Patents Examined by Moshe Wilensky
  • Bond fixture for leading edge assembly
    Patent number: 11299293
    Abstract: A bond fixture includes a frame defining a chamber for receiving a component. At least one bladder assembly is connected to the frame. The at least one bladder assembly includes a pad for contacting the component. A position of the pad relative to the component is controlled by a pressure of the bladder assembly. A caul assembly is adapted to thermally couple to the component to heat a localized portion of the component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: David Littlejohn, Sven Roy Lofstrom
  • Process for fabricating a silicon hairspring
    Patent number: 11300926
    Abstract: A process for fabricating a hairspring having a final stiffness includes the steps of fabricating a hairspring to thickened dimensions, and determining the initial stiffness of the hairspring formed in order to remove the volume of material to obtain the hairspring having the dimensions required for said final stiffness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: Nivarox-FAR S.A.
    Inventors: Pierre Cusin, Marco Verardo
  • Fasteners having enhanced electrical energy dispersion properties
    Patent number: 11293474
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for fabricating fasteners. One embodiment is an apparatus that includes a fastener. The fastener includes a head, a cylindrical shank that extends from the head and is dimensioned to engage in a fit with a corresponding hole, and a coating that is discontinuously speckled around a circumference of the shank and extends axially along the shank, leaving irregular portions of a surface of the shank exposed. The coating exhibits a higher lubricity than the surface, and the coating exhibits a higher dielectric withstand voltage than the surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Tanni Sisco, Antonio Carlos Rufin, Richard B Tanner, Dale Winter, Jeffrey Alan Wilkerson, Joe Heeter
  • Method for extracting a foreign body lodged in a high-pressure distributor blade
    Patent number: 11286778
    Abstract: A method for extracting at least one foreign body lodged within a blade of a high-pressure distributor of a turbojet engine, the high-pressure distributor including hollow fixed blades between two annular shrouds forming a gas flow path, each blade being coated with a thermal barrier and provided with at least one recess at least partially obstructed by a first soldered closing plate, includes the following operations: cutting off the first closing plate, extracting the foreign body from the recess, carrying out an endoscopic inspection of an internal space of the recess in order to verify that no foreign body remains, positioning a second closing plate on the recess, and soldering the second closing plate directly onto the distributor with the blades coated with the thermal barrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: SAFRAN AIRCRAFT ENGINES
    Inventors: Jean-Claude Milliasseau, Christophe Marie Pierre Michel Jehn
  • Manufacturing method of impeller
    Patent number: 11278999
    Abstract: A manufacturing method of an impeller, the manufacturing method includes: a step of forming an impeller shaped body in which a disc component part constituting a part of the disc, a blade component part constituting a part of the blade, and a cover component part constituting a part of the cover are integrated by laminating a metal layer to extend toward an outer side in a radial direction with respect to the axis by an additive manufacturing method using a metal powder; and a step of grinding the impeller shaped body, in which the steps are repeated a plurality of times, and the step of grinding the impeller shaped body includes a step of polishing an inner surface of the impeller shaped body constituting a part of the flow path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2022
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES COMPRESSOR CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yasunori Sakai
  • Attachment methods for surface features of wind turbine rotor blades
    Patent number: 11274650
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to methods for attaching a plurality of surface features to a rotor blade of a wind turbine. Such methods may include direct molding of the surface features to the rotor blade, bonding arrays of connected components to the rotor blade and subsequently removing connections between components, as well as using a flexible template with or without a tinted adhesive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: James Robert Tobin, Murray Fisher, Madireddi Vasu Datta, Drew Adam Wetzel
  • Method and an assembly for handling wind turbine blades
    Patent number: 11268490
    Abstract: A method and a lifting arrangement for mounting a blade on a wind turbine rotor carried by a wind turbine structure. The method comprises providing a control line guide at the wind turbine structure, the control line guide forming a control line point configured to restrain the control line attaching the control line to the control line point; lifting the blade with an external blade lifting crane while a root end of the blade is guided towards the rotor by use of said control line restrained at said control line point, and connecting said blade to said rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: Vestas Wind Systems A/S
    Inventor: Gunnar K. Storgaard Pedersen
  • Manufacturing method
    Patent number: 11267096
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a component is provided. The method includes performing a machining operation by moving a rotating, abrasive grinding tool along a feed direction to remove material from the component. At least the part of the component from which the material is removed is formed of composite material. The abrasive grinding tool follows a trochoidal path along the feed direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce plc
    Inventors: Donka Novovic, James Kelsey, David T. Curtis
  • Universal part gripper using 3-D printed mounting plate
    Patent number: 11267105
    Abstract: A generic holder includes a generic holder plate and a 3-D insert plate. The 3-D insert plate contains locating features mirrored to the backside of the part to be printed and vacuum grippers to secure the part in the insert plate. The insert plate is secured in the generic holder plate that includes vacuum couplings. The part is located on the insert plate and vacuum is applied to the generic holder plate and insert plate to hold the part for printing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Linn C Hoover, Jeffrey J Bradway, Erwin Ruiz, Paul M Fromm
  • Method of finishing a bearing ring
    Patent number: 11261915
    Abstract: Provided is a method of machining a bearing ring of a wind turbine bearing, the method including the steps of identifying a number of local hard zones on a surface of the bearing ring and removing material from the surface such that a bearing ring thickness in local hard zone is less than a bearing ring thickness outside a local hard zone. A machining assembly, a wind turbine bearing and a wind turbine is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: SIEMENS GAMESA RENEWABLE ENERGY A/S
    Inventor: Troels Kildemoes Moeller
  • Protective shields for improved coating of turbine component cooling features
    Patent number: 11225707
    Abstract: A method of depositing a coating on a component of a turbine engine. The method includes forming a turbine component including at least one cooling flow passage in fluid communication with an aperture on a surface of the turbine component. A protective shield is formed on an inner surface of the at least one cooling flow passage and extending to an exterior of the turbine component via the aperture. During a coating process, the protective shield is configured to block the coating from being deposited in the at least one cooling flow passage via the aperture. Subsequent to coating, at least a portion of the protective shield is removed to provide for passage of a cooling fluid flow in the at least one cooling flow passage. The cooling fluid flow exits the turbine component through the aperture. A turbine component employing user of the protective shield is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Thomas Earl Dyson, Lyndsay Marie Kibler, Brendon James Leary, David Vincent Bucci
  • Method of securing cables to a wind turbine blade
    Patent number: 11225947
    Abstract: A method of securing a cable (22) to a wind turbine blade is described. The method involves providing a pre-assembled cable assembly (34) comprising a cable (22) and a plurality of mounts (40a-e) pre-attached to the cable (22) at intervals along the length of the cable (22). The plurality of mounts (40a-e) is attached to a surface (20) of a wind turbine blade such that the mounts (40a-e) are spaced apart along the surface (20) of the blade. The spacing between adjacent mounts (40a-e) when the mounts (40a-e) are attached to the blade is less than the length of the cable (22) between said adjacent mounts (40a-e) such that a predetermined amount of slack is provided in the cable (22) between said adjacent mounts (40a-e). A pre-assembled cable assembly for use in the method is also described together with a method of assembling the cable assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: Vestas Wind Systems A/S
    Inventors: Luke Spandley, Paul Badger, Stephen Buggy
  • Bond fixture for composite splice cap assembly
    Patent number: 11220331
    Abstract: A bond fixture for bonding a component includes a frame defining a chamber for receiving the component. A first pad and a second pad are mounted to the frame. At least one of the first pad and the second pad is movable relative to the frame to adjust a pressure applied to the component. A caul assembly is adapted to be disposed in thermal communication with the component. The caul assembly heats a localized portion of the component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sven Roy Lofstrom, David Littlejohn, Eric Boyle
  • Composite fuselage assembly and methods to form the assembly
    Patent number: 11220354
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a composite rear section assembly having a continuous skin solution including obtaining a vertical tail plane tooling that has intermediate tooling for tooling intermediate preforms of a vertical tail plane (800), obtaining a fuselage barrel tooling (420a), (420b), (420c) and (420d) the fuselage barrel tooling having a cut-out (503a), (503b), (503c) and longitudinal cavities (501a), (501b), (501c) and (501d), attaching the vertical tail plane tooling to the fuselage barrel tooling by the cut-out of the fuselage barrel tooling, performing a composite skin lay-up (801) over the fuselage barrel tooling and the vertical tail plane tooling to obtain a continuous skin, curing the composite skin lay-up, the vertical tail plane tooling and the fuselage barrel tooling and demolding the tools to obtain the composite assembly with a continuous skin (1300), (1600).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: Airbus Operations S.L.U.
    Inventors: Esteban Martino-Gonzalez, Alberto Arana Hidalgo, Melania Sanchez Perez, Carlos Garcia Nieto, Jesus Javier Vazquez Castro, Edouard Menard, Fernando Iniesta Lozano, Maria Almudena Canas Rios
  • Method for producing a piston
    Patent number: 11213922
    Abstract: A method for producing a piston may include providing a blank of a piston base member with an outer peripheral joining face, an inner peripheral joining face which may be expanded in a direction of a base region of a combustion bowl, and a lower cooling channel portion which may extend between the outer and inner peripheral joining faces, wherein at least one of (i) at least one of the outer and inner peripheral joining faces and (ii) the lower cooling channel portion may be not subsequently processed. The method may then include providing a blank of a piston ring element with an outer annular joining face, an inner annular joining face, and an upper cooling channel portion which may extend between the outer and inner annular joining faces, wherein at least one of (i) at least one of the outer and inner annular joining faces and (ii) the upper cooling channel portion may be not subsequently processed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Inventor: Daniel Hrdina
  • Irrigated surgical guides and methods of manufacturing the same
    Patent number: 11207154
    Abstract: Provided herein are surgical guides with internal channels for irrigation cooling. In one embodiment, an apparatus for guiding a surgical instrument includes a proximal side and a distal side. A first channel is configured to guide a material removal device, where the first channel extends from the proximal side of the apparatus to the distal side of the apparatus. A second channel configured to direct irrigation fluid, where the second channel extends from the proximal side of the of the apparatus to the distal side of the apparatus. The first channel is separate from the second channel. A method of performing a surgical procedure and a method of manufacturing a surgical guide are also disclosed. In certain embodiments, the surgical guides may be manufactured via additive manufacturing processes, including for example, three-dimensional printing processes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: MUSC Foundation for Research Development
    Inventors: Walter Renne, Zachary Evans
  • Methods and systems for electrochemical machining of articles formed by additive manufacturing
    Patent number: 11193216
    Abstract: A method for electrochemical machining of a metallic article formed by additive manufacturing includes obtaining or producing the metallic article. The metallic article includes an interior surface and a geometry. The method further includes inserting a flexible, metallic cathode tube into the article. The metallic cathode is spaced apart from the interior surface of the article, and the metallic cathode tube is inserted so as to conform to the geometry of the article. Still further, the method includes introducing an electrolyte fluid into the metallic cathode tube and the interior surface of the article and electrochemical machining the metallic article by applying a voltage across the cathode tube and the metallic article, the metallic article functioning as an anode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Gangmin Cao, Shangyou Yang, Jingkang Lv, Juan Dou
  • Part for Joule-Thomson cooler and method for manufacturing such a part
    Patent number: 11187438
    Abstract: A part for a Joule-Thomson cooler, comprising a gas discharge pipe and a seal closing the gas discharge pipe, the seal being capable of breaking, at least partially, under the effect of gas expansion triggered by the cooler so as to allow the gas to be discharged out of the cooler through the gas discharge pipe. The part is obtained by an additive manufacturing method that comprises stacking layers of powder along a stacking axis in order to form the part, the stacking axis being parallel to a central axis of a second gas discharge pipe separate from the first discharge pipe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: SAFRAN ELECTRONICS & DEFENSE
    Inventors: Bertrand Cottereau, Nicolas Duval, Edwina Bordais, Michel Bidaud
  • Method of forming an additively manufactured component
    Patent number: 11174736
    Abstract: Aspects generally relate to a method of forming a plexus within an additively-manufactured component. The method includes forming a fluid passage in the plexus by serially forming layers of material along a build direction to form a column defining the fluid passage along a first direction within an interior of a turbine engine component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Daniel Endecott Osgood, Zachary Daniel Webster, Gregory Terrence Garay, Tingfan Pang, Kirk D. Gallier
  • Wing join system and method for a wing assembly
    Patent number: 11174042
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a wing assembly for joining to a fuselage of an aircraft includes the steps of loading a center wing section into a wing join station, loading a right wing section into the wing join station proximate to the center wing section, loading a left wing section into the wing join station proximate to the center wing section, joining the right and left wing sections to the center wing section to form a complete wing assembly, moving the complete wing assembly to a processing station, performing drilling operations on the complete wing assembly at the processing station, installing fasteners in the complete wing assembly at the processing station, and moving the complete wing assembly to a wing-body join station to join the complete wing assembly to the fuselage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Jessica Watkins, Patrick B. Stone