Patents Examined by Louis Casaregola
  • Patent number: 7966808
    Abstract: A baffle seal for a thrust reverser of a gas turbine engine includes a seal body of a resilient material. The seal body has a relatively flat central portion with opposed front and back sides. A raised sealing rim extends at least partially around the central portion. An outer periphery of the sealing rim extends beyond an outer periphery of the central portion so as to define an exposed sealing surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Chi-Ling Michael Tsou, Carl Francis Holdren, William Andrew Bailey, Dean Thomas Lenahan
  • Patent number: 7966834
    Abstract: A fuel injector for a gas turbine combustor is disclosed which includes a fuel nozzle for issuing fuel into the combustor for combustion, at least one photodetector responsive to flame radiation indicative of an OH chemiluminescence peak, and at least one photodiode responsive to flame radiation indicative of a CH chemiluminescence peak.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: Rosemount Aerospace Inc.
    Inventor: Douglas C. Myhre
  • Patent number: 7958719
    Abstract: A fuel injector system for combustion engines and motors, such as pulsed bipropellant thrusters, includes noncircular fuel and oxidizer injectors at the ends of respective dribble channels for controlling the mixture ratio of the propellants passing into a combustion chambers for maintaining a desire or ideal mixture ratio as determined by the cross-sectional area of the injectors well suited for pulse combustion fuel injector systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2011
    Assignee: The Aerospace Corporation
    Inventor: Brian Blaise Brady
  • Patent number: 7946107
    Abstract: There is provided a mixture ratio stabilizer for a liquid propellant rocket engine which comprises: a body internally having a chamber and a fuel supply hole communicating with an end of the chamber to receive fuel from a fuel supply pump, an oxidizer inlet, and a fuel outlet; a spool guide in the chamber and including a plurality of first orifices for the fuel outlet and the fuel supply hole to communicate with each other; a bellows in the chamber and having one end adjacent to the spool guide and the other end positioned adjacent to the oxidizer inlet, to expand and contract in accordance with the pressure of an oxidizer which flows into the oxidizer inlet; and a spool having a part placed in the spool guide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2011
    Assignee: Korea Aerospace Research Institute
    Inventor: Tae Kyu Jung
  • Patent number: 7926283
    Abstract: Cooling is provided for a gas turbine combustion system that includes a first member, such as a liner, having exterior and interior surfaces that define a wall therebetween and a central area. A second member, such as a cap, is located adjacent that interior surface. A source of cooling gas is in fluid communication with the exterior surface of the first member. An open space, in which is located a hula seal, is located between the interior surface of the first member and the second member. At least one opening in the wall of the first member provides a passageway for the cooling gas from the exterior surface of the first member to the open space. The passageway has a directional axis along which the cooling gas flows and is discharged into the open space. The directional axis is substantially oriented in a direction other than a direction towards the central area of the first member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2011
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: William Byrne, Mert Berkman, David Cihlar
  • Patent number: 7926260
    Abstract: A shaft for a gas turbine engine is provided that includes a first shaft section, a second shaft section, a first flexible linkage, and a second flexible linkage. The first shaft section extends between a forward axial end and an aft axial end along a first axial centerline. The second shaft section extends between a forward axial end and an aft axial end along a second axial centerline. The first flexible linkage includes a bridge section connected between a first diaphragm and a second diaphragm. The first diaphragm is connected to the aft axial end of the first shaft section. The second diaphragm is connected to the forward axial end of the second shaft section. The second flexible linkage includes a diaphragm and a hub. The second flexible linkage diaphragm cantilevers radially outwardly from an inner radial end to an outer radial end, and is connected to the aft axial end of the second shaft section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2011
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: William G. Sheridan, Michael E. McCune, Alessio Pescosolido
  • Patent number: 7921637
    Abstract: To provide a turbofan jet engine which is capable of increasing the bypass ratio without increasing the fan diameter, and of reducing air resistance acting on the engine, a front fan duct that discharges air compressed by a front fan to the atmosphere and an aft fan duct that introduces air into an aft fan are disposed such as to change cross-sectional shapes thereof by rotating around a core engine in a counterclockwise direction, so that the cross-sectional geometric relationship between the front fan duct and the aft fan duct at a position immediately posterior to the front fan and a cross-sectional geometric relationship between the front fan duct and the aft fan duct at a position immediately anterior to the aft fan are inverted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2011
    Assignee: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
    Inventors: Ryoji Yanagi, Hitoshi Fujiwara
  • Patent number: 7905093
    Abstract: A method for operating a gas turbine engine including a compressor and a combustor is provided. The method comprises channeling between about 0% to about 8% of the total airflow discharged from a compressor towards a pilot swirler coupled within the burner, wherein the burner includes a main swirler and an annular centerbody extending between the pilot and main swirlers, injecting a portion of the total fuel flow supplied to the burner through a plurality of apertures defined in a hollow pilot centerbody coupled within the pilot swirler, channeling the remaining airflow discharged from the compressor towards the main swirler, and injecting the remaining fuel flow supplied to the burner through at least one main swirler vane coupled within the main swirler, such that the portion of fuel is pre-mixed with a portion of the total airflow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Shui-Chi Li, Michael Louis Vermeersch, Zhong-Tao Dai, Timothy James Held, Mark Anthony Mueller
  • Patent number: 7900461
    Abstract: The invention is a combination that includes a gas turbine engine extending along an axis. The gas turbine engine includes an annular combustor with a combustor liner. The combination of the invention also includes a plurality of projections extending from the combustor liner and spaced from one another circumferentially about the axis. The combination of the invention also includes a free-standing ring disposed about the combustor liner and positioned adjacent to the plurality of projections along the axis. The plurality of projections engage a corresponding circumferentially-facing portion of the free-standing ring and circumferentially support the combustor liner while allowing relative radial displacement between the combustor liner and the free-standing ring. The combination of the invention also includes a rolling assembly operably disposed between the free-standing ring and the plurality of projections to reduce binding during the relative radial displacement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2011
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Corporation
    Inventors: Bruce Edward Varney, Vickie Rae Smiley, Todd S. Taylor, Jack Dwane Petty, Sr.
  • Patent number: 7895819
    Abstract: A system for driving a fuel pump in a turbine engine is disclosed. The system includes an electric motor and a fluid flow assistance unit controlled by a control valve. In the system, the control valve is a regulator valve the opening of which is controlled as a function of information representative of the speed of the pump, and/or the speed of the turbine engine, and/or the flow rate of fuel delivered to the turbine engine. As a result, operating safety of the turbine engine can be increased in the event of the electric motor failing or of its electricity generator failing, and the weight/size/cost ratios of the drive system are improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2011
    Assignee: Hispano Suiza
    Inventor: Regis Michel Paul Deldalle
  • Patent number: 7870740
    Abstract: An afterbody for a turbojet engine is disclosed. The afterbody includes an afterburner casing, a thermal protection liner, and a diaphragm-forming assembly interposed between the liner and the casing. The diaphragm-forming assembly defines a flow area which is traversed by a ventilation stream. The diaphragm-forming assembly includes two annular plates overlapping one another, each being perforated with a plurality of apertures and being mounted on the liner and the casing respectively. The apertures jointly define the flow area of the assembly. Furthermore, the assembly is designed such that the expansion of the liner causes an angular displacement of the plate with respect to the plate, leading to an increase in the size of the flow area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2011
    Assignee: SNECMA
    Inventors: Jacques Marcel Arthur Bunel, Thierry Andre Emmanuel Cortes, Alain Pierre Page, Fabienne Vagner
  • Patent number: 7866161
    Abstract: A gas engine plant that includes a combustion engine adapted to combust gaseous fuel receives fuel containing hydrocarbons, reforms the fuel by cracking the heavier hydrocarbons in the fuel while minimizing cracking of methane, and feeds the reformed fuel in gaseous form to the combustion engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2011
    Assignee: Wärtsilä Finland Oy
    Inventors: Timo Mahlanen, Sören Karlsson
  • Patent number: 7849696
    Abstract: An annular combustion chamber comprising axial walls interconnected by a chamber end wall having a coefficient of thermal expansion that is different from that of the axial walls, the chamber end wall being provided with a plurality of inner and outer fastener tabs secured by fastener systems to the end portions of the axial walls. Each fastener system comprises a bolt, a nut tightened onto one of the ends of the bolt, and a slideway bushing disposed around the bolt between the nut and the end portion of the corresponding axial wall, a determined amount of radial clearance being provided between the nut and the end portion of the axial wall so as to enable the chamber end wall to expand radially freely in operation relative to the axial walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2010
    Assignee: SNECMA
    Inventors: Mario Cesar De Sousa, Didier Hippolyte Hernandez, Laurent Pierre Elysee Gaston Marnas
  • Patent number: 7827777
    Abstract: A combustor arrangement for a gas turbine engine (31) has a split line (42) and a plurality of burners (20,37) arranged in an annular ring (40). The burners (46) of the combustor on either side of the split line (42) have a separation distance of at least two times the average separation distance between burners (48) distant from the split line (42).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2010
    Assignee: ALSTOM Technology Ltd.
    Inventors: Adnan Eroglu, Oliver Riccius, Klaus Knapp, Peter Flohr
  • Patent number: 7818958
    Abstract: A nacelle for an aircraft high-bypass jet engine, in which a jet engine having a longitudinal axis is mounted, the nacelle including a wall concentrically and at least partially surrounding the jet engine and defining with the latter an annular duct for fluid inner flow, including at the downstream end of the nacelle wall a passage section of a flow outlet. The nacelle includes a displacement mechanism displacing on request a portion of the nacelle wall to modify the passage section of the flow outlet through which a major portion of the flow escapes, the displacement forming in the nacelle wall at least one opening through which a small portion of a leak flow, naturally escapes. The nacelle further includes a fluid device that uses a fluid for compelling the leak flow to flow along the outer face of the portion of the nacelle wall located downstream relative to the at least one opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2010
    Assignee: Airbus France
    Inventors: Guillaume Bulin, Patrick Oberle, Thierry Surply
  • Patent number: 6000210
    Abstract: A turboprop engine having an oil cooler which is disposed in the engine pod and upon which cooling air acts. The oil cooler is disposed in a flow duct which at the rear opens into the environment and at the front can be connected alternately to an air-inlet opening or to the feed duct of the compressor of the aircraft gas turbine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 14, 1999
    Assignee: BMW Rolls Royce GmbH
    Inventor: Dimitrie Negulescu