Patents Examined by Stefan Ibroni
  • Patent number: 9371799
    Abstract: Thrust-reverser assemblies that utilize active flow-control and systems and methods including the same are disclosed herein. The thrust-reverser assemblies define a forward-thrust configuration and a reverse-thrust configuration. The thrust-reverser assemblies include a bullnose fairing that defines a portion of a reverser duct and an active flow-control device. The active flow-control device is located to energize a boundary layer fluid flow within a boundary layer that is adjacent to the bullnose fairing to resist separation of the boundary layer from the bullnose fairing when the thrust-reverser assembly is in the reverse-thrust configuration. The methods include flowing a thrust-reverser fluid stream through the reverser duct to generate the boundary layer and energizing a boundary layer fluid flow within the boundary layer with an active flow-control device to resist separation of the boundary layer from the bullnose fairing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2016
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Nathan Owen Packard, Daniel Paul Brzozowski, Zachariah B. Vandemark, Hin-Fan M. Lau, Michael L. Sangwin, Frederick W. Roos
  • Patent number: 9366436
    Abstract: A combustion chamber of a gas turbine with an outer combustion chamber wall and with tiles attached to the inner side of said wall or to a combustion chamber of the single-wall design, wherein the combustion chamber has in a center area, relative to the flow direction, a slot extending around the circumference of the combustion chamber and dividing the outer combustion chamber wall and the tiles for the supply of mixing air.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Carsten Clemen, Thomas Doerr, Sebastian Bake
  • Patent number: 9365932
    Abstract: A compressor blade for use in a compressor section of a gas turbine engine, comprising: a martensitic stainless steel compressor blade and an abrasive coating having an anodic component. The compressor blade has a blade portion, a dovetail portion and a platform portion intermediate the blade portion and the dovetail portion, the blade portion terminating in a tip opposite the dovetail portion. A cobalt-based coating overlies at least the blade portion of the compressor blade. The cobalt-based coating comprises a cobalt based material that includes precipitates of tungsten carbide that provide erosion resistance and particles of a sacrificial metal-based material distributed through the cobalt-based coating that provide galvanic corrosion resistance to the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Krishnamurthy Anand, Yuk-Chiu Lau, Paul Mathew, Surinder Singh Pabla, Guruprasad Sundararajan, Mohandas Nayak
  • Patent number: 9366201
    Abstract: A thrust reverser for a nacelle of a turbojet engine includes deflecting cascades and an external cowl which translates from a closure position to an opening position by a set of control cylinders being attached by their ends to the external cowl. The deflecting cascades are supported by a front frame and a rear frame respectively and are enclosed in an envelope formed by a fan carter and by a fan cowl. The thrust reverser further includes a lock which is able to connect or disconnect the deflecting cascades to the external cowl. When the lock is unlocked, the set of control cylinders translate the external cowl alone in downstream direction while in the lock position, the control cylinders translates the external cowl and the deflecting cascades together in downstream direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignee: AIRCELLE
    Inventor: Pierre Caruel
  • Patent number: 9360219
    Abstract: A system includes a turbine engine with a fueling system including a valve fluidly coupled to a fuel supply on an upstream side and fluidly coupled to fueling passages on a downstream side. The valve maintains the fuel supply at a pressure greater than an ambient pressure. The system includes nozzle exits corresponding to the fueling passages, and the fueling passages flow fuel from the valve to each of the nozzle exits monotonically downward. The valve is a check valve or a controlled valve. The valve maintains the fuel supply at a pressure such that fuel in the fuel supply is a continuous fluid phase. The fuel leaves the nozzle exits to the combustion chamber of the turbine engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2016
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce North American Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Timothy C. Roesler
  • Patent number: 9353641
    Abstract: A turbine engine including a controller controlling clearance between tips of moving blades of a high-pressure turbine and an outer casing surrounding the blades, by cooling the outer casing by the impact of air taken from a high-pressure compressor stage of the engine, and by electric heating of top and bottom portions of the outer casing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2016
    Assignee: SNECMA
    Inventor: Vincent Philippot
  • Patent number: 9341070
    Abstract: A rotor body rotates about an axis of rotation. A ledge provides a holding structure for holding blades. A plurality of blades are positioned beneath the ledge. A load slot is sized to allow a mount portion of the blades to be moved radially inwardly of the ledge. The blades are moved circumferentially to have the mounted structure radially inwardly of the ledge. A lock slot is positioned on one circumferential side of the load slot. The lock slot is formed to receive a lock, and the lock is partially received within a portion of at least one of the blades, to lock the blades within the rotor, and a shield slot on a second circumferential side of the load slot. The shield slot is sized to be different from the lock slot such that a lock cannot be inadvertently positioned within the shield slot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Nicholas Aiello, James Cosby, Kevin L. Corcoran
  • Patent number: 9341119
    Abstract: In one aspect, a turbine engine is provided. The engine includes a fan, a core engine case configured to receive a core airflow, and an inner fan case. An inner air bypass is defined between the core engine case and the inner fan case, and the engine further includes an outer fan case, an outer air bypass defined between the inner fan case and the outer fan case, a first heat exchanger arranged in the core engine case, the first heat exchanger providing heat exchange between the liquid and the core airflow to cool the core airflow, and a second heat exchanger arranged in the outer air bypass. The second heat exchanger is fluidly coupled to the first heat exchanger to receive the cooled core airflow. The second heat exchanger provides heat exchange between cooled core airflow and the second portion of airflow to further cool the cooled core airflow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND CORPORATION
    Inventor: William E. Rhoden
  • Patent number: 9341376
    Abstract: A combustor includes an end cap having upstream and downstream surfaces and a cap shield surrounding the upstream and downstream surfaces. First and second sets of premixer tubes extend from the upstream surface through the downstream surface. A first fuel conduit supplies fuel to the first set of premixer tubes. A casing circumferentially surrounds the cap shield to define an annular passage, and a second fuel conduit supplies fuel through the annular passage to the second set of premixer tubes. A method for supplying fuel to a combustor includes flowing a working fluid through first and second sets of premixer tubes, flowing a first fuel into the first set of premixer tubes, and flowing a second fuel through an annular passage surrounding the end cap and into the second set of premixer tubes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: James Harold Westmoreland, III, Patrick Benedict Melton
  • Patent number: 9335048
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a combustion chamber of a gas turbine having an outer combustion chamber wall and an inner combustion chamber wall, where the inner combustion chamber wall, at its front end area relative to the direction of flow through the combustion chamber, is fixed to the outer combustion chamber wall and, at its rear end area, is held longitudinally movable at the outer combustion chamber wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventor: Imon Kalyan Bagchi
  • Patent number: 9328926
    Abstract: A combustion chamber head for a gas turbine, with the gas turbine having a substantially annular outer combustion chamber wall, at least one substantially annular inner combustion chamber wall, and several burners 106 distributed around a circumference of the gas turbine. Several segment-like head segments are arranged over the circumference in equal number to the number of burners and extend in the radial direction between the inner combustion chamber wall and the outer combustion chamber wall and in the circumferential direction between radial planes formed by the burner axes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Stefan Penz, Miklos Gerendas, Sermed Sadig
  • Patent number: 9297305
    Abstract: A free-turbine turboshaft engine including a gas generator including at least one compressor supplied with air, a combustion chamber receiving the compressed air at the output of the compressor, and at least one generator turbine mechanically connected to the compressor by a drive shaft and driven by gases from combustion of fuel carried out in the combustion chamber, and including a free turbine supplied by the gases from the combustion after passing through the generator turbine and which drives a power shaft positioned non-coaxially relative to the drive shaft of the gas generator and supplying the power of the turboshaft engine via a reduction gear. The combustion chamber is a substantially cylindrical or frusto-conical chamber, coaxial with the axis of the generator turbine, and includes a single injector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2016
    Assignee: TURBOMECA
    Inventors: Antoine Drachsler, Alain Michel Perbos, Joel Silet
  • Patent number: 9279386
    Abstract: An exhaust duct through which an exhaust gas jet from a gas turbine engine flows comprises a duct wall, an inlet, an outlet and an eductor. The inlet, through which the exhaust gas jet enters the exhaust duct, is positioned at an upstream end of the exhaust duct. The outlet, through which the exhaust gas jet exits the exhaust duct, is positioned at a downstream end of the exhaust duct. The eductor is positioned proximate the downstream end. In one embodiment, the eductor comprises a perforated wall segment of the duct wall through which ambient air from outside of the duct wall is permitted to enter the exhaust duct. In yet another embodiment, the eductor is diverging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation
    Inventors: Victor Pascu, Anthony C. Jones
  • Patent number: 9279587
    Abstract: A device for mixing fuel and air of a jet engine includes at least one air-carrying duct and at least one further fuel-carrying duct. Guide elements extending over the duct height and distributed over the circumference of the duct are provided at least in the air-carrying duct, in the area of which guide elements a twist can be imparted to the air flowing in the air-carrying duct in order to improve mixing between the air and the fuel downstream of the ducts. The guide elements are provided at a trailing edge with at least one downstream extending projection and/or upstream extending recess designed at least approximately or at least in some areas with a sharp edge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Carsten Clemen, Waldemar Lazik
  • Patent number: 9267390
    Abstract: A system for selectively supplying air between separate plena of a gas turbine engine includes a gas turbine engine, a door, and a bi-metallic door actuator. The gas turbine engine comprises at least a first plenum and a second plenum, and has an opening between the first plenum and the second plenum. The is door mounted in the gas turbine engine and is movable between a closed position, in which air is prevented from flowing through the opening, and an open position, in which air may flow though the opening. The bi-metallic door actuator is coupled to the door and is configured to selectively move the door between the closed position and the open position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventor: Charles Lo
  • Patent number: 9267688
    Abstract: A head part of an annular combustion chamber for a gas turbine, the head part comprising: an end wall with a passage opening for accommodating a burner, the end wall comprising a back side which faces towards the combustion chamber; a burner collar adapted to fit within the passage opening and receive the burner, the burner collar comprising a protruding portion radially protruding from an outer surface of the burner collar; and a ring member for receiving the protruding portion of the burner collar; wherein the head part of the annular combustion chamber is configured such that in an installed configuration a radially outer portion of the ring member engages with the end wall and a radially inner portion of the ring member receives the protruding portion of the burner collar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventor: Richard G. Milburn
  • Patent number: 9243508
    Abstract: A system for recirculating a hot gas flowing through a gas turbine generally includes a transition piece having a downstream surface, a stationary nozzle having a leading edge surface adjacent to the transition piece downstream surface, a gap defined between the transition piece downstream surface and the stationary nozzle leading edge surface, and a projection having an inner arcuate surface radially separated from an outer surface. The projection generally extends from the stationary nozzle leading edge surface towards the transition piece downstream surface and at least partially decreases the gap. A seal extends across the gap and may be in contact with the transition piece and the stationary nozzle leading edge surface. A recirculation zone may be at least partially defined between the projection inner arcuate surface, the stationary nozzle leading edge surface and the transition piece downstream surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2016
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Victor John Morgan, Thomas James Brunt, Richard William Johnson
  • Patent number: 9243505
    Abstract: A seal arrangement for a silo combustor includes a first casing and a second casing each forming a passageway for a gas, an end portion of the first casing being disposed radially inside an end portion of the second casing such that the first and the second casing form an overlapping region having a radial gap. A segmented seal has at least two adjacent segments disposed in the overlapping region so as to seal the radial gap, wherein the first casing includes at least one opening disposed in a region between the at least two adjacent segments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2016
    Assignee: ALSTOM TECHNOLOGY LTD
    Inventors: Vladimir Vassiliev, Fulvio Magni, Sergey Anatolievich Chernyshev, Victor Vladimirovich Odinokov