Patents Examined by Michael K. Reitz
  • Patent number: 11958589
    Abstract: A rotor blade control system includes a main control valve having an inlet for receiving liquid and an outlet for issuing liquid to a rotor pitch change actuator. The main control valve is configured to control flow of liquid from the inlet to the outlet to modify pitch angle of rotor blades. A feathering system has a first conduit in fluid communication with the outlet of the main control valve, a second conduit in fluid communication with the rotor pitch change actuator, and a drain conduit in fluid communication with a liquid return system. The feathering system has a normal operation mode for supplying liquid from the main control valve to the rotor pitch change actuator, and a feathering mode for allowing drainage from the rotor pitch change actuator to the drain conduit across a range of flow rates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
    Inventor: Jagoda Krzywon
  • Patent number: 11954408
    Abstract: A method of designing a modified aerofoil shape, the method comprising the steps of: determining a plurality of resonant frequencies of a baseline aerofoil shape; determining that one of the resonant frequencies falls within a predetermined range of frequencies; providing a plurality of aerofoil sections defining the baseline aerofoil shape; and defining a modified aerofoil shape by displacing at least one of the plurality of aerofoil sections relative to its baseline position in the baseline aerofoil shape until one of the plurality of resonant frequencies previously falling within the range of frequencies is shifted outside the range of frequencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Martin Rose, Stuart Marshall
  • Patent number: 11946390
    Abstract: Provided is a rotor blade configured to be implanted in a disc of a rotating body, the rotor blade including a blade root, wherein in a cross-sectional shape of the blade root, the blade root includes at least one stage of protruding parts protruding toward opposite sides with respect to a direction containing a circumferential component, the protruding parts being configured to lock the blade root to the disc, each of the protruding parts has a contact surface configured to come into contact with the disc and inclined so as to extend toward a center part of the blade root from radially inside to radially outside, and each of the protruding parts has a non-contact surface configured not to come into contact with the disc and inclined so as to extend toward the center part of the blade root from the radially inside to the radially outside.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: KAWASAKI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hirotaka Kurashima, Hirokazu Matsuda, Ryoji Tamai, Ryozo Tanaka
  • Patent number: 11939954
    Abstract: A bracket assembly for securing a tower section to a deck includes a lower support bracket, columns, and a pair of upper upper support brackets, which all have vertical plates with circular apertures. Each circular aperture spans at least two tower flange bolt holes. Attachment yokes are inserted into the circular apertures, and each have at least two bolt apertures, which match the bolt holes size and spacing. The yokes are rotated to align the holes for insertion of bolts. Specific yokes are provided to fit various tower sizes. The brackets can be stacked, and the yoke arrangement substantially reduces bolt torque requirements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: BNSF Logistics, LLC
    Inventors: William Stuart, Peter W. Stuart
  • Patent number: 11933222
    Abstract: An aeroderivative gas turbine provided with a casing, a compressor including a rotor mounted on a generator shaft supported for rotation in the casing, a high pressure turbine arranged in the casing and with a rotor mounted on the generator shaft for co-rotation with the compressor rotor, a combustor, a power turbine arranged in the casing and including a rotor mounted on a turbine shaft to drive a load, wherein a thermal insulation coating is present to reduce heat dispersion through the casing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Dresser, LLC
    Inventor: Francesco Caratelli
  • Patent number: 11933312
    Abstract: A turbocharger includes a housing and a rotating group supported for rotation within the housing. The rotating group includes a compressor wheel disposed within a compressor section of the turbocharger, and the rotating group includes a turbine wheel disposed within a turbine section of the turbocharger. The turbine wheel includes a bleed pressure surface. The turbocharger further includes a bleed passage that extends at least partly through the housing to fluidly connect the compressor section to the turbine section. The bleed passage is configured to direct a bleed flow of fluid from the compressor section to the bleed pressure surface to supply a thrust counterbalance load to the bleed pressure surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: GARRETT TRANSPORTATION I INC
    Inventors: Milan Nejedly, Carlos Chavez Castellanos, Kristian Dullack
  • Patent number: 11931981
    Abstract: A blade is provided. The blade comprises a plurality of a first composite fiber plies and a plurality of a second composite fiber plies. Ends of the second fiber plies are staggered such that interlock between the first composite fiber plies and the second composite fiber plies is formed in a region where the second composite fiber plies end and meet with the first composite fiber plies. The blades are used for an engine of an aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Gary Willard Bryant, Jr., Phani Nandula
  • Patent number: 11927255
    Abstract: A blade assembly for a torque converter includes a shell defining an inner surface and a plurality of blades arranged around the inner surface of the shell. The plurality of blades each include a curved portion contacting the inner surface. The plurality of blades each further include a curved region axially spaced from the respective curved portion. The plurality of blades each further include an end extending from the respective curved portion to the respective curved region. Each end includes a notch arranged radially closer to the respective curved region than to the respective curved portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG
    Inventor: Baylor Hartzler
  • Patent number: 11927176
    Abstract: Provided is a bearing arrangement for a wind turbine including a bearing housing and a drive shaft, whereby the drive shaft is arranged within the bearing housing in an axial direction along a longitudinal axis of the bearing housing, the bearing arrangement further comprising a downwind bearing and an upwind bearing as radial fluid bearings, whereby the downwind bearing and the upwind bearing are arranged between the bearing housing and the drive shaft, whereby the bearing housing is formed from at least two separate bearing housing pieces, whereby the at least two separate bearing housing pieces are joined with each other and/or the drive shaft is formed from at least two separate drive shaft pieces, whereby the at least two separate drive shaft pieces are joined with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: SIEMENS GAMESA RENEWABLE ENERGY A/S
    Inventors: Edom Demissie, Claus Michaelsen, Morten Soerensen
  • Patent number: 11905849
    Abstract: Airfoils and core assemblies for such airfoils are described. The airfoils include a leading edge cavity defined, in part, by a leading edge interior rib and a trailing edge cavity defined, in part, by a trailing edge interior rib. A plurality of pressure side cavities are defined by pressure side skin cavity walls with at least one pressure side skin cavity wall not extending to the suction side wall. A plurality of suction side cavities are defined by suction side skin cavity walls with at least one suction side skin cavity wall not extending to the pressure side wall. A main body cavity extends between the leading edge interior rib and the trailing edge interior rib and the plurality of side cavities are arranged in a staggered pattern to define the bounds of the main body cavity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: RTX CORPORATION
    Inventors: Brandon W. Spangler, David R. Pack
  • Patent number: 11905933
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and controller for heating a wind turbine blade that comprises a plurality of heating zones. An icing factor is determined based on environmental conditions and one or more heating zones are determined based on the determined icing factor, wherein each heating zone comprises one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements. The one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements corresponding to the determined heating zones are activated to generate heat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S
    Inventors: Stephen Buggy, Luke Spandley, Paul Badger
  • Patent number: 11898461
    Abstract: A steam turbine provided with: a rotor; a plurality of movable blades each of which has a movable blade body and a shroud, and which are circumferentially arranged at intervals; a casing that has a recessed section for accommodating the shroud; fins that form clearances from the outer circumferential surface of the shroud; a stator blade support part disposed on the downstream side of the recessed section; a plurality of stator blades circumferentially arranged at intervals; and an annular partition plate that extends from a recessed section downstream surface toward the upstream side thereof. The casing has formed therein a bypass flow passage that communicates a region radially outside of the partition plate and a region between the stator blades.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: MITSUBISH HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Chongfei Duan, Hideaki Sugishita, Kazuyuki Matsumoto, Hideki Ono, Yoshihiro Kuwamura, Kiyoshi Segawa, Hisataka Fukushima
  • Patent number: 11885338
    Abstract: A centrifugal compressor, has: an impeller; and a housing including: a shroud extending between a first end and a second end; a structural member having an outer end securable to a casing of the gas turbine engine, an inner end of the structural member intersecting the rear side of the shroud; and a reinforced region at the location where the structural member and the rear side of the shroud intersect, a thickness of the reinforced region in a direction normal to the gaspath side greater than a nominal thickness of the shroud, the reinforced region defining a curved surface extending from a first location on the structural member to a second location on the rear side of the shroud, a portion of the curved surface having a radius that increases from a first radius to a second radius at the second location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
    Inventors: Tibor Urac, Bernard Chow
  • Patent number: 11885306
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for controlling a wind turbine system, more particular for a method for determining shadow flicker at a location and identifying a wind turbine in a wind park with a plurality of wind turbines causing the shadow flicker. A remote detector located at or near the location is determining the presence of shadow flicker and generating flicker data representative of the shadow flicker. A target wind turbine potentially causing a shadow at the location is identified based on the turbine position and the position of the sun. Operational data from the target wind turbine is obtained and it is verified whether the target wind turbine generates the shadow flicker by comparing the flicker data and the operational data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S
    Inventors: Mikkel Kåe Skovdal, Morten Tim Thorsen
  • Patent number: 11885310
    Abstract: A cooling system and a wind power generating set. The cooling system comprises two cooling sub-systems thermally coupled to each other. Each cooling sub-system comprises: a first cooling circuit for cooling a first heat-generating component, a second cooling circuit for cooling a second heat-generating component, a third cooling circuit for cooling a third heat-generating component, a fourth cooling circuit for cooling a fourth heat-generating component, a pump station unit and a heat dissipation unit. The first cooling circuit and the fourth cooling circuit are connected in parallel to form a first branch, the second cooling circuit and the third cooling circuit are connected in parallel to form a second branch, and the first branch and the second branch are connected in parallel, and are connected to the pump station unit and the heat dissipation unit. The cooling system may achieve the fault-tolerant operation of two cooling sub-systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: XINJIANG GOLDWIND SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Dinghui Wang, Jinmeng Li, Junwei Liu
  • Patent number: 11879498
    Abstract: A rotor damping device for a turbomachine is provided. The rotor damping device includes a first fluid damper; and a second damper in communication with the first fluid damper, the second damper comprising a wire mesh, wherein the first fluid damper is transitionable between a working condition and an interruption condition, and wherein, during the interruption condition, the wire mesh of the second damper dampens vibration of the turbomachine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Richard Schmidt, Narayanan Payyoor, Peeyush Pankaj
  • Patent number: 11879476
    Abstract: A closed impeller includes an impeller body including a plurality of blade portions, and a shroud fitted on the impeller body. The shroud is press formed into a curved shape along end portions of the blade portions. The shroud includes a plurality of protrusions protruding from a surface facing the impeller body and extending, and curved, along the end portions of the plurality of blade portions. An amount of protrusion of each of the protrusions is less than a thickness of the shroud. A brazing material is provided at least on end portions of the protrusions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: Daikin Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tadashi Okada
  • Patent number: 11852121
    Abstract: Provided is a direct drive wind turbine that includes: a hub, at least one blade fixed to the hub, a nacelle on which the hub is rotatably mounted for rotating about a rotational axis, the nacelle including an electrical generator connected to the hub in order to receive rotational energy from the hub, a tower on which the nacelle is mounted, and a lightning protection arrangement including a plurality of protection conductors extending between the at least one blade and the tower, the plurality of protection conductors including at least a first protection conductor mounted on an external surface of the electrical generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: SIEMENS GAMESA RENEWABLE ENERGY A/S
    Inventors: Kenneth Traelle Hoerning, Anders Erbo R. Jensen, Henrik Abild Jensen
  • Patent number: 11840940
    Abstract: A turbine blade includes a blade tip defining pressure side cooling apertures. The turbine blade defines a serpentine cooling passage having a first, second, and third legs, and first and second junction portions. The first leg extends radially and is connected to the second leg by the first junction portion proximate the blade tip. The second leg extends radially between the first and second junction portions. The second junction portion connects the second leg to the third leg which extends radially toward the blade tip and is connected to a trailing edge cooling aperture to exhaust the gas to an exterior of the turbine blade. The turbine blade defines a plenum connected to the first junction portion. At least one tip cooling aperture connects to the plenum and is radially outward of the third leg and axially aftward of at least a portion of the third leg.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Mechanical Dynamics and Analysis LLC
    Inventors: Leissner F. Poth, III, Sanjay S. Hingorani, Bensy Samuel
  • Patent number: 11808168
    Abstract: A bucket includes a pair of radially-inner part-span shrouds, and a pair of radially-outer part-span shrouds. The buckets also include a dovetail, an airfoil and a platform extending between the airfoil and the dovetail. The airfoil includes a pressure side and an opposite suction side. The radially-inner part-span shrouds extend outward from the airfoil such that each of the radially-inner part-span shroud is spaced a distance from the leading edge and a distance from the airfoil trailing edge. The radially-outer part-span shrouds extend outward from the airfoil such that each of the radially-outer part-span shrouds is spaced a distance from the airfoil leading edge and a distance from the airfoil trailing edge, and such that the radially-inner part-span shrouds are between the radially-outer part-span shrouds and the platform. At least one of the airfoil and the dovetail includes at least one aerodynamic feature that facilitates mode shape adjustment of the bucket.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Michael Wondrasek