Patents Examined by Daniel Arble
  • Patent number: 9739207
    Abstract: The invention concerns an aircraft propulsion control system in which a gas turbine engine has an actuable flow opening for control of flow to or from a portion of the engine. One or more sensor is arranged to sense a condition indicative of vapor trail formation by the exhaust flow from the engine. A controller is arranged to control actuation of the flow opening so as to reduce the efficiency of the engine upon sensing of said condition by the one or more sensor. In one example, the flow opening is a variable area fan nozzle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Malcolm Hillel, Peter Swann, Andrew Martin Rolt, Paul Fletcher
  • Patent number: 9683901
    Abstract: For a gas turbine engine (10), a method and apparatus for determining temperature of combustion gas in a flow path (17) of the engine. In one embodiment a waveguide (30) includes a cavity (36) with a first waveguide end (32) including a barrier layer (58) which may be a membrane. With the first end positioned to inject an acoustic signal into the flow path, the barrier layer (58) isolates the cavity from combustion gas. Acoustic instrumentation positioned along the surface (38i) of a wall (38) of the waveguide provides generation and propagation of acoustic signals into the flow path for detection and measurement after reflection back into the cavity. The wall may include sections of two different materials, one material having a higher melting temperature than the other, or one material having greater electrically isolating properties than the other section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: SIEMENS ENERGY, INC.
    Inventors: Upul P. DeSilva, Heiko Claussen