. A curved line interconnects the trailing edge portion and the leading edge portion at the shortest distance on an imaginary cylindrical surface. Each of the blades includes a lower surface facing downward in the direction of the center axis and an upper surface facing upward in the direction of the center axis. In the fan, L1/L2 decreases from a radial inner side toward a radial outer side, where L1 denotes the longest distance on the imaginary cylindrical surface between the curved line and a camber line and L2 denotes a length of the curved line.Type: GrantFiled: July 31, 2012Date of Patent: August 4, 2015Assignee: Nidec CorporationInventor: Junji Tsukida
-
Patent number: 9097115Abstract: A stator for a turbine includes an arrangement of vanes including at least a first vane and a second vane circumferentially neighboring the first vane. Each of the first vane and the second vane include: an airfoil; a channel system configured to cool the respective vane with cooling gas; and an inner diameter platform disposed at an inner end of the airfoil, the inner diameter platform including an inner diameter platform cavity and a circumferentially arranged side wall which delimits the inner diameter platform cavity, the inner diameter platform cavity being connected with the channel system so as to feed the cooling gas to the inner diameter platform. At least one sealing plate is disposed between the circumferentially arranged side walls of the first vane and the second vane so as to form an intermediate cavity that is fluidically separated from the inner diameter platform cavities.Type: GrantFiled: June 28, 2012Date of Patent: August 4, 2015Assignee: ALSTOM TECHNOLOGY LTDInventors: Oleg Dmitrievich Naryzhny, Andrey Petrovich Morozov, Alexander Anatolievich Khanin
-
Patent number: 9091178Abstract: A sealing arrangement, for example for providing an intershaft seal between shafts of a gas turbine engine, includes an air-riding sealing ring disposed between runners. A buffer fluid, such as air, is conveyed to a buffer cavity through a passage in the sealing ring. The buffer air provides a positive pressure drop along fluid-riding gaps, preventing leakage across the sealing arrangement. The sealing ring may be a split carbon ring, and measures may be provided to minimize leakage of buffer air at the split.Type: GrantFiled: June 28, 2012Date of Patent: July 28, 2015Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE PLCInventor: Ingo H J Jahn
-
Patent number: 9089634Abstract: A fluid pump has at least one impeller blade which is rotatable about an axis of rotation and conveys a fluid in operation. The fluid pump has a support device which supports the at least one impeller blade in at least one support region. The support device is changeable between a first state in which the at least one impeller blade is radially compressed and a second state in which the at least one impeller is radially expanded. The at least one impeller blade extends at least partly radially inwardly with respect to the axis of rotation from the at least one support region in the radially expanded state of the blade.Type: GrantFiled: September 22, 2010Date of Patent: July 28, 2015Assignee: ECP ENTWICKLUNGSGESELLSCHAFT MBHInventors: Joerg Schumacher, Daniel Roehn
-
Patent number: 9080458Abstract: A multi impingement plate assembly for a Blade Outer Air Seal (BOAS) includes a first impingement plate which defines a multiple of first impingement plate holes and a second impingement plate attached to the first impingement plate. The second impingement plate includes a platform section spaced away from the multiple of first impingement plate holes to define a plate cavity.Type: GrantFiled: August 23, 2011Date of Patent: July 14, 2015Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATIONInventor: Dmitriy A. Romanov
-
Patent number: 9074531Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a controller that controls a fan blade flutter characteristic through control of a variable area fan nozzle.Type: GrantFiled: January 31, 2012Date of Patent: July 7, 2015Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATIONInventors: Zbigniew M. Grabowski, Robert J. Morris, Ray W. Carmichael