Patents Examined by Edward K. Look
  • Patent number: 7972112
    Abstract: Certain embodiments of the invention may include systems and methods for determining an angular position of a wind turbine rotor. According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the method for determining an angular position of a wind turbine may include measuring tangential acceleration and radial acceleration of the rotor, measuring speed of the rotor, determining rotational tangential acceleration of the rotor based at least in part on the change of rotor speed over time, determining rotational radial acceleration based at least in part on the rotor speed, adjusting the measured tangential acceleration based at least in part on the determined rotational tangential acceleration, adjusting the measured radial acceleration based at least in part on the determined rotational radial acceleration, and determining an angular position of the rotor based at least on the adjusted tangential acceleration and the adjusted radial acceleration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Jeffrey Alan Melius
  • Patent number: 7896610
    Abstract: A three-dimensionally vibration-preventing buffering mechanism is proposed, which is designed for use in conjunction with a dynamic module for the purpose of buffering the three dimensional vibrations of the dynamic module during operation, and which is characterized by the use of a group of specially-designed chained elastic members, each being composed of at least three integrally-linked flexure hinges whose axes of concavity are oriented respectively in parallel with the three axes of a three-dimensional rectangular coordinate system, so that the vibrations of the dynamic module in all three dimensional directions can be respectively buffered by these flexure hinges to provide a three-dimensional vibration-preventing buffering effect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2011
    Assignee: Inventec Corporation
    Inventor: Cheng-Shen Kao
  • Patent number: 7871240
    Abstract: A damped spring assembly includes a helical spring. The helical spring is movable along an axis and has a winding direction. A damper is movable along the axis and includes a helical shape. The damper is wound in a direction opposite the winding direction. The damper applies a radial load to the spring for damping movement of the spring along the axis as the spring vibrates. The damper has a very low axial spring rate and it contributes very little to the axial load provided by the spring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2011
    Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation
    Inventors: David Zawilinski, W. Clark Dean
  • Patent number: 7866941
    Abstract: A fan comprises a ventilation device and a vibration device. The ventilation device comprises a housing, an impeller disposed in the housing and rotating with respect to a rotating center, and a driving mechanism disposed in the housing and connected to the impeller to rotate the impeller. The vibration device is disposed on the impeller and comprises at least one fixed element, at least one movable element, and at least one track. The fixed element is fixed to the track, and the movable element is slidably disposed on the track. When the movable element slides on the track, a vibration notification is generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2011
    Assignee: Delta Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Shi-Lin Li, Fu-Lei Yu, Jian-Long Li, Chih-Chang Chen
  • Patent number: 7837431
    Abstract: In an impeller 11, an inlet portion and an outlet portion are provided at one end side and the other end side in the axial direction, respectively. An inlet 29 is formed in the lower part of the inlet portion, and an outlet is formed in the side face of the outlet portion. The inlet portion and the outlet portion are partitioned by a flange portion 40. The impeller 11 includes a primary vane 36 and a secondary vane 38. The primary vane 36 defines a spiral primary channel 35 that connects the inlet 29 and the outlet. The secondary vane 38 is formed in a shape that a part of the outer periphery of the outlet portion is gouged inward so as to define a secondary channel 37 connected to the primary channel 35 and extending circumferentially around the outer periphery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2010
    Assignee: Shinmaywa Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuyuki Nishi, Chikara Takebe, Koichi Tamura, Yoichi Tamaki, Akihiro Ando, Arata Funasaka
  • Patent number: 7828521
    Abstract: A turbine module for a gas turbine engine includes at least an annular distributor and a turbine rotor inside a casing, where the annular distributor includes a plurality of elements in the form of a ring sector, of which a first part supports fixed blades positioned radially towards the turbine axis, and a second part forms a seal with the tips of the turbine rotor blades. The elements in the form of a ring sector are held inside the casing by attachment resources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2010
    Assignee: SNECMA
    Inventor: Jacques Rene Bart
  • Patent number: 7824156
    Abstract: A cooled component of a fluid-flow machine, through which a hot working medium flows, in particular a turbine blade of a gas turbine, in whose outer wall, to which the working medium can be applied, a cooling passage is provided, through which a cooling fluid can flow along its longitudinal axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2010
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Jürgen Dellmann, Gernot Lang
  • Patent number: 7789618
    Abstract: A system in a steam turbine for removing water droplets from the flowpath of a steam turbine that may include a groove for collecting water droplets, and a plurality of moisture removal holes originating within the groove. The groove may run in a circumferential manner around an outer sidewall of the steam turbine, be axially positioned upstream and in close proximity to the leading edge of a nozzle, and have a gradual slope at a leading edge and a steep wall at a trailing edge. The moisture removal holes may be a channel through the outer sidewall through which the water droplets that collect in the groove may flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2010
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Steven S. Burdgick, Frolov Boris Ivanovitch
  • Patent number: 7419356
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method and a device for regulating the airflow around a blade of a windmill. The device comprise a spoiler, which is provided with a cavity. The spoiler is mounted to a surface of the blade in connection with an another flow regulating unit, and the spoiler can change the airflow around the blade by assuming different forms. When the spoiler is in a deactivated form no particular changes of the airflow takes place, as the spoiler runs continually and follows the contour of the blade. When the spoiler is in an activated form the airflow, however, is changed in that the spoiler no longer follows the contours of the blade and creates a discontinuity or at least changes the profile of the blade in such way that the airflow conditions are changed. In particular the airflow conditions can be changed so the effect of the second flow regulating unit completely or partly is eliminated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Bonus Energy A/S
    Inventor: Henrik Stiesdal
  • Patent number: 7413402
    Abstract: An electrical apparatus comprises a casing and a fan-fastening base. The casing has a first opening, at least one second opening and a first connecting portion. The second opening connects to a first side of the first opening. The fan-fastening base has at least one hook portion, a first surface and a second connecting portion. At least one fan is fastened to the first surface of the fan-fastening base. The hook portion buckles in the second opening. The first surface of the fan-fastening base faces to the first opening and the second connecting portion connects to the first connecting portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2008
    Assignee: Asustek Computer Inc.
    Inventors: Chi-Jen Kang, Jui-Yao Shih
  • Patent number: 7413409
    Abstract: An airfoil for a gas turbine engine includes: opposed pressure and suction sidewalls extending between spaced-apart leading and trailing edges, a root, and a tip; and a hollow plenum disposed between the sidewalls. The plenum has a chordwise first dimension at a radially outer end thereof, and a chordwise second dimension at a radially inner end thereof. The second dimension is substantially less than the first dimension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2008
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Matthew Taylor Lewis, Nigel Brian Thomas Langley, Raafat Kammel
  • Patent number: 7413406
    Abstract: A turbine blade is cooled by cooling air that flows through a radial cooling channel. The turbine blade includes a root and an airfoil. The flow of cooling air into the cooling channel is limited by a pre-meter orifice to provide a reduced pressure within the cooling channel. The pressure drop results from the cross-sectional area of the pre-meter orifice being less than the cross-sectional area of the adjacent cooling channel. After flowing through the cooling channel, the cooling air exits the cooling channel through a film hole to form a film layer over the airfoil to cool and insulate the turbine blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2008
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Edward F. Pietraszkiewicz, Om P. Sharma, Kar D. Chin
  • Patent number: 7413408
    Abstract: A spoiler attached to helicopter main rotor blades, tail rotor blades, propellers, aircraft wings, and machined into turbine blades, that reduces vibration and silences their operation. Also, when added to a substantial part of the trailing edges of its rotor blades, the spoiler eliminates the repetitive pop-pop sound common to current helicopter flight. Preferably, the spoiler is made from durable resilient materials that bend with resistance for high speed oscillation and it is secured on the top or bottom side, or both, of the trailing edge of a blade or wing. Further, the free edge of the spoiler exhibits a non-repeating pattern of feather-like projections that collectively break up vortex formation so that the next wing or blade traveling through the same location has clean air/fluid in which to move. In addition to noise reduction, the spoiler increases blade efficiency and wing lift.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2008
    Inventor: Samuel B Tafoya
  • Patent number: 7410344
    Abstract: A brake system for a ram air turbine (RAT) causes the RAT to slow or lock if the RAT achieves an over-speed condition with a centrifugal force operated trigger system that actuates a compression type brake pack to slow or lock the turbine hub.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation
    Inventors: William E. Seidel, David N. Chapman
  • Patent number: 7410343
    Abstract: An outer shape of a section in the longitudinal direction at a leading edge of the strut is an aerofoil whose thickness is gradually increased along a flow direction of the combustion gas to prevent reduction of turbine efficiency caused by a shock wave generated at the strut of the exhaust diffuser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Susumu Wakazono, Kouichi Ishizaka, Masanori Yuri, Ronald Takahashi
  • Patent number: 7399161
    Abstract: A centrifugal fan includes a hub and an impeller. The impeller is composed of a plurality of blades mounted around an outer circumference of the hub. The paraxial side of the blade forms a backward leaning structure, while the non-paraxial side thereof forms a forward leaning structure. A chamfer structure also can be formed at a paraxial side of each blade to enlarge the air inlet of the fan. Each blade further includes a protrusion, which is located at a side opposite to the inlet and extends toward a center of the hub, to increase the airflow rate through the fan motor. The centrifugal fan further includes an anti-decompression cap connected to an inlet side of the impeller to prevent an axial flow of the intake air from decompression.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2008
    Assignee: Delta Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Yu-Chien Kao, Tsu-Liang Lin, Kuo-Cheng Lin, Wen-Shi Huang
  • Patent number: 7387494
    Abstract: A bucket to wheel dovetail attachment includes axially spaced radially extending wheel fingers having discrete sections of decreased axial thickness in a radial outward direction with transition fillets between sections of different thicknesses. The wheel fingers define wheel finger slots for receiving correspondingly shaped bucket dovetail fingers. Pins interconnect the buckets and rotor wheel. The slot bottoms likewise have fillets. The fillets on the wheel fingers and slot bottoms have a blend of different radii with the larger radii outward of the smaller radii to reduce stress concentrations and to avoid stress corrosion cracking in steam turbine applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2008
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Gary Edward Yehle, Thomas Joseph Farineau, Yavuz Kadioglu
  • Patent number: 7387496
    Abstract: A fan assembly and impeller thereof. The fan assembly includes a plurality of blades and a hub. The hub includes an upper surface and a center point. The blades have bottom portions arranged in a circle on the upper surface with respect to the center point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2008
    Assignee: Delta Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Te-Fu Chen, Tsung-Yu Lei, Kuo-Cheng Lin, Wen-Shi Huang
  • Patent number: 7387487
    Abstract: A turbomachine with at least one rotor (6), no or at least one stator (7), and a casing (1), with the rotor (6) comprising several rotor blades (8) attached to a rotating shaft, and with the stator (7) being provided with stationary stator blades (9). The casing (1) is passed by a fluid flowing through rotor (6) and stator (7), and means for the supply of fluid are provided on at least one blade (8, 9) of a blade row of the rotor (6) and/or the stator (7) on aerodynamically critical locations on trailing edge and rim-near surfaces (HRO).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2008
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventor: Volker Guemmer
  • Patent number: 7384244
    Abstract: A metallic component, which may be an airfoil, includes at least one treated patch, wherein the entire thickness of the component within the treated patch is in a state of residual compressive stress. A surface-treated area overlaps at least a boundary between the treated patch and the remainder of the component. The surface of the component within the surface-treated area is in a state of residual compressive stress, so as to resist crack initiation at the boundary between the treated patch and the remainder of the component. A method is also provided for making such a component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2008
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Thomas Froats Broderick, Andrew P. Woodfield