Patents Examined by Sean J Younger
  • Sealed shaft assembly for exhaust turbines
    Patent number: 8579579
    Abstract: An exemplary assembly includes a component of a turbocharger that includes a bore that extends between an inner, exhaust gas side of the component and an outer, ambient side of the component; a shaft that includes a pin portion and a head portion; a sleeve positioned on the pin portion of the shaft; and a bushing positioned over at least part of the sleeve and over at least part of the head portion of the shaft where the bushing seats the shaft and the sleeve in the bore. During operation of a turbocharger that includes such an assembly, the shaft, the sleeve and the bushing restrict flow of exhaust gas from the inner, exhaust gas side of the component to the outer, ambient side of the component. Various other exemplary devices, assemblies, methods, etc., are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Joel Castan, Gerard Dieudonne, Arnaud Gerard, Lionel Toussaint
  • Angled on-board injector
    Patent number: 8562285
    Abstract: A secondary flow system provides a compact injector cooling structure for turbine blades which includes an Angled On-board Injector (AOBI) that locates a metering throat at an inward angle relative to an engine centerline. The AOBI positions the metering throat at the inward angle relative to an engine centerline to communicate cooling airflow to an angled annular section of a turbine rotor disk coverplate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Michael G. McCaffrey, Joseph T. Caprario, George E. Allen, Christopher Moore, Ronald R. Gagnon
  • Turbo machine efficiency equalizer system
    Patent number: 8545170
    Abstract: A system for a turbo machine is provided, including one or more channels that redirect steam that leaks through the root and/or the tip regions of a stage of the turbine to mix with the high efficiency main steam flow at the pitch region of the turbine where efficiency is the highest. This redirection of the steam results in a significant performance improvement that evens out the efficiency profile resulting in higher average efficiencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Nestor Hernandez Sanchez
  • Fuel pump
    Patent number: 8523513
    Abstract: A fuel pump is provided with a casing and a substantially disk-shaped impeller that can rotate within the casing. A group of concavities is formed in each surface of the impeller. The concavities forming the group are arranged in concentric circles with respect to the rotation axis of the impeller. A first groove is formed in a first inner surface of the casing and extends from an upstream end to a downstream end in an area that faces one group of concavities. A second groove is formed in a second inner surface of the casing and extends from an upstream end to a downstream end in an area that faces the other group of concavities. A seal portion is formed in at least one of the first and second inner surfaces of the casing and formed by one layer or a plurality of layers of thin film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: Aisan Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masaki Ikeya, Akio Muraishi
  • Noise reducer for rotor blade in wind turbine
    Patent number: 8523515
    Abstract: A rotor blade assembly for a wind turbine is disclosed. The rotor blade assembly includes a rotor blade having surfaces defining a pressure side, a suction side, a leading edge, and a trailing edge extending between a tip and a root. The rotor blade further includes a noise reducer configured on a surface of the rotor blade, the noise reducer comprising a plurality of serrations, each of the plurality of serrations defining a centerline. The centerline of each of the plurality of serrations defines a individual tailored angle dependent on at least one of span-wise location, local chord, width, length, bend angle, and thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Roger Drobietz, Klaus Ulrich Koegler, Kevin Wayne Kinzie, Murray Fisher, Jamie Livingston
  • Adaptive variable geometry turbocharger strategy
    Patent number: 8523511
    Abstract: A variable geometry turbocharger employs multiple vanes in the turbine inlet with a unison ring and integral cast wall in the turbine housing forming the nozzle walls. An actuator rotates the unison ring through a rack and pinion driven crank shaft to move the vanes through a range of vane positions that extends between a hard-stop closed position and a hard-stop open position, and that includes a reference position corresponding to a desired flow condition. A variable geometry turbine controller uses a sensor indicating the actuation position of the actuator to guide the operation of the vanes to the reference position. The controller intermittently directs the actuator to force the vanes to the hard-stop closed and hard-stop open positions, and uses sensor information from those positions to reestablish the reference-position information that the actuator uses to guide the actuation of the vanes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew C. Love, Gary Agnew, Baptiste Szczyrba
  • Locking spacer assembly for a circumferential entry airfoil attachment system
    Patent number: 8523529
    Abstract: A locking spacer assembly for insertion in a circumferential attachment slot includes a first end piece and a second end piece. The first and second end pieces each comprise an outer surface and an inner surface, the inner surfaces generally facing towards each other when the end pieces are inserted into the attachment slot. An actuator is movable between the inner surfaces and a spacer block is configured to be inserted between the inner surfaces. A fastener is configured to secure the spacer block to the actuator. The actuator is configured to engage the inner surfaces such that the end pieces move toward each other and lock the assembly within the attachment slot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Robert Alan Brittingham
  • Advanced booster system
    Patent number: 8517677
    Abstract: A compression stage having a plurality of stator vanes and rotor blades coaxial with a longitudinal centerline axis, each stator vane having an exit swirl angle distribution such that the exit swirl angle has a maximum value at an intermediate radius location and each rotor blade having a blade leading edge adapted to receive the flow from the stator vanes with the exit swirl angle distribution profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Peter John Wood, Eric Andrew Falk, Lyle D. Dailey
  • Airfoil array with an endwall depression and components of the array
    Patent number: 8511978
    Abstract: An airfoil array includes a laterally extending endwall 56 with a series of airfoils such as 28 or 38 projecting from the endwall. The airfoils cooperate with the endwall to define a series of fluid flow passages 74. The endwall has a trough 100 toward a pressure side of the passage and a more elevated profile toward a suction side of the passage for reducing secondary flow losses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2013
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Eunice Allen-Bradley, Eric A. Grover, Thomas J. Praisner, Joel H. Wagner
  • Method of reducing a structural unbalance in a wind turbine rotor and device for performing the method
    Patent number: 8506249
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method of reducing a structural unbalance in a wind turbine rotor with pitch control and a control device for performing the method are provided. The method comprises the steps of: detecting a magnitude of the structural unbalance and its phase in relation the rotor's azimuth (?) on the basis of a measurement of the rotor's azimuth (?) and a measurement of the rotor speed or the generator speed (?), establishing individual pitch angle offsets for each blade of the rotor on the basis of the magnitude and the phase, and adding the individual pitch angle offsets to the respective pitch angles of the blades of the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2013
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Per Egedal
  • Wear prevention spring for turbine blade
    Patent number: 8485785
    Abstract: A turbine airfoil support system for supporting a turbine blade to prevent wear during turning gear operation when a rotor assembly supporting the turbine blade rotates at about two revolutions per minute (RPM) to keep the turbine ready for quick startup requirements. The turbine airfoil support system may be formed from a radial biasing spring positioned between a radially outermost point of a disk steeple extending from a rotor assembly and a radially inner surface of the platform. The radial biasing spring may be formed from a first flat member with a disk steeple engaging surface, a second flat member with a blade platform engaging surface, a bent biasing section extending from the first flat member to the second flat member and biasing the first and second flat members away from each other, and a stress reducing member extending from the second flat member toward the first flat member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2013
    Assignee: Siemens Energy, Inc.
    Inventors: Chad M. Garner, Barton M. Pepperman
  • Housing assembly for use in fan unit and fan unit including the same
    Patent number: 8475126
    Abstract: A housing assembly for a fan unit includes an upper housing having a lower engaging portion adjacent to its lower end surface and a lower housing having an upper engaging portion adjacent to its upper end surface. When one of the upper and lower housings rotates relative to the other about a center axis of the housings in a first direction with the opposing end surfaces of the housings in axial contact, the lower and upper engaging portions engage with each other. While the lower and upper engaging portions are in engagement, one of the lower and upper engaging portions presses the other in both axial directions to cause elastic axial deformation of the other; and one of the lower and upper engaging portions presses the other toward both the first direction and a second direction opposite thereto to cause elastic circumferential deformation of the other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignee: Nidec Corporation
    Inventors: Yusuke Yoshida, Takahiro Kikuichi, Masayuki Yamada
  • Method for fitting and protecting a sensor on a substrate
    Patent number: 8475134
    Abstract: The method consists in depositing, by alumina spraying, an electrically insulating sublayer on the substrate, then in placing the sensor on the electrically insulating sublayer and finally in depositing, by alumina spraying, a cover layer on the sensor and the electrically insulating sublayer. It further includes, before the cover layer is deposited, a step in which an impermeable and thermally insulating cement is applied locally on wires of the sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignee: SNECMA
    Inventors: Charly Buleon, Frederic Leman, Etienne Tulie
  • Blade outer air seal
    Patent number: 8439629
    Abstract: A turbine engine blade outer air seal segment has a body having a base portion. The base portion has a transversely concave ID face, a forward end, an aft end, and first and second circumferential edges. The body has at least one mounting hook. At least one cover plate is secured to the body to define at least one cavity. The cover plate has a plurality of feed holes. A plurality of outlet holes extend through the base portion to the ID face. At least one of the base portion and cover plate comprises a protruding portion protruding into the cavity to form a partial restriction separating forward and aft cavity portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2013
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Edward F. Pietraszkiewicz, John C. Calderbank, Joseph A. Peto, Lisa P. O'Neill, Michael J. Bruskotter
  • Turbofan gas turbine engine
    Patent number: 8430622
    Abstract: In a turbofan gas turbine engine, a fan shaft is rotatably mounted and radially supported by a bearing in a bearing support structure supported from a fixed engine structure by radially frangible bolts and radially extending spokes. The radially inner ends of the radially extending spokes are mounted on a common member that engages the bearing support structure. The radially outer ends of the radially extending spokes are mounted on a fixed engine structure located radially outwardly of the bearing support structure. The radially extending spokes are held in tension and include a super elastic material to exert a radially inward restoring force on the bearing support structure, subsequent to any radial excursion of at least part of the fan shaft relative to an engine rotational axis (X) following any fracture of the frangible bolts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce PLC
    Inventors: John Richard Webster, Kenneth Franklin Udall, James Martin Townsend
  • Clamped plate seal
    Patent number: 8425194
    Abstract: A seal for a dovetail joint in a turbomachine is provided. The seal includes an arcuate member having a first end, a middle portion and a second end. The seal also includes sealing means, which include at least one sealing member. The sealing member can comprise a first sealing member connected to the first end and/or a second sealing member connected to the second end. The dovetail joint is the interface between a bucket dovetail and a rotor dovetail groove, and the seal reduces the amount of cooling flow leakage from the dovetail joint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Gary C. Liotta, John D. Ward, Jr.
  • Flange with axially curved impingement surface for gas turbine engine clearance control
    Patent number: 8393855
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine annular turbine casing having an annular shell, axially spaced apart forward and aft flanges extending radially outwardly from the shell, forward and aft case hooks depending radially inwardly from the annular shell, and an axially curved surface at an outer diameter of the aft flange. The axially curved surface may be a semi-spherical surface. The forward and aft case hooks may be located axially near or at the forward and aft flanges respectively. A circular row of holes may be axially disposed through the aft flange circumscribing the central axis and radially located between the outer diameter of the aft flange and the annular shell. An annular manifold spaced radially outwardly of the shell forming an annular space between the manifold and the shell and having impingement holes disposed through the manifold may be used for impinging cooling air on the axially curved surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Zhifeng Dong, John Joseph Rahaim
  • Blade of a turbomachine with enlarged peripheral profile depth
    Patent number: 8382438
    Abstract: A blade for an axial-flow turbomachine with a gap-side blade area I which transits into a free blade end and with a hub-side or casing-side blade area II, respectively. Blade 3 forms a flow line profile section with leading edge VK and trailing edge HK which establish forward end point V and rearward end point H, respectively, by a tangent normal to and intersecting with the profile chord, with the distance between these end points being profile depth L. Blade 3 includes an enlargement of profile depth L at a tip of the free blade end which is at least +10 percent and decreases to zero in the blade central section, with the values being non-negative throughout, with the profile enlargement at trailing edge HK being larger than zero at the tip in the gap-side peripheral section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventor: Volker Guemmer
  • High-speed air spindle
    Patent number: 8382426
    Abstract: A high-speed air spindle including a spindle 1 supported by a first bearing 3 at the leading end side in the axial direction and a second bearing 2 at the rear end side, a driving air turbine 4 fixed in a spindle portion between the first bearing 3 and the second bearing 2, a speed-increasing air turbine 5 fixed in a spindle portion ahead of the first bearing 3, and an air passage 9 of an exhaust of compressed air supplied in the driving air turbine 4, flowing in the sequence of the first bearing 3 and the speed-increasing air turbine 5.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignees: Koushi Itoh, Shinohara Industry Inc., Tomoaki Murata
    Inventors: Koushi Itoh, Hirokatsu Shinohara, Tomoaki Murata
  • Blade or vane with a laterally enlarged base
    Patent number: 8366399
    Abstract: A blade or vane includes a platform 130 and an airfoil 132 extending from the platform. The airfoil has a pressure surface offset in a first direction D1 from a part span mean camber line 148, a suction surface offset in a second direction D2 from the part span mean camber line, and a base 146 that is laterally enlarged in the first direction for reducing secondary flow losses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Eunice Allen-Bradley, Eric A. Grover, Thomas J. Praisner