Abstract: A floating air seal to seal a lower pressure chamber from a higher pressure chamber and allow for both axial and radial shifting of the rotor with respect to the stator while maintaining the sealing capability. The floating seal includes an annular piston that slides within an annular groove formed within the stator in an axial direction with an annular flange secured to it that forms an annular manifold between the piston and the flange. The annular piston includes a plurality of feed holes that open into the annular manifold, and the annular flange includes a plurality of baffle holes that open into the annular manifold but offset from the feed holes so that Helmholtz excitations of the rotor disk do not occur. The baffle holes open into an outer annular groove that forms an air cushion against the rotor disk surface due to the air flow.

Abstract: A process for redesigning a distressed component, such as a turbine blade in a gas turbine engine, in which the distressed component is under thermal and structural loads, for improving the life of the component. The process includes obtaining the operating conditions of the machine in which the distressed component is used, finding the boundary conditions under which the distressed component operates, producing a 3-dimensional model of the distressed component with such detail that the distress levels are accurately represented on the model, subjecting the model to a series of technical analysis to predict a life for the component, reiterating the technical analysis until the levels of distress on the model accurately represent the distress that appears on the actual component, and then predicting a remaining life of the component based on the analysis, or redesigning the model and reanalyzing the model until a maximum life for the component has been found.

Abstract: A bi-metallic strip seal used to seal the gap between adjacent shroud segments in a gas turbine engine. The bi-metallic strip seal is formed from one or more layers of bi-metallic materials with different coefficients of thermal expansion. In a cold state the bi metallic strip seal will fit within the slot easily, while in the hot state the strip seal will expand to fit tightly within the slot and block leakage flow. The strip seal can be formed with the bi-metallic layers oriented similarly or oppositely in order to control the seal force and deflection properties. In one embodiment, the strip seal is formed from four bi-metallic layers in which the middle is bonded while the adjacent layers are free from shear.

Abstract: An inlet case for a small gas turbine engine, where the inlet case is formed as a hybrid piece with a metallic inner shroud cylinder and plastic guide vanes and plastic outer shroud molded around the metallic inner shroud cylinder. The metallic inner shroud cylinder carries an electric generator and provides for a good convective heat transfer surface to carry heat away from the electric generator and into the inlet air flow entering the engine. The plastic guide vanes and outer shroud allow for a light weight inlet case assembly that is also much easier to form the airfoil shapes than a machined metallic inlet case. The plastic guide vanes and outer shroud are injection molded around the metallic inner shroud cylinder to produce a rigid single inlet case. The metallic cylinder includes axial extending slots that receive the lower ends of the guide vanes during the injection molding process.

Abstract: A power plant for burning a fuel in a low pressure combustion chamber to produce electrical power. A first compressor supplies compressed air through a first heat exchanger to add heat to the compressed air. The heated compressed air is passed through a first turbine to drive a first electric generator. The first turbine outlet is passed through a second heat exchanger in series with the first heat exchanger to further heat the compressed air. The compressed air is then passed through a second turbine to drive a second electric generator and produce electric power. The outlet from the second turbine is passed through a first combustor to produce the hot gas flow through the second heat exchanger. The outlet from the second heat exchanger is passed through a second combustor before passing through the first heat exchanger. The outlet from the first heat exchanger is passed through a heat recovery steam generator to generate steam to drive another turbine and another generator.

Abstract: A stator vane with a mate-face cooling and sealing arrangement, the vane end rails include an upper axial seal slot and a lower axial seal slot with an upper riffle seal and a lower riffle seal secured within the two axial seal slots. The vane end rails also include a number of vertical seal slots spaced along the axial direction to receive a number of vertical riffle seals. The vertical riffle seals have an upper slot and a lower slot that allow for the two axial riffle seals to extend through and form a series of diffusion compartments along the seal assembly and mate faces.

Abstract: A composite turbine rotor blade that uses the high heat resistance capability of a ceramic material along with the high strength capability of a high strength metallic material. The blade includes a metallic piece with the blade root and platform with a leading edge spar and a trailing edge spar extending from the platform. The two spars form radial cooling channels for the edges of the blade. A ceramic mid-chord piece is secured between the two spars by a T-shape tip rail piece that includes a tip rail cooling channel extending from the leading edge to the trailing edge. The tip rail piece includes a hollow radial pin that extends through the root to secure to the tip rail piece to the rest of the blade and supply cooling air to the tip rail cooling channel.

Abstract: A turbine stator vane, especially for use in the first stage of an industrial gas turbine engine, the vane including an inner endwall and an outer endwall each with an endwall overhang extending there from, and second and third cooling supply cavities formed between the endwalls and the pressure and suction side walls of the airfoil. The outer endwall includes an end cap with an opening to secure a nose piece therein, and the inner endwall includes an opening to insert the nose piece therein. A nose piece having the shape of the airfoil leading edge is inserted into the openings of the endwall and secured therein by welding. The nose piece includes a showerhead of film cooling holes with shallow angles of discharge. A leading edge impingement tube is secured within the nose piece to provide impingement cooling for the nose piece. Second and third impingement tubes are secured within the second and third cavities to provide impingement cooling therein.

Abstract: A small gas turbine engine for use in an UAV such as a cruise missile, the gas turbine having a combustor forming a primary burn zone and a secondary burn zone, and in which fuel is injected into both the primary and the secondary burn zones by either a rotary cup injector or a plurality of fuel injector nozzles. The secondary burn zone with separate fuel injection allows for the diameter of the engine to be reduced in size but still allow for adequate power and efficiency to be reached for powering the vehicle. Air flow from the compressor is used to cool the combustor walls before being injected into the combustor, and to pass through and cool the guide nozzles and a main bearing located near the hot section of the combustor prior to being introduced into the combustor.

Abstract: An air bearing with a rotor and a static land forming a clearance gap, the rotor including a compressible fluid supply channel to supply fluid to the bearing, and the rotor including a bearing inner race rotatably secured to the rotor, the inner race having an outer surface with a plurality of pockets opening outward and connected to a high pressure reservoir on the inner surface of the inner race through a plurality of radial extending supply channels that function as centrifugal pumps when the inner race is rotating to increase the bearing fluid pressure within the air bearing and increase the bearing stiffness. The inner race pockets extend around the full annular surface.

Abstract: A turbine rotor blade with a spar and shell construction, the spar including an internal cooling supply channel extending from an inlet end on a root section and ending near the tip end, and a plurality of external cooling channels formed on both side of the spar, where a middle external cooling channel is connected to the internal cooling supply channels through a row of holes located at a middle section of the channels. The spar and the shell are held together by hooks that define serpentine flow passages for the cooling air and include an upper serpentine flow circuit and a lower serpentine flow circuit. the serpentine flow circuits all discharge into a leading edge passage or a trailing edge passage.

Abstract: A turbine blade with an array of cells arranged along the pressure side and suction side of the airfoil to provide near wall cooling to a thin thermal skin that forms the airfoil surface of the airfoil. The blade includes a main spar that forms the support for the thin thermal skin and includes a number of cooling air supply cavities and cooling air discharge cavities formed in an alternating manner along the chordwise length of the airfoil. A row of cells extend along the spanwise direction of the airfoil and includes a mini serpentine flow passage with an inlet hole connected to the adjacent supply cavity and a discharge hole connected to the adjacent collector cavity. The cooling air flow and pressure can be controlled for each of the cells by sizing the metering inlet hole to control the metal temperature of the airfoil as selected locations.

Abstract: A turbine rotor blade with a tip region cooling and sealing circuit that includes a squealer tip with a continuous tip rail, the pressure side tip rail being offset from the pressure side wall, the pressure ad suction side tip rails both include concave shaped deflector surfaces on the forward side walls and a row of air jet passages opening onto a top surface of the tip rails, and with radial near wall cooling channels formed within the pressure side and suction side walls to provide near wall cooling, and where the pressure side radial cooling channels supplies the cooling air to the tip rail deflectors to form a vortex flow on the forward side wall of the tip rails, and the suction side radial cooling channels supplies cooling air to the tip rail air jet passages to discharge cooling air to block the on-coming leakage flow across the blade tip.

Abstract: An axial tip turbine driven pump in which a first fluid pumped by an inducer is driven by a second fluid that reacts with a turbine blade extending from a shroud on the inducer. The inducer includes a set of screw thread blades and a second set of partial blades that are covered by a shroud in the aft section of the inducer. A row of turbine blades extends from the shroud and into a manifold that forms the outer casing for the pump. The fluid flow through the manifold reacts with the turbine blades and drives the inducer to pump the fluid from the inlet and through guide vanes downstream from the inducer. Fluid from a pre-burner or a gas generator used to drive a main turbine is bled off and used to drive the low pressure turbine blades and the inducer.

Abstract: An air cooled turbine airfoil such as a stator vane in which the airfoil is hollowed out and an insert is secured within the hollowed out section that produces sequential impingement cooling of the airfoil. The insert is formed from a plurality of plates bonded together outside of or inside of the airfoil to form a single piece insert with the cooling circuit. The plates are bonded together using TLP bonding process with sheets of boron placed between adjacent plates so that no excess material seeps out and into the cooling features formed with the plates. The cooling features of the plates are formed by photo-etching.

Abstract: An electrode used to form a film cooling hole in an air cooled turbine airfoil using the electrode discharge machining process. The electrode includes a number of film hole forming projections each having a metering hole forming section and a diffusion forming section. The diffusion forming section has a trapezoidal shape in which two sidewalls have both an outward expansion and are slanted outward to form a convergent diffusion or slanted inward to form a divergent diffusion.

Abstract: An air cooled turbine airfoil includes a multiple pass serpentine flow cooling circuit formed from a metallic printing process in which the blade can be printed from different materials as a single piece blade. The blade includes a multiple pass serpentine cooling circuit in which the channels include ribs and pin fins that are formed perpendicular to the airfoil wall. The inner chordwise extending rib, the ribs and the f[pin fins and the outer airfoil wall call all be printed as a single piece but all with a different material in order to control the metal temperature of the blade. a seven pass serpentine flow cooling circuit can be formed that flows along the pressure side wall and then the suction side wall and use low flow cooling amount.

Abstract: A turbine blade with a spar and shell construction in which the spar and the shell are both secured within two platform halves. The spar and the shell each include outward extending ledges on the bottom ends that fit within grooves formed on the inner sides of the platform halves to secure the spar and the shell against radial movement when the two platform halves are joined. The shell is also secured to the spar by hooks extending from the shell that slide into grooves formed on the outer surface of the spar. The hooks form a serpentine flow cooling passage between the shell and the spar. The spar includes cooling holes on the lower end in the leading edge region to discharge cooling air supplied through the platform root and into the leading edge cooling channel.

Abstract: A stator assembly having an inner shroud and an outer shroud with a plurality of airfoils extending between the shrouds, and a vibration damping horn extending from one of the shrouds and aligned with the airfoil, the vibration damping horn having a higher stiffness than the airfoil, the vibration damping horn extends into a damping chamber formed between the shroud and a seal plate, and the damping chamber is filled with ceramic balls that rub against the vibration damping horn to dissipate vibration energy from the airfoil by friction.

Abstract: A card seal with an annular arrangement of cards that are positioned within an annular groove of a casing, and a conical flexible seal is secured to the casing on the low pressure side of the cards. The cards and the flexible seal both includes slanted surfaces that interact during operation such that the flexible seal gap decreases with the rotor shaft and the cards are secured within the annular groove during assembly and installation of the card seal. The flexible seal blocks leakage through the cards and includes an axial extending inner end that can include an abradable material to allow for rub with the shaft while decreasing the gap to prevent leakage across the cards.