Patents Examined by Scott Walthour
  • Patent number: 10151243
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a compressor, a turbine, and a combustor. The combustor includes a fuel injector and a vaporizer within the combustor positioned to receive liquid fuel from the fuel injector to vaporize the liquid fuel therein. The gas turbine engine includes an enclosed passage external to the combustor having a wall, a diffuser positioned to direct the air into the passage, causing the air to cool by transferring heat through the wall from the air within the passage to the vaporized fuel within the vaporizer, and a cooled cooling air passageway positioned to receive the air from the passage and direct the air after being cooled to at least one of the turbine and the compressor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Corporation
    Inventors: Duane A. Smith, William G. Cummings, III
  • Patent number: 10150568
    Abstract: An arrangement may comprise a spring member. A proximal end and a distal end of a compression rod may contact engagement features via the spring member in a core cowl of a gas turbine engine. The compression rod may transmit loads between halves of the core cowl. The spring member may compress and decompress in response to vibrations or other relative movement between halves of the core cowl.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: ROHR, INC.
    Inventor: Jacques Lu
  • Patent number: 10151488
    Abstract: Example apparatus and methods providing for the improved chemical conversion of the combustible components of a gaseous medium are disclosed. In some examples, the apparatus includes a guiding body that guides the flow of the gaseous medium within a reaction chamber of the apparatus. In some examples, the guiding body of the disclosed apparatus is configured to stabilize a residence period of the gaseous medium in the reaction chamber. In some examples, the guiding body results in a flow path of the gaseous medium within the reaction chamber being optimized and/or maximized, and/or results in a short circuit flow of the gaseous medium in the reaction chamber being suppressed. In some disclosed examples, the guiding body causes at least a portion of the flow path of the gaseous medium within the reaction chamber to take the form of a cyclone flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: DÜRR SYSTEMS GMBH
    Inventors: Axel Widenhorn, Roland Stoll
  • Patent number: 10144519
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a fan, a compressor section having at least two sequential compressors, a combustor section fluidly connected to the compressor section, and a turbine section fluidly connected to the combustor section. The turbine section includes at least a first turbine, a second turbine and a third turbine. One of the first turbine, the second turbine and the third turbine is a fan-drive turbine. An environmental control system air supply includes at least a first compressor bleed and a second compressor bleed. Each of the first compressor bleed and the second compressor bleed are positioned upstream of a highest pressure compressor of the at least two compressors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Frederick M. Schwarz, Gabriel L. Suciu
  • Patent number: 10107496
    Abstract: A front panel for a combustor has a hot side and a cold side and at least one reception adapted for receiving a combustor part. The front panel has a double-wall design with a hot-side wall and a cold-side wall. The hot-side wall defines a hot-side downstream surface of the front panel. The cold-side wall defines a cold-side upstream surface of the front panel. The hot-side wall and the cold-side wall are axially spaced from one another, extend parallel to one another, and are connected to one another by an outer side wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: ANSALDO ENERGIA SWITZERLAND AG
    Inventors: Ulrich Rathmann, Naresh Aluri, Kaspar Loeffel, Michael Huber
  • Patent number: 10107497
    Abstract: A liner for a combustor of a turbine engine includes a cooling feature which projects from a backside and one or more effusion holes that communicate(s) through the liner. The effusion hole(s) surround an opening through said liner. The cooling feature may include a trip strip or a pyramid pin fin (e.g., a three-side pyramid pin fin, a conical pyramid pin fin). The effusion hole(s) may penetrate said cooling feature. The effusion hole(s) may define an angle less than or equal to ninety (90) degrees with respect to a face of said liner. The effusion hole(s) may be proximate an opening through said liner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: James P. Bangerter, Alexander W. Williams, Nicholas Mule, Monica Pacheco-Tougas
  • Patent number: 10107495
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a gas turbine system includes a controller configured to receive fuel composition information related to a fuel used for combustion in a turbine combustor; receive oxidant composition information related to an oxidant used for combustion in the turbine combustor; receive oxidant flow information related to a flow of the oxidant to the turbine combustor; determine a stoichiometric fuel-to-oxidant ratio based at least on the fuel composition information and the oxidant composition information; and generate a control signal for input to a fuel flow control system configured to control a flow of the fuel to the turbine combustor based on the oxidant flow information, a target equivalence ratio, and the stoichiometric fuel-to-oxidant ratio to enable combustion at the target equivalence ratio in the presence of an exhaust diluent within the turbine combustor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignees: General Electric Company, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
    Inventor: Karl Dean Minto
  • Patent number: 10100741
    Abstract: A system is provided with a turbine combustor having a first diffusion fuel nozzle, wherein the first diffusion fuel nozzle has first and second passages that separately inject respective first and second flows into a chamber of the turbine combustor to produce a diffusion flame. The first flow includes a first fuel, and the second flow includes a first oxidant and a first diluent. The system includes a turbine driven by combustion products from the diffusion flame in the turbine combustor. The system also includes an exhaust gas compressor, wherein the exhaust gas compressor is configured to compress and route an exhaust gas from the turbine to the turbine combustor along an exhaust recirculation path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignees: General Electric Company, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
    Inventors: Richard A. Huntington, Sulabh K. Dhanuka, Ilya Aleksandrovich Slobodyanskiy
  • Patent number: 10101030
    Abstract: A combustor for a turbine engine is provided. A first liner has a first surface and a second surface. A second liner forms a combustion chamber with the second side of the first liner, and the combustion chamber configured to receive an air-fuel mixture for combustion therein. The first liner defines a plurality of effusion cooling holes configured to form a film of cooling air on the second surface of the first liner. The plurality of effusion cooling holes includes a first effusion cooling hole extending from the first surface to the second surface and including an inlet portion extending from the first surface, a metering portion fluidly coupled to the inlet portion, and an outlet portion fluidly coupled to the metering portion and extending to the second surface. The inlet portion is larger than the metering portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Rodolphe Dudebout, Eric Blumer
  • Patent number: 10087844
    Abstract: A bundled tube fuel nozzle assembly includes a fuel injector and a tube bundle comprising a plurality of tubes that provide for fluid communication through a forward plate, a fuel plenum and an aft plate of the bundled tube fuel nozzle assembly. Each tube includes an inlet defined at an upstream end of the tube and an outlet defined at a downstream end of the tube. The fuel injector is disposed upstream from the inlets of each of the tubes. The upstream end of each tube is noncircular and includes at least one side portion that abuts a complementary upstream end side portion of an immediately adjacent tube of the plurality of tubes. The downstream end of each tube may be circular and is spaced apart from the downstream ends of immediately adjacent tubes of the plurality of tubes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Michael John Hughes, Stanley Kevin Widener, Jonathan Dwight Berry
  • Patent number: 10082079
    Abstract: An engine cowling of an aircraft gas-turbine engine with a core engine and a bypass duct surrounding the latter, with a front cowling enclosing the bypass duct and a rear cowling movable in the axial direction, and with stator vanes arranged in the bypass duct, where recesses for removing fluid from the bypass duct are provided in the area of the stator vanes on the inside of the front cowling, where the fluid discharged through the recesses is routed by means of flow ducts through the front cowling, brought into contact with at least one heat exchanger, and subsequently discharged to the environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Predrag Todorovic, Sascha Poenick
  • Patent number: 10077681
    Abstract: Hanger assemblies for coupling heat shield liners to cases of gas turbine engines are disclosed. The disclosed hanger assemblies include a pivoting joint coupled between a first segment and a second segment. The first segment is coupled to the liner by a liner attachment assembly and the second segment is coupled to the case by a case attachment assembly. At least one of the liner attachment assembly or the case attachment assembly permits translational movement of the first or second segments respectively with respect to the liner or case to accommodate for thermal expansion in the axial direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2018
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Lon H. Preston
  • Patent number: 10072846
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine and combustor assembly including a combustor liner defining therein a combustion chamber for the downstream flow of a main fluid. At least two axially spaced apart annular trapped vortex cavities are located on the combustor liner and staged axially and radially spaced apart. A cavity opening is located at a radially inner end of each of the at least two annular trapped vortex cavities. A plurality of injectors are configured tangentially relative to circular radially outer wall extending between an aft wall and a forward wall of each cavity to provide for an injection of air and fuel to form an annular rotating trapped vortex of a fuel and air mixture within a respective annular trapped vortex cavity. The annular rotating trapped vortex of the fuel and air mixture at the cavity openings is substantially perpendicular to the downstream flow of the main fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Sarah Marie Monahan, Narendra Digamber Joshi, Venkat Eswarlu Tangirala, Matthieu Marc Masquelet
  • Patent number: 10060445
    Abstract: A surface structure having a filmhole pattern is disclosed. The filmhole pattern may be an offset herringbone pattern. For instance, the surface structure may have rows of filmholes arranged in filmrows, each filmrow divided into groups of filmholes. A first group may be oriented to direct cooling air generally outward over a surface of the surface structure and a second group may be oriented to direct cooling air generally inward over a surface of the surface structure. Between the first group and the second group of filmholes in each filmrow, a transition region exists. The adjacent filmrows are arranged to enhance the effectiveness of the convective cooling proximate to the transition regions by causing each filmrow to direct cooling air over the transition region of an adjacent filmrow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Brandon W. Spangler, Gina Cavallo
  • Patent number: 10060269
    Abstract: A cooling system according to an embodiment includes: a leading edge cooling circuit including a pressure side serpentine circuit and a suction side serpentine circuit; a first mid-blade cooling circuit including a suction side serpentine circuit; a second mid-blade cooling circuit including a pressure side serpentine circuit; a trailing edge cooling circuit; and at least one air feed for supplying cooling air to the leading edge cooling circuit, the first mid-blade cooling circuit, the second mid-blade cooling circuit, and the trailing edge cooling circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Aaron Ezekiel Smith, Gregory Thomas Foster
  • Patent number: 10047678
    Abstract: A method of stopping an engine of a rotorcraft in overspeed, the engine comprising a gas generator and a power assembly. When the engine is in operation, the engine is automatically stopped when the following three conditions are satisfied simultaneously: a torque (Tq) measured on the power assembly is below a predetermined torque threshold (Tq1); and a speed of rotation referred to as a “first speed of rotation (N1)” of the gas generator is above a threshold referred to as a “first speed threshold (S1)”; and a speed of rotation referred to as a “second speed of rotation (N2)” of the power assembly is above a threshold referred to as a “second speed threshold (S2)”.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: Airbus Helicopters
    Inventor: Bernard Certain
  • Patent number: 10041411
    Abstract: A fuel dosing device for a fuel injector of an aircraft turbomachine, including an opening, a movable member for sealing the opening, and elastic return, with the member able to be displaced under the effect of the fuel pressure. The device includes a first outlet communicating with a primary circuit of the injector as well as a second outlet communicating with a secondary circuit. In addition, it is designed such that up to a defined level of displacement of the sealing member, the latter allows the fuel coming from the opening to reach the first outlet and, only beyond the defined level of displacement, the member allows the fuel coming from the opening to reach the second outlet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2018
    Assignee: SNECMA
    Inventors: Christophe Chabaille, Sebastien Loval
  • Patent number: 10024538
    Abstract: An air extraction port at a combustor of a gas turbine engine includes a port inlet at a combustor case of the combustor having an inlet area, a port outlet having a final area, and a fluid passage extending from the port inlet to the port outlet to convey an airflow, the port inlet sized and configured to extract the airflow from the combustor case at the same nominal upstream Mach number with a tolerance of +/?0.05.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Albert K. Cheung, Christos Adamopoulos, Christopher B. Lyons
  • Patent number: 10024242
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine having a fire wall configured to provide a fire resistant barrier between a first zone and a second zone in the gas turbine engine, the second zone being hotter than the first zone. The gas turbine engine also has: (i) an actuator located in the first zone, (ii) an actuatable device that is located in the second zone, (iii) a bypass duct, (iv) an off-take device to extract cooling air from the bypass duct in the gas turbine engine and to supply the extracted cooling air into the elongate housing/shell, the off-take device having a first passage and a second passage, and (v) a mechanical force transmitting device that extends from the actuator to the actuatable device via a hole in the fire wall. The mechanical force transmitting device is configured to actuate the actuatable device by transmitting a mechanical force to the actuatable device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Robert Goulds, Brian Richard Lace, Richard Peace
  • Patent number: 10012146
    Abstract: A turbojet comprising a low-pressure compressor, a high-pressure compressor and a bleeding system configured to bleed air in the turbojet and to deliver the air to an air system. The bleeding system comprises a first air intake configured to bleed air at low pressure, a second air intake configured to bleed air at high pressure, a first valve and a second valve having inlets connected to the first air intake, a compressor having an inlet connected to an outlet of the second valve, a high-pressure valve connected to the second air intake, a control valve connected to the air system, and a controller to control opening and closing of the valves depending on a pressure at the first air intake.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Assignee: AIRBUS OPERATIONS SAS
    Inventors: Olivier Pelagatti, Thomas Deguin, Ronan Bodet