Patents by Inventor Mark William Kowalczyk

Mark William Kowalczyk has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8262349
    Abstract: A steam turbine comprises a steam turbine casing, a rotor, and at least one compliant plate seal assembly situated between the casing and the rotor. The compliant plate seal assembly comprises a supporting member being stationary with respect to the casing, a plurality of plate members movably mounted to the supporting member and extending towards the rotor, each plate member being inclined with respect to a rotation direction of the rotor, and an actuator for selectively exerting a pressure to retract the plate members in a direction away from the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2012
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Norman Arnold Turnquist, Bernard Arthur Courture, Jr., Mark William Kowalczyk, Frederick George Baily, Mark Edward Burnett
  • Publication number: 20100158674
    Abstract: A steam turbine comprises a steam turbine casing, a rotor, and at least one compliant plate seal assembly situated between the casing and the rotor. The compliant plate seal assembly comprises a supporting member being stationary with respect to the casing, a plurality of plate members movably mounted to the supporting member and extending towards the rotor, each plate member being inclined with respect to a rotation direction of the rotor, and an actuator for selectively exerting a pressure to retract the plate members in a direction away from the rotor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2008
    Publication date: June 24, 2010
    Applicant: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Norman Arnold Turnquist, Bernard Arthur Couture, JR., Mark William Kowalczyk, Frederick George Baily, Mark Edward Burnett
  • Patent number: 7703774
    Abstract: A shaft seal reduces leakage between a rotating shaft such as a rotor and a stator. The shaft seal or shingle seal includes a plurality of compliant-plate members attached to the stator in facing relation. The compliant-plate members define a sealing ring between the stator and the rotating shaft. Each of the compliant-plate members includes a plurality of shingles, where adjacent compliant-plate members are disposed relative to each other such that the shingles are at least partially staggered in a direction of axial leakage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2010
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Shorya Awtar, William Edward Adis, Mark William Kowalczyk, Norman Arnold Turnquist
  • Patent number: 7604241
    Abstract: The seal between high and low pressure regions in a turbine or turbo-machinery includes arcuate segments having a brush seal flanked on one or both sides by a plurality of beams lying adjacent to and in contact with one another. Shims separate the bristles of the brush seal from the rows of beams. The cross sectional dimension of the beams is 20-60 times the diameter of the bristles. The beams terminate short of the rotary component while the bristle tips engage the rotary component. The beams take up most of the pressure difference while the bristles take up the balance of the pressure difference across the seal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2009
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Mark William Kowalczyk
  • Patent number: 7497658
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a stator assembly for a steam turbine. The stator assembly includes a stacked stator section and a retention device. The stacked stator section has a plurality of adjacently disposed stator plates. The retention device retains the adjacent stator plates proximate to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2009
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Robert James Bracken, John Thomas Murphy, Stephen Swan, Jeffrey Robert Simkins, Clement Gazzillo, David Orus Fitts, Mark William Kowalczyk
  • Publication number: 20080061513
    Abstract: A shaft seal reduces leakage between a rotating shaft such as a rotor and a stator. The shaft seal or shingle seal includes a plurality of compliant-plate members attached to the stator in facing relation. The compliant-plate members define a sealing ring between the stator and the rotating shaft. Each of the compliant-plate members includes a plurality of shingles, where adjacent compliant-plate members are disposed relative to each other such that the shingles are at least partially staggered in a direction of axial leakage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2006
    Publication date: March 13, 2008
    Applicant: General Electric Company,
    Inventors: Shorya Awtar, William Edward Adis, Mark William Kowalczyk, Norman Arnold Turnquist
  • Patent number: 7287956
    Abstract: The turbine includes a diaphragm having a seal carrier mounted in opposition to seal teeth carried by the rotary component. The seal carrier includes a seal face having a coating of abradable material enabling the rotary component to abrade the material from the seal face. The seal carrier is removable from the diaphragm and is carried by an axial extension integral with or removable from the outer diaphragm ring. A spring may be interposed between the seal carrier and the stationary component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2007
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Robert James Bracken, Sterling Ray Hathaway, David Orus Fitts, Ron W. Korzun, Laurence Scott Duclos, William Edward Adis, Mark William Kowalczyk, Bernard Arthur Couture
  • Patent number: 7255929
    Abstract: The invention provides spray coatings to achieve circumferentially non-uniform seal clearances in turbomachines. In steam and gas turbines it is desirable to assemble the machines with elliptical seal clearances to compensate for expected casing distortion, rotordynamics or phenomena that cause circumferentially non-uniform rotor-stator rubs. The claimed invention allows the casing hardware to be fabricated round, and a spray coating is applied to the radially inner surface such that the coating thickness varies circumferentially, providing the desired non-uniform rotor-stator clearance during assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2007
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Norman Arnold Turnquist, Mark William Kowalczyk, Farshad Ghasripoor
  • Patent number: 7001145
    Abstract: A rotary machine includes a rotatable rotor, buckets radially mounted on and spaced apart about the rotor, a stationary stator/casing disposed about and radially outward from the rotor defining an annular gap between the casing and tips of the buckets, and an abradable seal member provided to the bucket tip portions and disposed within the annular gap such that during differential growth of the rotor and buckets relative to the casing the seal member abrades in response to contact with a base seal member provided to the stator casing. Thereby, clearance between the stator casing and bucket tips is minimized between the moving bucket tips with the stator casing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Bernard Arthur Couture, Farshad Ghasripoor, Mark William Kowalczyk