Patents Examined by Carlos A Rivera
  • Seal for a gas turbine engine
    Patent number: 10385716
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine assembly includes a shield that has a first portion and a second portion. The first portion extends radially from an axial end portion of the shield and includes a blade outer air seal contact surface. The second portion extends axially from a radially outer end of the first portion and includes a vane contact surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: UNTED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Paul M. Lutjen, Christopher William Moore, David Richard Griffin
  • Airfoil tip geometry to reduce blade wear in gas turbine engines
    Patent number: 10385865
    Abstract: An airfoil for use in a turbomachine includes a pressure sidewall and a suction sidewall coupled to the pressure sidewall. The suction sidewall and the pressure sidewall define a leading edge and an opposite trailing edge. The leading edge and the trailing edge define a chord distance. The airfoil further includes a root portion, and a tip portion. The tip portion extends between the pressure sidewall and the suction sidewall such that the tip portion is substantially perpendicular to each sidewall. The tip portion includes at least one planar section and at least one oblique section that forms a recess within the tip portion. The at least one oblique section extends from the at least one planar section towards the root portion along the chord distance. The tip portion is configured to reduce airfoil wear during contact with a surrounding casing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Sathyanarayanan Raghavan, Neelesh Nandkumar Sarawate, Kenneth Martin Lewis, Changjie Sun, Ananda Barua
  • Turbine nozzle with cooling channel coolant distribution plenum
    Patent number: 10385727
    Abstract: A turbine nozzle includes an airfoil that extends in span from an inner band to an outer band where the inner band and the outer band define inner and outer flow boundaries of the turbine nozzle. At least one of the inner band and the outer band define a first set of cooling channels and a second set of cooling channels formed beneath a gas side surface of the corresponding inner band or outer band. The inner band or the outer band further define a coolant distribution plenum that is in fluid communication with the first and second sets of cooling channels. The coolant distribution plenum provides a stream of coolant to at least one of the first set of cooling channels and the second set of cooling channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Sandip Dutta, Benjamin Paul Lacy, Gary Michael Itzel, James William Vehr
  • Engine assembly of an aircraft including a display unit
    Patent number: 10377503
    Abstract: An engine assembly comprising an engine and a pod surrounding the engine that is equipped, upstream according to the direction of entry of air into the engine, with a fan provided with blades, the pod having an upstream air intake. The engine assembly also comprises a display unit including at least one light ring arranged in the air intake upstream of the fan, the light ring including at least one row of light-emitting diodes and being configured to emit at least one light beam and to project it on the blades of the fan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS
    Inventors: Alain Porte, Frederic Chelin, Wolfgang Rehm, Nathalie Papin, Irene Moreno Gonzalez
  • Large displacement high temperature seal
    Patent number: 10378451
    Abstract: A seal assembly is provided for a gas turbine engine. This seal assembly includes a tadpole seal with a bulb and a tail, where the tail is directed toward a backwall. The seal assembly also includes a faying extension that at least partially extends into the channel and into contact with the bulb. An exhaust duct is also provided for a gas turbine engine. This exhaust duct includes a seal assembly between a first exhaust duct section and a second exhaust duct section. The seal assembly includes a tadpole seal with a bulb and a tail, where the tail is directed upstream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventor: Gary J. Dillard
  • Aerospike rocket motor assembly
    Patent number: 10378483
    Abstract: A motor assembly is provided for use with projectiles, such as munitions, having relatively low length to diameter ratios. The motor assembly has an aerospike nozzle and a casing disposed about the aerospike nozzle, where interior aerospike volume contains propellant and where walls of both the cowl of the casing and of the aerospike nozzle jointly define a combustion chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: James Kendall Villarreal, Mark T. Langhenry, Jeremy C. Danforth
  • Turbine
    Patent number: 10378369
    Abstract: A turbine is provided with a turbine rotor blade, and a turbine housing having a scroll part extending along a circumferential direction of the turbine rotor blade. The scroll part is configured such that an A/R ratio of a flow passage area A to a distance R between an axis of the turbine rotor blade and a flow passage center of the scroll part has a concave distribution at least in a part of a graph where an abscissa represents a circumferential position around the axis of the turbine rotor blade and an ordinate represents the A/R ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Takao Yokoyama, Seiichi Ibaraki, Ricardo Martinez-Botas, Mingyang Yang
  • Turbocharger shaft seal
    Patent number: 10378449
    Abstract: A seal (42, 82) for a shaft (22) of a turbocharger (10) to prevent liquid from leaking out of a bearing housing (16). The seal (42, 82) includes a cylindrical body extending between opposite end faces (116, 118) and has a cylindrical bore extending between the opposite end faces (116, 118) for receiving the shaft (22) therethrough. The cylindrical bore defines an inner surface (106) having at least one striation (112) extending in a helical direction about the shaft (22). Rotation of the shaft (22) relative to the seal (42, 82) causes a pumping effect on liquid present between the shaft (22) and the inner surface (106) of the seal (42, 82), thereby causing the liquid to flow back towards the bearing housing (16).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: BorgWarner Inc.
    Inventor: Jason W. Chekansky
  • Hydrokinetic energy conversion system and use thereof
    Patent number: 10378505
    Abstract: A hydrokinetic energy conversion system (1) comprising a turbine device (2) comprising a rotor (3) displaying a rotational axis (O), which turbine device is arranged to operate with the rotational axis in an inclined orientation vis-à-vis an incoming body of water (W), and which rotor comprises a blade (10) which is arranged to interact with the incoming body of water such that rotational energy is imparted to the rotor. The blade comprises a first, convex surface (12), a second, concave surface (13) and a free, distal edge (E) where the first surface and the second surface meet. The curvature of the second surface, when viewed in a plane orthogonal to the rotational axis, is such that a maximum depth (Dmax) of the second surface, when measured from a straight line intersecting the rotational axis and the distal edge, is at least 35% of the distance between the rotational axis and the distal edge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: Flumill AS
    Inventor: Anders Holm
  • Rotor device, turbine rotor device, and gas turbine and turbine engine having same
    Patent number: 10378365
    Abstract: Disclosed is a turbine rotor device for a gas turbine, the turbine rotor device comprising a turbine rotor body, and a pre-stressed fiber-wound layer, wherein the pre-stressed fiber-wound layer is wound on the periphery of the turbine rotor body to exert a predetermined pre-loading force on the turbine rotor body. Additionally, a rotor, and a gas turbine and a turbine engine having the turbine rotor device are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Feng Lin, Renji Zhang, Qianming Gong, Lei Zhang, Ting Zhang, Xiao Yuan, Wentao Yan
  • Gas turbine engine with two-spool fan and variable vane turbine
    Patent number: 10378454
    Abstract: A method of operating a gas turbine engine includes modulating a variable high pressure turbine inlet guide vane of a high pressure spool to performance match a first stage fan section of a low pressure spool and an intermediate stage fan section of an intermediate spool to maintain a generally constant engine inlet flow while varying engine thrust.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Daniel Bernard Kupratis
  • Nacelle-integrated air-driven augmentor fan for increasing propulsor bypass ratio and efficiency
    Patent number: 10371095
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for an air-driven augmentor fan equipped aircraft propulsor. The augmentor fan may increase the effective bypass ratio of the aircraft propulsor and reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions of the aircraft. The augmentor fan may be driven by air energized by a ducted fan powered by the core engine of the aircraft propulsor. The energized air may be received by an inlet, flowed through a flow path, and exhausted out the outlet to drive the augmentor fan. The exhausted energized air may impart a torque on the augmentor fan or blades of the augmentor fan. One or more of the inlet, flow path, or outlet may be variable in size to control the volume of air flowed through the flow path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventor: Mithra M. K. V. Sankrithi
  • Load absorption systems and methods
    Patent number: 10371163
    Abstract: A load absorbing system that may include a rotor blade retention system is provided. The load absorbing system may include a block, a first retainer plate, and a deformable core. The block may be selectively positioned alongside a dovetail groove. The block may have a first face directed away from the blade root and an axially-spaced second face directed toward the blade root. The first retainer plate may be attached to the second face of the block and axially positioned between the block and the axially-directed surface of the blade root. The deformable core may be positioned between the block and the first retainer plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Michael Jason Bishop, Rajendra Madhukar Kelkar, Alex Yuen, Andrew Philip Woodfield
  • Air intake arrangement
    Patent number: 10364745
    Abstract: An intake for channeling air flowing past a propeller to an inlet of an aircraft engine that drives the propeller with a drive shaft, the intake including: a static cowling that extends along an axis and that flares outward at an upstream end of the static cowling, and an intake slot that is formed in the static cowling. The intake slot connecting to a passage of the inlet of the aircraft engine, the intake slot including an arched opening that extends less than 360 degrees of a circumference of the static cowling, and the intake slot having a downstream lip with a curved profile that blends into the static cowling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE DEUTSCHLAND LTD & CO KG
    Inventor: Predrag Todorovic
  • Vacuum pump
    Patent number: 10364814
    Abstract: An object is to reduce an adhesion amount of a product in a vacuum pump as a whole and effectively prevent occurrence of a trouble in a vacuum pump electric system due to a magnetic flux leak. A vacuum pump includes a rotor enclosed in a pump case, a rotating shaft fixed to the rotor, a supporting means that rotatably supports the rotating shaft, a driving means that rotates the rotating shaft, and thread-groove-exhaust-portion stators that form thread grove exhaust passages between the thread-groove-exhaust-portion stator and an outer circumferential side of or an inner circumferential side of the rotor. A heating portion is provided below the thread-groove-exhaust-portion stators. The heating portion includes a yoke, a coil, and a heating plate. The heating portion heats the yoke and the heating plate with electromagnetic induction heating by feeding an alternating current to the coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: Edwards Japan Limited
    Inventors: Yongwei Shi, Manabu Nonaka, Yoshinobu Ohtachi, Yasushi Maejima, Tsutomu Takaada
  • Turbomachine blade clearance control system
    Patent number: 10364694
    Abstract: A turbomachine blade clearance system can include an actuator having an anchor portion for fixation to an interior surface of a turbomachine housing and an actuating portion for actuating movement relative to the anchor portion. A turbomachine blade seal can be operatively connected to the actuating portion of the actuator and configured to move relative to the turbomachine housing to adjust a distance from a turbomachine blade of a turbomachine to maintain a predetermined gap clearance between the blade seal and the blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Lubomir A. Ribarov, Leo J. Veilleux, Jr., James S. Elder
  • Guide vane ring, guide vane, inner ring and turbomachine
    Patent number: 10364827
    Abstract: An adjustable guide vane ring of a turbomachine having an inner ring, the guide vanes of which each have a radially inner vane disk with disk thickness increasing in the direction of flow and acting as a bearing pin; a guide vane, as well as an inner ring for such a guide vane ring, as well as a turbomachine are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: MTU Aero Engines AG
    Inventors: Werner Humhauser, Hermann Klingels
  • Variable stator vane mechanism
    Patent number: 10364828
    Abstract: To provide a variable stator vane mechanism, for an axial flow compressor, which is excellent in durability, has a simple structure, and is realized at low cost. The variable stator vane mechanism for adjusting a mounting angle of a stator vane of an axial flow compressor includes: an arm coupled to the stator vane; a rotation ring coupled to one end portion of the arm and located at an outer surface of a casing of the axial flow compressor; a driving machine configured to rotate the rotation ring to cause the stator vane to pivot via the arm; and a friction pad mounted on the casing. The rotation ring is in frictional contact with the friction pad.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: KAWASAKI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takuya Ikeguchi, Kentaro Nakayama
  • Meter plate for blade outer air seal
    Patent number: 10364706
    Abstract: One exemplary embodiment according to this disclosure relates to a system includes a blade outer air seal (BOAS), and a meter plate. A portion of the meter plate is provided radially outward of a radially outermost surface of the BOAS.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Michael G. McCaffrey
  • Nosecap
    Patent number: 10352236
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates generally to a nosecap for a gas turbine engine. The nosecap may be injection molded in an embodiment. The nosecap may have bolt holes surrounded by bolt pockets that are asymmetric about a plane passing through a geometric center of the nosecap and passing through and dividing the bolt hole in an embodiment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Colin J. Kling, Charles W. Brown