Patents Examined by Lorne Meade
  • Patent number: 9970389
    Abstract: An antivortex device for use in suppressing formation of a vortex created by fluid flowing through multiple outlet ports defined in a sump is provided. The antivortex device includes a plurality of center plates extending through a central axis of the sump, an extension plate substantially aligned with one of the plurality of center plates and extending substantially radially outward from the central axis, and a top plate coupled to the plurality of center plates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Alfredo Lopez, Gary David Grayson, Stephen Michael Addison
  • Patent number: 9957890
    Abstract: In various embodiments, a manifold assembly (64) for conducting one or more fluids to a gear assembly (60) in a gas turbine engine (20) is provided. The manifold assembly (64) may comprise a first plate (66) and a second plate (68) that rotatably couple together. The manifold assembly (64) may be retained and/or held together by a channel (72) and engagement member (70) arrangement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Stephanie Baker, John Otto
  • Patent number: 9957892
    Abstract: The invention relates to systems enabling the use of cryogenic fuels within combustion engines, including jet engines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Inventor: Daniel Pomerleau
  • Patent number: 9950382
    Abstract: A multi-pieces gas turbine engine combustor heat shield is fabricated from sheet metal. The fabrication involves: sheet metal forming a base sheet having opposed hot and cold facing sides, providing cold side details separately from the base sheet, and mounting the cold side details to the cold facing side of the base sheet. The cold side details may be brazed to the base sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
    Inventors: Honza Stastny, Parthasarathy Sampath
  • Patent number: 9945250
    Abstract: An aircraft gas turbine is constituted by accommodating a compressor (14), a combustor (15), and a turbine (16) in a cylindrical main unit casing (12). A thick wall part (52) is provided on an outer periphery side of rotor blades (34) in the main unit casing. A cooling passage (53), for cooling the thick wall part (52) by circulating compressed air compressed by the compressor, is provided in the thick wall part. Also provided is a discharge passage (55) for discharging compressed air having circulated in the cooling passage to a combustion gas passage A. The structural strength of the thick wall part is ensured by appropriately cooling the thick wall part of the casing, while simplifying the structure and preventing a decrease in efficiency, thereby ensuring effective containment performance and an appropriate clearance between the casing and the rotor blades.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES AERO ENGINES, LTD.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Kitamura, Shinichiro Masaki
  • Patent number: 9945242
    Abstract: In one aspect the present subject matter is directed to a system for thermally isolating a turbine shroud of a turbine shroud assembly. The system includes a shroud support having an inner surface and a turbine shroud that is connected to the shroud support. The turbine shroud includes a hot side surface that is radially spaced from a back side surface. At least a portion of the back side surface is oriented towards the inner surface of the shroud support. The system further includes a coating that is disposed along the back side surface of the turbine shroud. The coating regulates heat transfer from the turbine shroud to the shroud support or other hardware that may surround or be adjacent to the turbine shroud.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Christopher Paul Tura, Dylan James Fitzpatrick
  • Patent number: 9939155
    Abstract: A swirler includes a swirler body and a plurality of axial swirl vanes extending radially outward from the swirler body. At least one of the swirler body or vanes includes a spring channel defined therethrough. A fuel injector for a gas turbine engine can include an inner air swirler and/or outer air swirler as described above.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: Delavan Inc.
    Inventors: Brett A. Pfeffer, Jason A. Ryon
  • Patent number: 9932845
    Abstract: A nozzle liner for a rotatable nozzle includes a seal land and a rotatable seal for moving with the nozzle. The seal has a first diffusion hole for distributing cooling air if the rotatable seal is in a first position and a second diffusion hole for distributing cooling air if the rotatable seal is in a first position and if in a second position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Curtis C. Cowan, Jorge I. Farah
  • Patent number: 9926883
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine for a small aircraft such as a UAV having a bypass flow with a variable area bypass nozzle located at an outlet of the bypass channel, the nozzle having one position with a maximum flow area and a second position with a minimal flow area. The compressor is a twin stream compressor with an inner flow path for compressed air to the combustor and an outer flow path for the bypass channel. A fan stage can be used in front of the compressor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: Florida Turbine Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert A. Ress
  • Patent number: 9909530
    Abstract: A fan section for an engine has a fan which rotates about an axis, the fan has an inlet for ingesting ambient air, and a non-axisymmetric nozzle for providing the fan with non-uniform back pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas G Tillman, Wesley K. Lord
  • Patent number: 9903588
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a system includes a turbine combustor having a combustor liner disposed about a combustion chamber, a head end upstream of the combustion chamber relative to a downstream direction of a flow of combustion gases through the combustion chamber, a flow sleeve disposed at an offset about the combustor liner to define a passage, and a barrier within the passage. The head end is configured to direct an oxidant flow and a first fuel flow toward the combustion chamber. The passage is configured to direct a gas flow toward the head end and to direct a portion of the oxidant flow toward a turbine end of the turbine combustor. The gas flow includes a substantially inert gas. The barrier is configured to block the portion of the oxidant flow toward the turbine end and to block the gas flow toward the head end within the passage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignees: General Electric Company, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
    Inventors: Ilya Aleksandrovich Slobodyanskiy, Lewis Berkley Davis, Jr., Karl Dean Minto
  • Patent number: 9903271
    Abstract: Methods and systems for low emission power generation in combined cycle power plants are provided. One system includes a gas turbine system that stoichiometrically combusts a fuel and an oxidant in the presence of a compressed recycle stream to provide mechanical power and a gaseous exhaust. The compressed recycle stream acts as a diluent to moderate the temperature of the combustion process. A boost compressor can boost the pressure of the gaseous exhaust before being compressed into the compressed recycle stream. A purge stream is tapped off from the compressed recycle stream and directed to a C02 separator which discharges C02 and a nitrogen-rich gas which can be expanded in a gas expander to generate additional mechanical power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
    Inventors: Russell H. Oelfke, Moses Minta
  • Patent number: 9903316
    Abstract: Methods and systems for low emission power generation in hydrocarbon recovery processes are provided. One system includes a gas turbine system configured to stoichiometrically combust a compressed oxidant derived from enriched air and a fuel in the presence of a compressed recycle exhaust gas and expand the discharge in an expander to generate a recycle exhaust stream and drive a main compressor. A boost compressor receives and increases the pressure of the recycle exhaust stream and prior to being compressed in a compressor configured to generate the compressed recycle exhaust gas. To promote the stoichiometric combustion of the fuel and increase the CO2 content in the recycle exhaust gas, the enriched air can have an increased oxygen concentration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
    Inventors: Himanshu Gupta, Richard Huntington, Moses K. Minta, Franklin F. Mittricker, Loren K. Starcher
  • Patent number: 9897079
    Abstract: The invention is a Hall thruster that does not have any discharge channel, and magnetic pole piece. The Hall thruster utilizes permanent magnets to produce magnetic field with strong radial component in front of an annular anode, and expands propellant directly into vacuum through the anode acting also as a gas distributor. The invention reduces mass and complexity of conventional Hall thrusters, and offers a radical solution to discharge channel and magnetic pole piece erosion problem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Inventor: Burak Karadag
  • Patent number: 9885313
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a core engine defined about an axis, a gear system driven by the core engine, a fan, and a variable area flow system. The gear system defines a gear reduction ratio of greater than or equal to about 2.3. The fan is driven by the gear system about the axis to generate a bypass flow. The variable area flow system operates to effect the bypass flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: United Technologes Corporation
    Inventor: Constantine Baltas
  • Patent number: 9885315
    Abstract: The invention relates to a rear casing for a turbine engine comprising a primary body generating a primary flow (10) to be ejected through a primary nozzle (6), said rear casing (7) being shaped so as to be positioned downstream from the primary body and to define, on the inside of the turbine engine, the path followed by the primary flow downstream from the primary nozzle (6). The tail cone is characterised in that it comprises a connection to a system for supplying a pressurised gas and at least one perforation (8) for injecting the pressurised gas through the perforation and into the primary flow. The casing preferably comprises at least one means for rotating same about the axis of rotation of the mobile elements of the primary body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignees: SNECMA, CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE (CNRS), UNIVERSITE DE POITIERS, ENSMA
    Inventors: Alexandre Alfred Gaston Vuillemin, Maxime Koenig, Peter Jordan, Pierre Comte, Yves Gervais
  • Patent number: 9879636
    Abstract: Systems and methods for influencing thrust of a gas turbine engine are disclosed. A system includes a plurality of pipes positioned at an exhaust nozzle of the gas turbine engine. Each one of the plurality of pipes includes: an inlet inside the exhaust nozzle; an outlet inside the exhaust nozzle; and an intermediate portion outside the exhaust nozzle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: KING ABDULAZIZ CITY FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    Inventor: Omair M. Alhatim
  • Patent number: 9857079
    Abstract: A combustion device (1) for a gas turbine includes portions (12) having an inner and an outer wall (13, 14) with an interposed noise absorption plate (15) having a plurality of holes (16). The combustion device (1) further has first passages (17) connecting zones between the inner wall (13) and the plate (15) to the inside of the combustion device (1) and second passages (21) for cooling the inner wall (13). The portions (12) also have an inner layer (22) between the inner wall (13) and the plate (15) defining inner chambers (23), each connected to at least a first passage (17), and an outer layer (24) between the outer wall (14) and the plate (15) defining outer chambers (25) connected to the inner chambers (23) via the holes (16) of the plate (15).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: ANSALDO ENERGIA IP UK LIMITED
    Inventors: Andreas Huber, Nicolas Noiray, Bruno Schuermans, Urs Benz
  • Patent number: 9845709
    Abstract: An exhaust gas liner for a gas turbine includes an annular inner shell and an annular outer shell, which are arranged concentrically around a machine axis of the gas turbine to define an annular exhaust gas channel in between. The inner shell and/or said outer shell are composed of a plurality of liner segments, which are attached to a support structure. To compensate thermal expansion and achieving resistance against dynamic loads, the liner segments are fixed to the support structure at certain fixation spots, which are distributed over the area of said liner segments, such that said liner segments are clamped to said support structure through a whole engine thermal cycle without hindering thermal expansion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: ANSALDO ENERGIA SWITZERLAND AG
    Inventors: Igor Mihalic, Mirjana Mihelic, Mladen Matan, Pedja Milankovic, Juergen Pacholleck, Christian Joerg Kreutle
  • Patent number: 9841192
    Abstract: A detonation engine can detonate a mixture of fuel and oxidizer within a cylindrical detonation region to produce work. The detonation engine can have a first and a second inlet having ends fluidly connected from tanks to the detonation engine. The first and second inlets can be aligned along a common axis. The inlets can be connected to nozzles and a separator can be positioned between the nozzles and along the common axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    Inventor: Aslan Kasimov