Patents Examined by Eric W Linderman
  • Patent number: 10393025
    Abstract: A sealing arrangement is provided at the interface between a combustor and a turbine of a gas turbine. The turbine includes guiding vanes at its inlet. The guiding vanes are each mounted within the turbine at their outer diameter by means of rear outer diameter vane hook and are each at their inner diameter in sealing engagement by means of a front inner diameter vane tooth with a honeycomb seal arranged at the corresponding inner diameter part of the outlet of said combustor. The rear outer diameter vane hook allows a relative movement of the guiding vane in form of a rotation around the rear outer diameter vane hook. The sealing adapts the front inner diameter vane tooth and the corresponding honeycomb seal in their configuration to the rotating relative movement of the guiding vane, such that the compression of said honeycomb seal through transients of the gas turbine is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: ANSALDO ENERGIA SWITZERLAND AG
    Inventors: Wilhelm Reiter, Jost Imfeld, Marcos Escudero-Olano
  • Patent number: 10392959
    Abstract: A flame sensor apparatus includes a sensor assembly. The sensor assembly includes a photodiode for sensing characteristics of a flame. The photodiode outputs an electrical photocurrent. The sensor assembly includes an electrical assembly that is electrically remote from the sensor assembly. The sensor assembly includes an electric cable assembly extending from the sensor assembly to the electrical assembly. The electric cable assembly includes an electrical cable to electrically convey the photocurrent to the electrical assembly. At least the sensor assembly is configured and constructed to experience and continue to operate at a temperature at or greater than 200° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Benjamin John Olechnowicz, Troy David Hazelton, Jeffrey Roy Rudd, Fred Yu-Feng Chou, Frederick Louis Glesius
  • Patent number: 10393020
    Abstract: An anti-icing system for annular gas turbine engine inlet housings includes a substantially closed annular housing at a leading edge of the gas turbine engine inlet housing, the annular housing containing a quantity of air and a conduit extending from a source of high-pressure hot bleed air to the annular housing. The system also includes an injector connected to the end of the conduit and extending into the annular housing and one or more nozzles extending outwardly from the injector in a direction that the quantity of air circulates in the annular housing. The system may include one or both of an airfoil on an upstream side of the injector and an air direction element disposed one the injector that causes the quantity of air to be directed toward an outlet of the one or more nozzles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: ROHR, INC.
    Inventors: Joel H. Frank, Lubomir A. Ribarov
  • Patent number: 10386067
    Abstract: A wall panel assembly includes a first liner panel and a coating. The first liner panel has an inner first liner panel surface and a first liner panel outer surface each axially extending between a first liner panel first end and a first liner panel second end. The coating is disposed on at least one of the first liner panel inner surface and the first liner panel outer surface. The coating has an overall thickness that varies axially between the first liner panel first end and the first liner panel second end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: San Quach, Scott A. Elliott, Robert M. Sonntag, John S. Tu, Anthony Van, Joseph J. Sedor, Robert Selinsky, Jr., John J. Rup, Jr., Neil B. Ridgeway, Gerard V. Cadieux, Jeffrey Leon, Monica Pacheco-Tougas, Lisa A. Jenkins, Lisa Tse, Andrew Cervoni, Frank J. Trzcinski
  • Patent number: 10378767
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a hot gas wall for a gas turbine is described. The method is carried out on a hot gas wall having a wall part with a front side and a back side, the wall part being for exposure to a hot fluid on the front side, and the hot gas wall also having a turbulator structure. In an exemplary embodiment, a turbulator structure is attached to the wall by placing a braze foil on the back side of the wall part, placing a turbulator structure on the braze foil, and brazing to attach the turbulator structure to the wall part. In another embodiment, the turbulator structure is attached by passing a current through the turbulator structure part and the wall part to resistance weld the turbulator structure part to the wall part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: ANSALDO ENERGIA SWITZERLAND AG
    Inventors: Michael Thomas Maurer, Jeffrey De Jonge, Karolina Krystyna Sobol
  • Patent number: 10378774
    Abstract: In a gas turbine combustor having an inner and outer liner defining an annular combustion chamber, at least an annular scoop ring provided on each inner and outer combustor liner. The annular scoop ring includes a solid radial inner base provided with bores defined therein and communicating with the combustion chamber to form air dilution inlets. The scoop ring has a radial outer portion in the form of a C-shaped scoop open to receive high velocity annular air flow. The bores of the inlets communicating with the scoop portion to direct the air flow into the combustion chamber whereby the bores of the inlets form jet nozzles to generate air jet penetration and direction within the combustion chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
    Inventors: Tin Cheung John Hu, Oleg Morenko, Lev Alexander Prociw, Parham Zabeti
  • Patent number: 10371094
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine comprising: a bypass duct having a bypass nozzle; an engine core having a core nozzle; and, a mixer duct defined by a mixer fairing and having a mixer nozzle, wherein the mixer duct is arranged to receive an airflow from the bypass duct through a mixer duct inlet and an airflow from the engine core, when in use, and the geometry of the mixer duct is selectively adjustable by moving the mixer fairing relative to the bypass duct and engine core in use.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventor: Andrew Martin Rolt
  • Patent number: 10371001
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a fan, a nacelle arranged about the fan, and an engine core at least partially within the nacelle. A fan bypass passage downstream of the fan between the nacelle and the gas turbine engine conveys a bypass airflow from the fan. A nozzle associated with the fan bypass passage is operative to control the bypass airflow. The nozzle includes a shape memory material having a first solid state phase that corresponds to a first nozzle position and a second solid state phase that corresponds to a second nozzle position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Constantine Baltas, Amr Ali
  • Patent number: 10364751
    Abstract: A fuel injector includes a feed arm with an inlet end and a nozzle body extending from the feed arm at an end opposite the inlet end. The nozzle body defines a prefilming chamber that opens into an annular outlet orifice for issuing a spray therefrom. A plurality of fuel circuits is defined from the inlet end of the feed arm to the prefilming chamber of the nozzle body. Each fuel circuit in the plurality of fuel circuits can include a single respective inlet opening at the inlet end of the feed arm, with a single respective conduit extending through the feed arm and nozzle body from the single respective inlet opening to a single respective outlet slot feeding into the prefilming chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: Delavan Inc
    Inventors: Jason A. Ryon, Philip E. Buelow, Lev A. Prociw
  • Patent number: 10358977
    Abstract: A system is disclosed one form of which is an aircraft that includes a pod capable of housing a work providing device. The pod can also include a thermal conditioning system and a power generation device that can be powered from the work providing device. The pod can provide thermal conditioning services and power services to a payload aboard the aircraft. In one non-limiting form the payload is a directed energy member that can be cooled using the thermal conditioning system and powered using the power generation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2019
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce North American Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Gagne, Rigoberto Rodriguez, William L. Siegel, John R. Arvin
  • Patent number: 10359194
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a gas turbine combustor liner (34) comprising an outer surface (38) and an inner surface (36), a plurality of film cooling holes (44) through a thickness of the gas turbine combustor liner (34), and a plurality of resonator boxes (32) affixed to the outer surface (38) of the gas turbine combustor liner (34). The film cooling holes (44) extend circumferentially around the gas turbine combustor liner (34) and comprise a first set of holes (56) having a first axial row spacing X and a second set of holes (58) having a second axial row spacing X?. The second set of holes (58) is formed in the gas turbine combustor liner (34) in a downstream direction relative to the first set of holes (56). The second axial row spacing X? is greater than the first axial row spacing X.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2019
    Assignee: SIEMENS ENERGY, INC.
    Inventors: Reinhard Schilp, Timothy A. Fox
  • Patent number: 10352244
    Abstract: A gas turbine combustor comprising a plurality of cooling air passages (27A) through which bled pressurized air flows from downstream of a combustion gas flow toward upstream, the plurality of cooling air passages (27A) being disposed in a wall portion (26) side by side and aligned in a flow direction of a combustion gas; wherein the plurality of cooling air passages (27A) are divided via a passage transition groove portion (33) into upstream cooling air passages (27A1) disposed closer to bled pressurized air inlet holes (30a) and downstream cooling air passages (27A2) disposed closer to bled pressurized air outlet holes (30b), and center lines (C1) of the upstream cooling air passages are non-collinear with center lines (C2) of the downstream cooling air passages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Yamaguchi, Satoshi Mizukami, Tomoyuki Hirata, Junichiro Masada, Tetsu Konishi, Kazumasa Takata, Hiroyuki Yamazaki, Takuya Suzuki, Shinya Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 10344977
    Abstract: A combustion chamber arrangement has an annular outer wall and an annular inner wall having an upstream row of tiles and a downstream row of tiles. The outer wall has a concave bend which is less than 175°. The downstream end of the upstream tiles and the upstream end of the downstream tiles are adjacent the concave bend. The downstream ends of the upstream tiles are spaced at a greater distance from the inner surface of the annular outer wall than the upstream end of the downstream tiles. The upstream tiles have curved lips extending in a downstream direction which overlap but are spaced radially from the upstream ends of the downstream tiles. The outer wall has a row of apertures to direct coolant onto the outer surfaces of the curved lips and the upstream tiles has a row of apertures extending to the inner surfaces of the curved lips.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Thomas G Mulcaire, Robert A Hicks, Marcus Foale
  • Patent number: 10337737
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a combustor having a combustor tile assembly with improved cooling air flow channels and enhanced cooling efficiency. A method of manufacturing same is provided which increases production capabilities and the geometric configurations of the exit ports which in turn improve the hot side operating temperature of the tiles in the combustion chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Corporation
    Inventors: John D. Holdcraft, Jack D. Petty, Sr.
  • Patent number: 10337403
    Abstract: A gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) facility (10A) provided with a gas turbine unit (20), a heat recovery steam generator (30) for recovering heat and producing steam from exhaust gas produced by the gas turbine unit (20), and an exhaust duct (32) for guiding the exhaust gas of the gas turbine unit (20) to the heat recovery steam generator (30). At least a portion of the heat recovery steam generator (30) is disposed in the same plane as the gas turbine unit (20), and the heat recovery steam generator (30) is disposed side-by-side so that a direction in which exhaust gas flows in the heat recovery steam generator is parallel to a turbine axis direction of the gas turbine unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES COMPRESSOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hideki Nagao, Masahiro Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 10330011
    Abstract: A fairing sub-assembly 88 for a turbine frame comprises an inner ring 50, an outer ring 48 and a plurality of strut-shells. The inner ring is formed of a plurality of inner segments 82. The outer ring is formed of a plurality of outer segments 80. The plurality of strut-shells 84, 86 connecting the inner ring 48 and the outer ring 50. In another embodiment, the fairing sub-assembly comprises an inner band 45 joining the plurality of inner segments 82 and the plurality of strut-shells 86 to form outer slots, and an outer band 44 joining the plurality of outer segments 80 and the plurality of strut-shells 86 to form inner slots. A method of assembling a fairing 46 comprises inserting the aforementioned fairing sub-assembly 38 into an aft end of a turbine frame 42, inserting a plurality of forward strut-shells 84 into the outer and inner slots at a forward end of the turbine frame 42, and joining the forward strut-shells 84 to the fairing sub-assembly 88.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Conway Chuong, Jason David Liles, Jonathan Ariel Scott
  • Patent number: 10323570
    Abstract: A two-shaft gas turbine of the present invention, in which a mass flow of an air into a compressor is regulated by controlling a set angle of an inlet guide vane (IGV) on an air intake side of the compressor, comprises, as a device to control the set angle of the IGV, a first controller to control the set angle of the IGV based on a corrected speed of the gas generator shaft during low speed rotation of the gas generator shaft, the corrected speed having been corrected according to an ambient temperature; a second controller to control the set angle of the IGV to maintain a constant actual speed of the gas generator shaft during high speed rotation of the gas generator shaft; and an ambient temperature correction part to increase the actual speed maintained constant by the second controller if the ambient temperature is equal to or more than a threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: Chihiro Myoren, Kenji Nanataki, Yasuo Takahashi, Kota Kawamura
  • Patent number: 10316746
    Abstract: A system includes a turbine combustor having a first volume configured to receive a combustion fluid and to direct the combustion fluid into a combustion chamber. The turbine combustor includes a second volume configured to receive a first flow of an exhaust gas and to direct the first flow of the exhaust gas into the combustion chamber. The turbine combustor also includes a third volume disposed axially downstream from the first volume and circumferentially about the second volume. The third volume is configured to receive a second flow of the exhaust gas and to direct the second flow of the exhaust gas out of the turbine combustor via an extraction outlet, and the third volume is isolated from the first volume and from the second volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignees: General Electric Company, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
    Inventors: Jonathan Kay Allen, Bradford David Borchert, Jesse Edwin Trout, Ilya Aleksandrovich Slobodyanskiy, Almaz Valeev, Igor Petrovich Sidko, Matthew Eugene Roberts, Leonid Yul'evich Ginesin
  • Patent number: 10309232
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a shaft defining an axis of rotation and a fan driving turbine configured to drive the shaft. The fan driving turbine comprises a plurality of stages that are spaced apart from each other along the axis. Each stage includes a turbine disk comprised of a disk material and a plurality of turbine blades comprised of a blade material. The disk material and the blade material for one of the plurality of stages is selected based on a location of the one stage relative to the other stages of the plurality of stages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Frederick M. Schwarz, Daniel Bernard Kupratis
  • Patent number: 10309655
    Abstract: A cooling system for a fuel system in a turbine engine that is usable to cool a fuel nozzle is disclosed. The cooling system may include one or more cooling system housings positioned around the fuel nozzle, such that the cooling system housing forms a cooling chamber defined at least partially by an inner surface of the cooling system housing and an outer surface of the fuel nozzle. The fuel nozzle may extend into a combustor chamber formed at least in part by a combustor housing. The fuel nozzle may include one or more fuel exhaust orifices with an opening in an outer surface of the fuel nozzle and configured to exhaust fluids unrestricted by the housing forming the cooling system cooling chamber. The cooling system may provide cooling fluids to cool the fuel nozzle within the cooling system cooling chamber regardless of whether the fuel nozzle is in use.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: SIEMENS ENERGY, INC.
    Inventors: Walter Ray Laster, Scott M. Martin, Juan Enrique Portillo Bilbao, Jacob William Hardes, Timothy A. Fox