Patents by Inventor Ross A. Hewitt
Ross A. Hewitt 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).
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Patent number: 7343732Abstract: A combustion chamber/supersonic nozzle assembly is cooled by an array of coolant channels in the wall of the assembly with coolant being fed to the assembly at the throat plane between the subsonic (convergent) and supersonic (divergent) sections. A minor portion of the coolant entering at the throat plane is directed to coolant channels in the supersonic section wall, while the remainder is directed to a complex arrangement of channels in the subsonic section wall. The latter arrangement includes an outer layer of wide axially oriented channels for delivery of coolant to, and removal from, an inner layer of smaller, circumferentially oriented channels that are adjacent to the hot gas and carry the bulk of the coolant load. The path of coolant travel through each inner channel is relatively short, lessening the pressure drop through those channels relative to coolant channel arrangements of the prior art.Type: GrantFiled: March 2, 2004Date of Patent: March 18, 2008Assignee: Aerojet-General CorporationInventor: Ross A. Hewitt
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Publication number: 20070029408Abstract: A throttling injector is constructed with a swirl chamber, a plurality of tangentially directed liquid fuel inlets and an outlet orifice, the inlets arranged to create a swirling flow in the swirl chamber to leave through the outlet in a stream that is in the shape of a hollow tube or cone. Variations in the number of inlets that are actuated results in variations in the thickness of the wall of liquid in the tube or cone and hence variations in the volumetric flow rate of fuel ejected from the outlet orifice without changing the linear velocity of the fuel in the axial direction through the orifice or the pressure drop across the orifice. The injector thus permits throttling to occur from a high to a low volumetric fuel flow rate without the chugging instability that plagues liquid-fuel-fed combustion chambers of the prior art.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 2, 2005Publication date: February 8, 2007Applicant: Aerojet-General CorporationInventor: Ross Hewitt
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Publication number: 20060144959Abstract: A combustion chamber/supersonic nozzle assembly is cooled by an array of coolant channels in the wall of the assembly with coolant being fed to the assembly at the throat plane between the subsonic (convergent) and supersonic (divergent) sections. A minor portion of the coolant entering at the throat plane is directed to coolant channels in the supersonic section wall, while the remainder is directed to a complex arrangement of channels in the subsonic section wall. The latter arrangement includes an outer layer of wide axially oriented channels for delivery of coolant to, and removal from, an inner layer of smaller, circumferentially oriented channels that are adjacent to the hot gas and carry the bulk of the coolant load. The path of coolant travel through each inner channel is relatively short, lessening the pressure drop through those channels relative to coolant channel arrangements of the prior art.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 2, 2004Publication date: July 6, 2006Inventor: Ross Hewitt
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Publication number: 20060021343Abstract: The present invention provides heat exchanging elements for use in Stirling engines. According to the present invention, the heat exchanging elements are made from muliple platelets that are stacked and joined together. The use of platelets to make heat exchanging elements permits Stirling engines to run more effiecient because the heat transfer and combustion processes are improved. In one embodiment, multi-stage combustion can be introduced with platlets, along with the flexibility to use different types of fuels. In another embodiment, a single component constructed from platelets can provide the heat transfer rquirements betweeen the combustion gas/working gas, working gas in the regenerator and the working gas/coolant fluid of a Stirling engine. In another embodiment, the platelet heat exchanging element can recieve solar energy to heat the Stirling engine's working gas. Also, this invention provides a heat exchanging method that allows for multiple fuilds to flow in opposing or same direction.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 2, 2005Publication date: February 2, 2006Inventors: Joseph Maceda, Randall Peeters, Felix Chen, Ross Hewitt, Jackson Ito, Kenneth Klaas, John Grimes, Svein Hestevik
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Patent number: 6931848Abstract: The present invention provides heat exchanging elements for use in Stirling engines. According to the present invention, the heat exchanging elements are made from muliple platelets that are stacked and joined together. The use of platelets to make heat exchanging elements permits Stirling engines to run more effiecient because the heat transfer and combustion processes are improved. In one embodiment, multi-stage combustion can be introduced with platlets, along with the flexibility to use different types of fuels. In another embodiment, a single component constructed from platelets can provide the heat transfer rquirements betweeen the combustion gas/working gas, working gas in the regenerator and the working gas/coolant fluid of a Stirling engine. In another embodiment, the platelet heat exchanging element can recieve solar energy to heat the Stirling engine's working gas. Also, this invention provides a heat exchanging method that allows for multiple fluids to flow in opposing or same direction.Type: GrantFiled: January 8, 2003Date of Patent: August 23, 2005Assignee: Power Play Energy L.L.C.Inventors: Joseph P. Maceda, Randall L. Peeters, Felix F. Chen, Ross A. Hewitt, Jackson I. Ito, Kenneth P. Klaas, John L. Grimes, Svein Hestevik
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Patent number: 6832471Abstract: In a supersonic nozzle incorporating injectors and a combustion chamber as part of an expander cycle rocket engine, the oxidizer is injected in two streams. One of the streams, preferably a small fraction of the total, is injected into an upstream or preburner section of the combustion chamber and the other to a downstream or main section of the chamber. The preburner combustion gas is cooled in a substantially uniform manner to a moderate temperature by cooling the bulk of the gas rather than cooling only the gas in a boundary layer adjacent to the chamber wall. The combustion gas produced in the downstream section is hotter, and heat from that gas is drawn through the chamber wall into a jacket. The limited combustion in the preburner permits the use of a cooling element with highly intimate heat exchange construction, extracting a high level of energy from the preburner gas without damage to the cooling element and an overall improvement in the regenerative cooling.Type: GrantFiled: March 12, 2003Date of Patent: December 21, 2004Assignee: Aerojet-General CorporationInventor: Ross A. Hewitt
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Patent number: 6802179Abstract: A convergent-divergent rocket nozzle is formed by joining two coaxially aligned conical sections at a throat plane, each diverging outward from the throat plane. Coolant channels formed in the wall of the nozzle are arranged in spirals around the nozzle axis. Preferably, the conical sections are formed from platelet laminates rolled into conical form with a single spiral seam, and at least one of the conical sections is a composite of two or more component conical sections separately formed and then joined in a nested arrangement with the seams not superimposed. A further preferred construction is one in which the convergent end of one conical section is split radially into strips that are then spread apart to serve as bonding surfaces to bond to the other conical section.Type: GrantFiled: December 2, 2002Date of Patent: October 12, 2004Assignee: Aerojet-General CorporationInventor: Ross A. Hewitt
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Patent number: 6799417Abstract: Heat is extracted from the combustion gas in a rocket engine combustion chamber by diverting portions of the gas through channels in the nozzle wall. The channels are layered between channels of coolant, which in expander cycle rocket engines is uncombusted fuel, to achieve intimate heat exchange between the combustion gas and the fuel. The combustion gas channels are relatively short, returning combustion gas thus cooled to the chamber interior. By drawing combustion gas from the chamber interior into the chamber wall, the cooling process no longer relies on the combustion gas boundary layer for heat transfer as in the prior art.Type: GrantFiled: February 5, 2003Date of Patent: October 5, 2004Assignee: Aerojet-General CorporationInventor: Ross A. Hewitt
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Publication number: 20040177603Abstract: In a supersonic nozzle incorporating injectors and a combustion chamber as part of an expander cycle rocket engine, the oxidizer is injected in two streams. One of the streams, preferably a small fraction of the total, is injected into an upstream or preburner section of the combustion chamber and the other to a downstream or main section of the chamber. The preburner combustion gas is cooled in a substantially uniform manner to a moderate temperature by cooling the bulk of the gas rather than cooling only the gas in a boundary layer adjacent to the chamber wall. The combustion gas produced in the downstream section is hotter, and heat from that gas is drawn through the chamber wall into a jacket. The limited combustion in the preburner permits the use of a cooling element with highly intimate heat exchange construction, extracting a high level of energy from the preburner gas without damage to the cooling element and an overall improvement in the regenerative cooling.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 12, 2003Publication date: September 16, 2004Applicant: Aerojet-General CorporationInventor: Ross A. Hewitt
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Publication number: 20040168428Abstract: A convergent-divergent rocket nozzle is formed by joining two coaxially aligned conical sections at a throat plane, each diverging outward from the throat plane. Coolant channels formed in the wall of the nozzle are arranged in spirals around the nozzle axis. Preferably, the conical sections are formed from platelet laminates rolled into conical form with a single spiral seam, and at least one of the conical sections is a composite of two or more component conical sections separately formed and then joined in a nested arrangement with the seams not superimposed. A further preferred construction is one in which the convergent end of one conical section is split radially into strips that are then spread apart to serve as bonding surfaces to bond to the other conical section.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 2, 2002Publication date: September 2, 2004Applicant: Aerojet-General CorporationInventor: Ross A. Hewitt
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Publication number: 20040148923Abstract: Heat is extracted from the combustion gas in a rocket engine combustion chamber by diverting portions of the gas through channels in the nozzle wall. The channels are layered between channels of coolant, which in expander cycle rocket engines is uncombusted fuel, to achieve intimate heat exchange between the combustion gas and the fuel. The combustion gas channels are relatively short, returning combustion gas thus cooled to the chamber interior. By drawing combustion gas from the chamber interior into the chamber wall, the cooling process no longer relies on the combustion gas boundary layer for heat transfer as in the prior art.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 5, 2003Publication date: August 5, 2004Applicant: Aerojet-General Corporation, a corporation of the state of OhioInventor: Ross A. Hewitt
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Publication number: 20030163990Abstract: The present invention provides heat exchanging elements for use in Stirling engines. According to the present invention, the heat exchanging elements are made from muliple platelets that are stacked and joined together. The use of platelets to make heat exchanging elements permits Stirling engines to run more effiecient because the heat transfer and combustion processes are improved. In one embodiment, multi-stage combustion can be introduced with platlets, along with the flexibility to use different types of fuels. In another embodiment, a single component constructed from platelets can provide the heat transfer rquirements betweeen the combustion gas/working gas, working gas in the regenerator and the working gas/coolant fluid of a Stirling engine. In another embodiment, the platelet heat exchanging element can recieve solar energy to heat the Stirling engine's working gas. Also, this invention provides a heat exchanging method that allows for multiple fluids to flow in opposing or same direction.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 8, 2003Publication date: September 4, 2003Inventors: Joseph P. Maceda, Randall L. Peeters, Felix F. Chen, Ross A. Hewitt, Jackson I. Ito, Kenneth P. Klaas, John L. Grimes, Svein Hestevik
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Patent number: 6513326Abstract: The present invention provides heat exchanging elements for use in Stirling engines. According to the present invention, the heat exchanging elements are made from muliple platelets that are stacked and joined together. The use of platelets to make heat exchanging elements permits Stirling engines to run more effiecient because the heat transfer and combustion processes are improved. In one embodiment, multi-stage combustion can be introduced with platlets, along with the flexibility to use different types of fuels. In another embodiment, a single component constructed from platelets can provide the heat transfer requirements between the combustion gas/working gas, working gas in the regenerator and the working gas/coolant fluid of a Stirling engine. In another embodiment, the platelet heat exchanging element can recieve solar energy to heat the Stirling engine's working gas. Also, this invention provides a heat exchanging method that allows for multiple fluids to flow in opposing or same direction.Type: GrantFiled: March 4, 2002Date of Patent: February 4, 2003Inventors: Joseph P. Maceda, Randall L. Peeters, Felix F. Chen, Ross A. Hewitt, Jackson I. Ito, Kenneth P. Klaas, John L. Grimes, Svein Hestevik