Patents Examined by Justin D Seabe
  • Patent number: 12018581
    Abstract: A turbine wheel for a gas turbine engine including a compressor impeller and a radial inflow turbine integral to or attached to the compressor impeller is provided. A compressor turbine wheel including features to increase surface area of a surface of the compressor impeller and/or the radial inflow turbine and/or a passage to flow air between the compressor impeller and the radial inflow turbine is further provided. Methods for cooling radial inflow turbines integral to compressor impellers are further provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2024
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce North American Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Douglas David Dierksmeier, Michael A. Karam
  • Patent number: 12012898
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine comprises a fan, a core turbine engine coupled to the fan, a fan case housing the fan and the core turbine engine, a plurality of outlet guide vanes extending between the core turbine engine and the fan case, and an acoustic spacing. The fan comprises a plurality of fan blades that define a fan diameter and a BEAL. The fan case comprises an inlet and an inlet length between the inlet and the fan. The acoustic spacing comprises a distance between the fan and the plurality of outlet guide vanes, and in combination with the BEAL determines an acoustic spacing ratio of the gas turbine engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2024
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Brandon Wayne Miller, Egbert Geertsema, Arthur W. Sibbach, Andrew Hudecki, Timothy Richard DePuy, John C. Schilling, Frank Worthoff, Tsuguji Nakano
  • Patent number: 12012972
    Abstract: The compressor section can have a centrifugal impeller operable to rotate around an axis, the centrifugal impeller having blades, a compressor inlet oriented towards the front and axially relative the axis, a compressor outlet oriented radially outwardly relative the axis, a diffuser having a diffusion flow path, a diffuser inlet in fluid flow communication with the compressor outlet, a diffusion flow path between a rear wall and a front wall; a collector extending circumferentially around the axis, having a collector inlet in fluid communication with the diffuser outlet, and a collector outlet; and hollow structural members protruding rearwardly from the rear wall, the hollow structural members being circumferentially interspaced from one another, each hollow structural member having a length extending radially along the rear wall and having an internal conduit extending radially inwardly along the length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2024
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
    Inventors: Guy Lefebvre, Christopher Gover
  • Patent number: 12006839
    Abstract: A rotor blade in an embodiment includes: a suction surface side projecting portion projecting from a suction surface on a leading edge side at a blade tip of the blade effective portion; and a pressure surface side projecting portion projecting from a pressure surface on a trailing edge side at the blade tip of the blade effective portion. The suction surface side projecting portion includes: a leading edge side end surface including a contact surface that comes into contact with the pressure surface side projecting portion of the adjacent rotor blade and a non-contact surface that does not come into contact with the pressure surface side projecting portion of the adjacent rotor blade during rotation; a groove portion formed from the non-contact surface to the trailing edge side; and a joining member joined to the groove portion, the joining member being formed of an erosion-resistance material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2024
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA ENERGY SYSTEMS & SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinichiro Nakamura, Kenji Kamimura, Tsuyoshi Ogawa, Daiki Tanaka, Shinsaku Amano
  • Patent number: 12006913
    Abstract: Provided is a method for monitoring one or more wind turbines in a wind farm, each wind turbine having a rotor with rotor blades which are rotatable around a rotor axis, wherein one or several times during the operation of the wind farm a process is performed that includes i) obtaining a digital image of the respective rotor blade, the image being a current image taken by a camera looking at the respective rotor blade; ii) determining one or more operation characteristics of the respective rotor blade by processing the image by a trained data driven model, where the image is fed as a digital input to the trained data driven model and the trained data driven model provides the one or more operation characteristics of the respective rotor blade as a digital output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2024
    Assignee: SIEMENS GAMESA RENEWABLE ENERGY A/S
    Inventor: Bert Gollnick
  • Patent number: 12000602
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes: a centrifugal air-sending device including a fan and a scroll casing having a tongue portion and a discharge portion, and a housing having a housing suction port and a discharge portion. A trailing edge of a blade located closest to a wall portion of the housing is a first trailing edge portion, and a leading edge of a blade located closest to the tongue portion is a first leading edge portion. In a first region, a boundary portion located closest to the tongue portion is located between first and second straight lines. The first straight line passes through a rotation axis of the fan and the first trailing edge portion, the second straight line is parallel to the first straight line and passes through the first leading edge portion, and the first region forms part of the housing suction port close to the tongue portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Hayashi, Takuya Teramoto, Hidetoshi Seki, Masahiko Takagi, Kazuki Watanabe
  • Patent number: 12000380
    Abstract: A method for controlling a wind turbine, and an associated wind turbine, includes receiving a wind direction signal indicative of an instantaneous wind direction at the wind turbine and receiving a signal indicative of an instantaneous wind speed at the wind turbine. A rate of change of the wind direction at the wind turbine and a rate of change of wind speed at the wind turbine are determined. A control signal for a pitch system for blades of the wind turbine is determined based on the rate of change of the wind direction and the rate of change of wind speed. The pitch of the blades is then changed with the pitch system based on the control signal to reduce loads on the wind turbine from changes in the wind direction simultaneous with changes in the wind speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2023
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: General Electric Renovables Espana, S.L.
    Inventors: Luca Vita, Pedro Arroyo Beltri, Carmen Ruiz Garrido
  • Patent number: 11999472
    Abstract: A rotor blade retention assembly includes a central hub, a rotor blade including an upper outer surface, a lower outer surface, a blade hole, and a proximal end coupled to the central hub, a strap member extending along a portion of the rotor blade such that a distal end receiving portion extends into the blade hole, and a retainer assembly disposed within the blade hole and coupled to the strap member. The retainer assembly includes an upper bushing and a lower bushing slidably disposed within the blade hole. The upper bushing includes a counterbored portion. The retainer assembly also includes an outboard blade pin disposed within the distal end receiving portion and includes a blade pin inner cavity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daniel George Schuster, Evan S. Tobin, David N. Schmaling
  • Patent number: 12000305
    Abstract: An airfoil includes an airfoil wall that defines a leading end, a trailing end, a pressure side, a suction side, and a mean line. First and second ribs each connect the pressure side and the suction side. Each of the first and second ribs define a tube portion that circumscribes a rib passage, and first and second connector arms that solely join the tube portion to, respectively, the pressure side and the suction side. The first rib, the second rib, and the airfoil wall bound a continuous cooling channel there between. The continuous cooling channel has a pressure side portion to the pressure side of the mean line and a suction side portion to the suction side of the mean line. The pressure side portion and the suction side portion each have a cross-sectioned shape selected from an L-shape, a T-shape, and an l-shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: RTX CORPORATION
    Inventors: Brandon W. Spangler, David R. Pack
  • Patent number: 12000330
    Abstract: A crank and linkage assembly for a component of a turbocharger includes a linkage and two cranks each including a pin whose outer surface defines a pin groove. Each end of the linkage defines a through bore for receiving one of the pins. At each end of the linkage, a plurality of fingers are integrally formed and of one piece with the linkage, the fingers extending parallel to, and circumferentially spaced about, the through bore axis. The fingers are elastically bendable such that the hooks move away from the bore axis and such that a restoring force of each of the fingers acts in a direction to bend the hooks back toward the bore axis. The assembly can be assembled by a push-to-connect process in which each pin is advanced into the respective through bore until the hooks snap into the respective pin groove.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2023
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: GARRETT TRANSPORTATION I INC.
    Inventors: Talha Camci, Karel Mizerovsky, Lukas Novotny
  • Patent number: 11993362
    Abstract: Systems and methods include providing an aircraft with a direct drive dual-concentric valve (D3V) having a body, an outer secondary spool coaxially located within a bore of the body and linearly displaceable relative to the body, an inner primary spool coaxially located within a bore of the secondary spool and linearly displaceable relative to the secondary spool and the body. A plurality of piezo stacks is coupled to a first end of the primary spool, and applying a voltage to at least one of the piezo stacks causes an output stroke of the plurality of the piezo strokes for displacing the primary spool. The secondary spool is displaced together with the primary spool relative to the body if displacement of the primary spool relative to the secondary spool cannot occur.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: Textron Innovations Inc.
    Inventors: Brady Garrett Atkins, Robert Paul Reynolds, Carlos Alexander Fenny, Charles Eric Covington
  • Patent number: 11988108
    Abstract: A turbine vane of a turbine engine such as a turboprop or a turbojet, the vane comprising a root supporting a blade, the vane including at least one air-circulation duct for cooling the air during operation, the duct including, at the vane root, an inlet portion for collecting the cooling air, the inlet portion extending away from a lower surface of the vane root opposite the blade. At least one inlet portion is provided with a helical element for rotating the cooling air in order to improve the cooling efficiency thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: SAFRAN AIRCRAFT ENGINES
    Inventors: Erwan Daniel Botrel, Sébastien Serge Francis Congratel, Simon Parinet
  • Patent number: 11988216
    Abstract: A built-in air pump with rapid inflation and deflation for an inflatable product includes a first channel, a second channel and a centrifugal fan. A first air hole and a third air hole are formed in the first channel. A second air hole and a fourth air hole are formed in the second channel. The suction end of the centrifugal fan is abutted against the first channel, and the exhaust end of the centrifugal fan is abutted against the second channel. When in inflation, the first air hole and the second air hole are communicated with the outside of the inflatable product, and the third air hole and the fourth air hole are communicated with an inner cavity of the inflatable product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: WANGLI PLASTIC & ELECTRONICS (HUIZHOU) CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yonghe Li
  • Patent number: 11988099
    Abstract: An unducted thrust producing system, includes a rotating element, a stationary element. An inlet may be located forward or aft of the rotating element and the stationary element. An exhaust may be located forward, aft, or between the rotating element and the stationary element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Darek Tomasz Zatorski, Jeffrey Hamel, Andrew Breeze-Stringfellow
  • Patent number: 11982283
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a compressor and, more specifically, to an air compressor for a vehicle, which can support a rotor disk and form a cooling flow channel by a first cover and a second cover, and thus can improve cooling efficiency while increasing manufacturability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2024
    Assignee: Hanon Systems
    Inventors: Chi Yong Park, Hyun Chil Kim, Gunwoong Park, Min Gyu Park, Yeol Woo Sung, Hyun Sup Yang, Jong Sung Lee, Kyu Sung Choi
  • Patent number: 11981448
    Abstract: A method for positioning a ram air turbine during its assembly on a primary structure of an aircraft. The method includes the steps of: placing a first distance sensor on a first element among a first flap and the ram air turbine, a second distance sensor on a second element among a second flap and the ram air turbine, the first and second distance sensors being configured to respectively emit first and second signals corresponding to measured values over time of a distance between each of the first and second distance sensors and at least one mobile target attached to the ram air turbine or the first and second flap, pivoting the mast between the retracted and deployed positions, analyzing the first and second signals, and, if necessary, repositioning the ram air turbine according to the step of analyzing the first and second signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2024
    Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS
    Inventors: Stéphane Auffray, Janick Migne, Gildas Maltete, Jean-Gilles Dousset
  • Patent number: 11982293
    Abstract: A blower is disclosed. The blower of the present disclosure comprises: a fan for producing air flow; a lower body providing an inner space in which the fan is installed, and having an intake hole through which air passes; an upper body placed on the lower body to form a flow passage which communicates with the inner space of the lower body, and having a space which is formed to pass through the upper body in the forward and backward direction, wherein the upper body includes a slit which is formed through the upper body and through which air flowing through the flow passage of the upper body is discharged to the space, and the slit comprises: a rear slit adjacent to the rear end of the upper body; and a front slit adjacent to the front end of the upper body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2024
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Jaehyuk Jung, Seungho Baek, Kidong Kim, Seokho Choi, Hoojin Kim, Haein Jung, Changhoon Lee, Hosik Jang, Kibbum Park, Yongmin Kim, Jaehyeon Kim
  • Patent number: 11982221
    Abstract: A centrifugal compressor includes: a housing including an intake flow path; a compressor impeller arranged in the intake flow path; an accommodation chamber formed upstream of the compressor impeller in a flow of intake air in the housing; a movable member arranged in the accommodation chamber; and an annular path formed in the housing, the annular path being connected to an outside of the housing, a heating medium supplied from the outside of the housing flowing through the annular path, at least a part of the annular path being located between the accommodation chamber and a leading edge of the compressor impeller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2024
    Assignee: IHI Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Yonemura, Ryota Sakisaka, Kazuaki Nakamura
  • Patent number: 11976564
    Abstract: A rotor assembly includes a first component, a second component, and a splined balance weight. The first component is arranged circumferentially around a central axis. The second component is arranged circumferentially around the central axis. The splined balance weight is located radially between the first component and the second component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce North American Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Eric Thurston, Jonathan Acker, Eric Engebretsen, Aaron Weishaar
  • Patent number: 11976561
    Abstract: A gas (or steam) turbine is disclosed including: a rotor with at least one array of rotor blades, a stator with a casing and a shroud ring; the shroud ring extends around the array of blades rotor and the casing extends around the shroud ring. The shroud ring has radial size independent from temperature due to its material and is movably coupled with the casing so to allow the casing of the stator to thermally expand and contract during operation of the turbine while maintaining the shroud ring radial size. Also, the rotor thermally expands and contracts during operation of the turbine, and, at working temperature, tip regions of the rotor blades are in close proximity to an inner region of the shroud ring so that clearance is small or zero at working condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: Nuovo Pignone Tecnologie—S.R.L.
    Inventors: Antonio Asti, Leonardo Tognarelli, Simone Marchetti, David Gentile, Enrico Federighi