Patents by Inventor William Collins Vining

William Collins Vining 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: 10329979
    Abstract: A method for controlling an emission amount in an exhaust gas stream emitted from a power generation system is presented. The method includes determining a pre-catalyst emission level using a combustion engine model. The method further includes determining a post-catalyst emission level using a three-way catalyst model based on the pre-catalyst emission level. Furthermore, the method includes determining an adjusted post-catalyst emission level based on the post-catalyst emission level. Moreover, the method includes determining a difference between the post-catalyst emission level and the adjusted post-catalyst emission level and comparing the difference with a threshold value. Additionally, the method includes determining whether to adjust an actual value of an engine operating parameter based on the comparison such that the emission amount in the exhaust gas stream is maintained below an emission regulatory limit. An engine controller and a power generation system employing the method are also presented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: AI ALPINE US BIDCO INC
    Inventors: Prashant Srinivasan, Maruthi NarasingaRao Devarakonda, William Collins Vining, Edward Owen Reinbold, Dipankar Deb
  • Patent number: 10245539
    Abstract: A filter system and method use a filter housing that defines an interior chamber and that includes an inlet opening extending into the interior chamber. The outer air flow housing has an outlet conduit through which a flow of air having particles is directed toward the inlet opening of the filter housing along a flow direction toward the interior chamber of the filter housing. The outer air flow housing engages the filter housing such that the filter housing is separated from the outer air flow housing along the flow direction to permit at least some of the air to pass around an exterior of the filter housing and exit the outer air flow housing while the particles in the at least some of the air pass into the interior chamber of the filter housing through the inlet opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: William Collins Vining, Robert Francis Manning, Victor Hugo Silva Correia, Corey Bourassa, Jared Peter Buhler, Hojjat Nasr
  • Patent number: 10167725
    Abstract: An engine component for a turbine engine includes a particle collector having a substrate configured to retain at least some particles from a particle-laden stream passing through a portion of the engine. A fluid bypass around the substrate of the collector enables the particle-laden stream to bypass the substrate if the substrate is filled with particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Robert Francis Manning, Victor Hugo Silva Correia, Jared Peter Buhler, Byron Andrew Pritchard, Jr., William Collins Vining, Corey Bourassa, Gregory Michael Laskowski, David Vickery Parker
  • Patent number: 10036319
    Abstract: A separator assembly for removing entrained particles from a fluid stream passing through a gas turbine engine includes a first particle separator for separating the fluid stream into a reduced-particle stream and a particle-laden stream, and emitting the particle-laden stream through a scavenge outlet. Another particle remover is fluidly coupled to the scavenge outlet to remove more particles from the air stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Robert Carl Murray, Corey Bourassa, David Vickery Parker, Byron Andrew Pritchard, Jr., Jonathan Russell Ratzlaff, William Collins Vining, Erich Alois Krammer
  • Patent number: 10001046
    Abstract: A system includes an exhaust treatment system configured to treat emissions from a combustion engine via a catalyst. The system includes a controller configured to obtain an operating parameter indicating catalyst performance. The controller is configured to determine a deterioration factor indicating deterioration of the catalyst based at least in part on the operating parameter. The controller is configured to determine an adaptation term configured to modify a reductant injection command for the combustion engine to account for the deterioration factor of the catalyst. The controller is configured to generate a signal indicating the adaptation term.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Prashant Srinivasan, William Collins Vining, Maruthi Narasinga Rao Devarakonda
  • Patent number: 9988936
    Abstract: A shroud assembly for a gas turbine engine includes a shroud, hanger, and a hanger support mounted adjacent to a plurality of blades. The hanger can have an interior chamber defining a cooling circuit with a particle separator located within the interior chamber. The particle separator can have an inlet for accepting a flow of cooling fluid, such that a the flow of cooling fluid separates into a major flow and a minor flow carrying particles or particulate matter along the minor flow into a particle collector comprising at least a portion of the particle separator. Particles become constrained to the minor flow and pass into the particle collector, while the major flow is separated into the remaining area of the interior chamber to remove the particles from the flow of cooling fluid passing into the interior chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2018
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Hojjat Nasr, Gregory Michael Laskowski, Curtis Walton Stover, William Collins Vining
  • Patent number: 9890723
    Abstract: A system includes an exhaust treatment system configured to treat emissions from a combustion engine via a catalyst. The system includes a controller configured to obtain an operating parameter indicating catalyst performance. The controller is configured to determine a deterioration factor indicating deterioration of the catalyst based at least in part on the operating parameter. The controller is configured to determine an adaptation term configured to modify an air-fuel ratio command for the combustion engine to account for the deterioration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Prashant Srinivasan, William Collins Vining, Maruthi Narasinga Rao Devarakonda
  • Publication number: 20170348638
    Abstract: An oxygen scavenging system that includes a first catalytic converter unit configured to receive an exhaust stream from a power production unit. The exhaust stream includes oxygen. The system also includes a hydrocarbon injection unit configured to channel a hydrocarbon stream for injection into the exhaust stream upstream from the first catalytic converter unit such that hydrocarbons from the hydrocarbon stream react with the oxygen from the exhaust stream within the first catalytic converter unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2017
    Publication date: December 7, 2017
    Inventors: Anthony Herbert Neumayer, Joseph Philip DiPietro, William Collins Vining
  • Publication number: 20170138244
    Abstract: A system includes an exhaust treatment system configured to treat emissions from a combustion engine via a catalyst. The system includes a controller configured to obtain an operating parameter indicating catalyst performance. The controller is configured to determine a deterioration factor indicating deterioration of the catalyst based at least in part on the operating parameter. The controller is configured to determine an adaptation term configured to modify a reductant injection command for the combustion engine to account for the deterioration factor of the catalyst. The controller is configured to generate a signal indicating the adaptation term.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2015
    Publication date: May 18, 2017
    Inventors: Prashant Srinivasan, William Collins Vining, Maruthi Narasinga Rao Devarakonda
  • Publication number: 20170138285
    Abstract: A system includes an exhaust treatment system configured to treat emissions from a combustion engine via a catalyst. The system includes a controller configured to obtain an operating parameter indicating catalyst performance. The controller is configured to determine a deterioration factor indicating deterioration of the catalyst based at least in part on the operating parameter. The controller is configured to determine an adaptation term configured to modify an air-fuel ratio command for the combustion engine to account for the deterioration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2015
    Publication date: May 18, 2017
    Inventors: Prashant Srinivasan, William Collins Vining, Maruthi Narasinga Rao Devarakonda
  • Publication number: 20170128867
    Abstract: A filter system and method use a filter housing that defines an interior chamber and that includes an inlet opening extending into the interior chamber. The outer air flow housing has an outlet conduit through which a flow of air having particles is directed toward the inlet opening of the filter housing along a flow direction toward the interior chamber of the filter housing. The outer air flow housing engages the filter housing such that the filter housing is separated from the outer air flow housing along the flow direction to permit at least some of the air to pass around an exterior of the filter housing and exit the outer air flow housing while the particles in the at least some of the air pass into the interior chamber of the filter housing through the inlet opening.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2015
    Publication date: May 11, 2017
    Inventors: William Collins Vining, Robert Francis Manning, Victor Hugo Silva Correia, Corey Bourassa, Jared Peter Buhler, Hojjat Nasr
  • Publication number: 20170107852
    Abstract: A shroud assembly for a gas turbine engine includes a shroud, hanger, and a hanger support mounted adjacent to a plurality of blades. The hanger can have an interior chamber defining a cooling circuit with a particle separator located within the interior chamber. The particle separator can have an inlet for accepting a flow of cooling fluid, such that a the flow of cooling fluid separates into a major flow and a minor flow carrying particles or particulate matter along the minor flow into a particle collector comprising at least a portion of the particle separator. Particles become constrained to the minor flow and pass into the particle collector, while the major flow is separated into the remaining area of the interior chamber to remove the particles from the flow of cooling fluid passing into the interior chamber.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2015
    Publication date: April 20, 2017
    Inventors: Hojjat Nasr, Gregory Michael Laskowski, Curtis Walton Stover, William Collins Vining
  • Patent number: 9605579
    Abstract: A system includes a controller that has a processor configured to receive a first signal from a first oxygen sensor indicative of a first oxygen measurement, wherein the first oxygen sensor is disposed upstream of a catalytic converter system; and to receive a second signal from a second oxygen sensor indicative of a second oxygen measurement, wherein the second oxygen sensor is disposed downstream of the catalytic converter system; and to execute a catalyst estimator system, wherein the catalyst estimator system is configured to derive an oxygen storage estimate based on the first signal, the second signal, and a catalytic converter model. The processor is configured to derive a system oxygen storage setpoint for the catalytic converter system based on the catalytic converter model and the oxygen storage estimate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Prashant Srinivasan, Maruthi Narasinga Rao Devarakonda, Jassin Marcel Fritz, Daniel George Norton, Sharath Sridhar Aramanekoppa, Medy Satria, William Collins Vining, Dipankar Deb
  • Publication number: 20170074138
    Abstract: A method for controlling an emission amount in an exhaust gas stream emitted from a power generation system is presented. The method includes determining a pre-catalyst emission level using a combustion engine model. The method further includes determining a post-catalyst emission level using a three-way catalyst model based on the pre-catalyst emission level. Furthermore, the method includes determining an adjusted post-catalyst emission level based on the post-catalyst emission level. Moreover, the method includes determining a difference between the post-catalyst emission level and the adjusted post-catalyst emission level and comparing the difference with a threshold value. Additionally, the method includes determining whether to adjust an actual value of an engine operating parameter based on the comparison such that the emission amount in the exhaust gas stream is maintained below an emission regulatory limit. An engine controller and a power generation system employing the method are also presented.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2016
    Publication date: March 16, 2017
    Inventors: Prashant SRINIVASAN, Maruthi NarasingaRao DEVARAKONDA, William Collins VINING, Edward Owen REINBOLD, Dipankar DEB
  • Publication number: 20160169077
    Abstract: A system includes a controller that has a processor configured to receive a first signal from a first oxygen sensor indicative of a first oxygen measurement, wherein the first oxygen sensor is disposed upstream of a catalytic converter system; and to receive a second signal from a second oxygen sensor indicative of a second oxygen measurement, wherein the second oxygen sensor is disposed downstream of the catalytic converter system; and to execute a catalyst estimator system, wherein the catalyst estimator system is configured to derive an oxygen storage estimate based on the first signal, the second signal, and a catalytic converter model. The processor is configured to derive a system oxygen storage setpoint for the catalytic converter system based on the catalytic converter model and the oxygen storage estimate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2014
    Publication date: June 16, 2016
    Inventors: Prashant Srinivasan, Maruthi Narasinga Rao Devarakonda, Jassin Marcel Fritz, Daniel George Norton, Sharath Sridhar Aramanekoppa, Medy Satria, William Collins Vining, Dipankar Deb
  • Publication number: 20160123227
    Abstract: A separator assembly for removing entrained particles from a fluid stream passing through a gas turbine engine includes a first particle separator for separating the fluid stream into a reduced-particle stream and a particle-laden stream, and emitting the particle-laden stream through a scavenge outlet. Another particle remover is fluidly coupled to the scavenge outlet to remove more particles from the air stream.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2015
    Publication date: May 5, 2016
    Inventors: Robert Carl MURRAY, Corey BOURASSA, David Vickery PARKER, Byron Andrew PRITCHARD, JR., Jonathan Russell RATZLAFF, William Collins VINING, Erich Alois KRAMMER
  • Publication number: 20160123154
    Abstract: An engine component for a turbine engine includes a particle collector having a substrate configured to retain at least some particles from a particle-laden stream passing through a portion of the engine. A fluid bypass around the substrate of the collector enables the particle-laden stream to bypass the substrate if the substrate is filled with particles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2015
    Publication date: May 5, 2016
    Inventors: Robert Francis MANNING, Victor Hugo Silva CORREIA, Jared Peter BUHLER, Byron Andrew PRITCHARD, JR., William Collins Vining, Corey BOURASSA, Gregory Michael LASKOWSKI, David Vickery PARKER
  • Publication number: 20150033709
    Abstract: A system and a method of operating the system are presented. The system includes a first sensor, a second sensor and a catalyst. The catalyst is located between the first sensor and the second sensor in the path of an exhaust stream from an engine. The first sensor and the second sensors include noble metal electrodes, and are configured to measure concentration of a gaseous species and produce first and second sensor signals respectively. The system further includes a sulfur detector that is configured to receive the first and second signals, and configured to determine a sulfur concentration in the exhaust stream with a lambda value less than 1. The sulfur detector is configured to detect the concentration of sulfur by performing a calculation involving the first and second sensor signals; and by producing an output signal based on the determined sulfur concentration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2013
    Publication date: February 5, 2015
    Applicant: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Daniel George Norton, William Collins Vining, Dennis John Spaulding