Abstract: A turbopump is formed from a metal additive manufacturing process in which both the housing and the impeller are formed as a single piece with the impeller trapped within the single piece housing. The impeller is formed with an axial bore and a shaft is secured by a tie bolt on one end to secure forward and aft bearings within the housing after the impeller and housing have been formed.

Abstract: An axial assembled interlocking labyrinth seal with a rotor and a stator each having a series of separate spiral shaped teeth with a gap formed on each of the separate teeth, so that the rotor can be rotated within the stator and axially advanced by aligning the gaps of the teeth on the rotor with gaps on the stator so that the axial labyrinth seal can be assembled.

Abstract: A self-metering hydrostatic thrust bearing for a small gas turbine engine. The thrust bearing can provide thrust capacity in the fore and aft directions of a hydrostatic thrust bearing using a single source of air. The air supply is directed towards the loaded bearing and away from the unloaded bearing by the self-metering mechanism operated by the thrust load.

Abstract: An aero gas turbine engine with a last stage turbine disc of a solid bore design. The solid bore turbine disc includes a center tie bolt that attaches to an upstream face of the solid bore disc. The attachment location is under the bore of the upstream stage. The aft side of the solid disc creates a stub shaft upon which a bearing is directly mounted. No fasteners pass through the solid bore disc. Omission of outboard fasteners allow for ease of assembly, reduced cost, reduced weight, and a reduced part count.

Abstract: An axial thrust load sensor for an axial thrust foil bearing used in a small gas turbine engine, the axial thrust load sensor having a axial thrust foil bearing plate and an intermediate washer plate and a load sensor plate arranged face to face to form the load sensor. The load sensor plate has three pedestals on a front side and three pedestals on a back side so that all six pedestals alternate at equal spacing. Next to each pedestal is a strain gauge connected to a controller. The controller regulates a supply of cooling air to the axial thrust bearing in order to control a thrust balance.

Abstract: An aero gas turbine engine with a fan stage and a bearing rotatably supporting the fan stage, where the bearing is cooled by passing cooling air through the bearing, and the spent bearing cooling air is re-injected into the air flow path at a location where the effect is minimalized. The location is just downstream from a leading edge of a stator vane and along a pressure side surface of the vane. A fine mist of oil can be discharged into the bearing cooling air to also lubricate the bearing, where both the oil and the spent cooling air is reintroduced into the air flow path.

Abstract: A turbomachine such as a turbocharger with an air journal bearing and an air thrust bearing arrangement with a fixed air journal bearing connected in series with a floating air journal bearing connected by a hollow spring to supply compressed air from the fixed air journal bearing to the floating air journal bearing, and a forward air thrust bearing and an aft air thrust bearing connected in parallel to a source of compressed air. An air vent cavity is formed between the forward bearing and the aft bearing in which compressed air from all four bearings can be collected and discharged from a housing. Some of the compressed air from the forward thrust bearing is discharged with a compressor outlet, and some of the compressed air from the aft thrust bearing is discharged into a turbine inlet.

Abstract: An apparatus and a process for testing a large combustor or a high Mach aero vehicle in a wind tunnel, where liquid air stored in a tank is pumped to a high pressure above 1,500 psi, then vaporized to produce gaseous air at the same high pressure, where the high pressure gaseous air is then heated to a high temperature and then passed into a combustor for testing or passed through a converging diverging nozzle and then into a wind tunnel to produce a non-vitiated gaseous air flow of at least Mach 5 for testing of an aero vehicle. Water can be added to the high pressure liquid air to produce an air flow having a normal water content.

Abstract: A power plant for an aircraft such as an unmanned aero vehicle in which a gas turbine engine drives an electric generator to produce electrical power for a system load of the aircraft. An engine control unit monitors engine performance and regulates engine power output through fuel flow control to a combustor. A power control module regulates power output of the generator to the system load and to a battery through a bus. A pulse width modulation is used between the power control module and the bus to optimize performance of the gas turbine engine instead of adjusting fuel flow to the combustor.

Abstract: An apparatus and a process for experimentally determining a heat transfer coefficient of a surface which includes a duct having an outer passage for water flow and an inner passage for air flow, the two passages separated by a thin wall membrane such that the water flow establishes a datum temperature on the thin wall membrane, and where air flowing through the second passage and over the thin wall membrane surface which can include heat transfer enhancements features will be heated by the features, and where the heat transfer coefficient can be determined from the surface temperature of the thin wall membrane and the change in temperature of the air flow. The duct with the thin wall membrane and heat transfer enhancement features is produced using a plastic or metallic additive manufacture process for low cost and quit turnaround time.

Abstract: A turbine with a variable inlet guide vane assembly in which the vane airfoils extend between inner and outer buttons, and in which a center of rotation of the airfoil is located aft of an aerodynamic center of pressure of the airfoil. The trailing edge of the airfoil extends into both of the buttons such that no gap is formed between the airfoil trailing edge region and a static part of the turbine during movement of the airfoil from an opened position to a closed position.

Abstract: A system and method for testing a combustor or other component of a large industrial gas turbine engine. A test facility for testing a gas turbine engine component includes a storage reservoir, a heat exchanger (13) with a first fluid flow passage connected to the storage reservoir and a second fluid flow passage, a combustor (18) connected to the second fluid flow passage of the heat exchanger (13), a hot gas stream from the combustor flowing within the second fluid flow passage, and a test component of a gas turbine engine connected to the second fluid flow passage of the heat exchanger (13). The compressed air from the storage reservoir (11) passes through the heat exchanger (13) first fluid flow passage and is preheated from the hot gas stream passing through the second fluid flow passage, and the preheated compressed air from the heat exchanger (13) passes into the test component for testing.

Abstract: A variable pitch fan assembly for an aero gas turbine engine that includes a row of fixed pitch blades in a core stream flow and a row of variable pitch blades in a bypass stream flow, and where a sync ring with a number of hydraulic actuators within a flow splitter of the fan stage is used to vary a pitch of each of the bypass stream flow blades. Hydraulic fluid lines pass through the shaft and through the fixed pitch fan blades into the hydraulic actuators to move the sync ring and vary a pitch of the variable pitch bypass flow fan blades.

Abstract: An apparatus and a process for converting a twin spool aero gas turbine engine to an industrial gas turbine engine, where the fan of the aero engine is removed and replaced with an electric generator, a power turbine is added that drives a low pressure compressor that is removed from the aero engine, variable guide vanes are positioned between the high pressure turbine and the power turbine, and a low pressure compressed air line is connected between the outlet of the low pressure compressor and an inlet to the high pressure compressor, where a hot gas flow produced in the combustor first flows through the high pressure turbine, then through the low pressure turbine, and then through the power turbine.

Abstract: An internal combustion engine with a piston having a piston head with a resonance cavity opening onto the head, and where a fuel nozzle located in a cylinder head is positioned to inject a fuel such as natural gas into the combustion chamber where resonance formed within the resonance cavity will ignite the fuel without the need of a spark plug. Inlet and exhaust ports in the cylinder head allow for air and combustion gas enter or leave the combustion chamber.

Abstract: A method of repairing a worn carburized surface on a sprag clutch comprising the steps of: grinding the worn carburized surface of the sprag clutch to prepare the surface for metallurgical bonding; place the worn carburized surface in a PVD Cathodic Arc chamber; preheat the worn carburized surface to remove moisture and provide for a good metallurgical bonding surface; reverse sputter clean the surface to remove any surface oxide; apply a first coating layer using the PVD process to a maximum thickness; change the coating macro topology by polishing the coated surface; apply a second coating layer using the PVD process to a maximum thickness; and, grind or polish the coating to a desired dimension.

Abstract: A turbocharger for an internal combustion engine, the turbocharger being supported by hydrostatic bearings in both a radial and an axial direction by a compressed air supplied from a compressor of the turbocharger and boosted in pressure by a separate boost pump to a high enough pressure to support the rotor of the turbocharger. The turbocharger hydrostatic bearings are damped using wire mesh or dispersed friction dampers.

Abstract: A non-vitiated compressed air heater facility that can heat a non-vitiated compressed air from around 1,100 degrees F. to over 1,600 degrees F. using three heat exchangers oriented in a vertical direction and connected in series, where each heat exchanger uses a number of heat pipes with burners to produce a hot gas at around 2,000 F that counter flows with non-vitiated compressed air flowing over the heat pipes to add heat to the non-vitiated compressed air flowing through the heat exchangers. The non-vitiated compressed air heated to at least 1,600 F can be used to test an aero vehicle in a wind tunnel under high Mach # conditions, or can be used to supply non-vitiated compressed air to test a large combustor of a gas turbine engine.

Abstract: An integrally bladed rotor with an axial bore having either an inward dishing shape or an axial straight shape with an annular inward projection in which radial cooling holes having an elliptical cross sectional shape are formed, where the radial cooling holes have an elliptical cross sectional shape with a major axis perpendicular to the axial bore in order to reduce stress near an inlet opening of the radial holes in order to increase the LCF life of the IBR. The radial cooling holes discharge into a circumferential channel that is connected to cooling holes extending in the rotor blades.

Abstract: A ceramic core used to cast and cooling circuit in a thin wall turbine airfoil, where the ceramic core includes a row of metering and impingement forming pieces that discharge into a radial plenum, followed by a row of pedestals and a row of diffusion channels that then flow into a single discharge slot. The ceramic core has bumpers of both sides to position the core in a wax mold. The metering and impingement holes are offset from the cooling passage in the airfoil wall so that impingement of the hot surface of the wall occurs.