Patents Examined by Woody A Lee, Jr.
  • Patent number: 11396864
    Abstract: Examples are generally directed to techniques for monitoring and controlling heating elements in wind turbine blades and the wind turbine blades. One example of the present disclosure is a method of monitoring and controlling a condition of a heating element in a wind turbine blade and the wind turbine blade. The method includes measuring a voltage applied to the heating element and measuring the current flowing through the heating element. The method further includes calculating a resistance of the heating element using the measured voltage and the measured current and storing the resistance in a database. The method further includes determining whether an event corresponding to a failure of the wind turbine blade or the heating element in the wind turbine blade has occurred. When the event occurs, control of the heating element is adjusted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S
    Inventor: Stephen Buggy
  • Patent number: 11391158
    Abstract: Airfoil assemblies for gas turbine engines are provided. For example, an airfoil assembly comprises an airfoil, an inner band defining an inner opening shaped complementary to an inner end of the airfoil, and an outer band defining an outer opening shaped complementary to an outer end of the airfoil. The airfoil inner end is received with the inner opening, and the airfoil outer end is received within the outer opening. A strut extends radially through an airfoil cavity. A first pad is defined at a first radial location within the cavity. A second pad is defined within the cavity at a second, different radial location. In some embodiments, the airfoil assembly inner band includes a first inner flange, through which the inner band is secured to a support structure, and the outer band includes a first outer flange, through which the outer band is secured to a support structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Darrell Glenn Senile, Matthew Mark Weaver, Alexander Martin Sener
  • Patent number: 11391180
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine for an aircraft is provided. The gas turbine engine comprises an engine core comprising a compressor, a combustor, a turbine, and a core shaft connecting the turbine to the compressor. The gas turbine engine further comprises a fan located upstream of the engine core, the fan comprising a plurality of fan blades, the fan generating a core airflow which enters the engine core and a bypass airflow which flows through a bypass duct surrounding the engine core. The gas turbine engine further comprises a circumferential row of outer guide vanes located in the bypass duct rearwards of the fan, the outer guide vanes extending radially outwardly from an inner ring which defines a radially inner surface of the bypass duct.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
    Inventors: Lucian Ingley, Clare L. Bewick
  • Patent number: 11384729
    Abstract: A wind driven electric generator including a rotor which intercepts air movement to turn a drive line including a first right angle drive swivelly coupled on the top of a support tower and a second right angle drive located proximate ground level to deliver rotational energy of a drive line to an electric generator located proximate ground level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: Crossed Arrows Ranch, Inc.
    Inventor: Donald L. Newell
  • Patent number: 11378097
    Abstract: A multi-stage centrifugal pump includes a pump casing, in which a shaft (8) carrying an impeller is rotatably arranged. The pump casing has a pump casing foot part (2) that includes a reversibly closable maintenance opening (60), via which a bearing and/or seal (20, 25), which is arranged at a shaft end within the pump casing, is accessible and exchangeable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: GRUNDFOS HOLDING A/S
    Inventors: Erik Bundesen Svarre, John Frigård Nielsen, Finn Ulrich Storgaard, Iraj Babazadeh
  • Patent number: 11377973
    Abstract: A sealing arrangement is provided between inner and outer coaxial ring-shaped walls of an aircraft engine. The outer wall has an axial end with a U-shaped cross-section parallel to axis, the opening therein being oriented axially in a first direction. The inner wall has an axial end with a U-shaped cross-section parallel to axis, the opening therein being oriented axially in the opposite direction. The U-shaped end of the outer wall includes a ring-shaped free edge axially engaged in the opening in the axial end of the inner wall. The U-shaped end of the inner wall includes a ring-shaped free edge axially engaged in the opening in the axial end of the outer wall. The walls define therebetween a ring-shaped gas channel having a substantially S-shaped axial cross-section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: SAFRAN AIRCRAFT ENGINES
    Inventors: Eddy Keomorakott Souryavongsa, Thomas Alain De Gaillard, Teddy Fixy, Gilles Pierre-Marie Notarianni
  • Patent number: 11378015
    Abstract: An engine for an aircraft has an engine core having a turbine, a compressor, and a core shaft connecting the turbine to the compressor; a fan located upstream of the engine core, the fan having a plurality of fan blades; and a gearbox. The gearbox is arranged to receive an input from a gearbox input shaft portion of the core shaft and to output drive to the fan so as to drive the fan at a lower rotational speed than the core shaft. The gearbox is an epicyclic gearbox and has a sun gear, a plurality of planet gears, a ring gear, and a planet carrier. The planet carrier and the gearbox support each have a torsional stiffness, and a carrier to gearbox support torsional stiffness ratio is greater than or equal to 2.3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
    Inventor: Mark Spruce
  • Patent number: 11378058
    Abstract: A hydraulic circuit for a wind turbine is provided. The hydraulic circuit includes: a fixed displacement pump including a suction input and a delivery output, a pump motor for driving the fixed displacement pump, a pressure line hydraulically connected to the delivery output of the fixed displacement pump for delivering an output flow and/or an output pressure generated by the fixed displacement pump towards at least a consumer circuit, a bypass valve including a valve input hydraulically connected to the delivery output of the fixed displacement pump, wherein the bypass valve includes a variable opening for controlling the output flow or the output pressure delivered by the fixed displacement pump towards the consumer circuit(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: SIEMENS GAMESA RENEWABLE ENERGY A/S
    Inventor: Mikkel Aggersbjerg Kristensen
  • Patent number: 11377977
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine with a lubrication system includes a ball bearing assembly and a rotor circumscribing a rotational axis and journaled within the ball bearing assembly. The gas turbine engine also includes a lubrication system located radially outward from a rotational axis and radially outward and adjacent to the ball bearing assembly, which includes a lubrication channel having an inlet and an outlet and a dispersion cone adjacent to the outlet of the lubrication channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Raytheon Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Lawrence A. Binek, Leslie F. Guzman, Sean R. Jackson, Evan J. Butcher
  • Patent number: 11371369
    Abstract: A turbine for a turbo-machine is proposed in which, at a gas inlet for a turbine wheel, vanes extend from a nozzle ring though slots in a shroud. The nozzle ring and shroud are relatively rotatable about a rotational axis of the turbine by at least 0.1 degrees. In use, the nozzle ring and shroud are relatively rotated to bring one side of the vane into close contact with one surface of the slot, to inhibit leakage of gas between the vane and the slot surface. For this purpose the respective surfaces of the nozzle and slot can be configured to closely conform to each other. If there is differential thermal expansion of the shroud and nozzle ring, the nozzle ring and shroud can relatively rotate, to withdraw the vane from the edge of the slot to relieve the pressure between them.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: CUMMINS LTD.
    Inventors: Matthew William Edwards, Karl Conlon, Simon David Moore, Christopher Parry, Andrew Sullivan, Paul Ghosh, Mark R. Holden, George E. Sandford, Nandakishore Arcot Madhusudan, Stephen David Hughes, Christopher J. Shaw
  • Patent number: 11370530
    Abstract: A boundary layer ingestion fan system for location aft of the fuselage of an aircraft is shown. It comprises a nacelle (501) defining a duct, and a fan located therewithin. The fan comprises a hub arranged to rotate around a rotational axis (A-A) and a plurality of blades attached thereto. Each blade has a span (r) from a root at the hub defining a 0 percent span position (r=0) to a tip defining a 100 percent span position (r=1) and a plurality of span positions therebetween (r ? [0, 1]), and leading and trailing edges defining, for each span position, a chord therebetween to having a chord length (c). For each of said plurality of blades, the ratio of chord length at the 0 percent span position (chub) to chord length at the 100 percent span position (ctip) is 1 or greater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Inventor: Martin N. Goodhand
  • Patent number: 11371387
    Abstract: The invention concerns a cooling device (21) extending circumferentially around a turbo machine housing, such as a turbine housing, having at least one cooling module (30a, 30b, 30c) comprising a tube holder (31, 32) having at least one plate, preferably a radially inner plate (31) and a radially outer plate (32) fixed to each other, the tube holder (31, 32) defining at least two axially spaced housings (34a), each housing (34a) receiving a tube (23) and a sleeve (38) mounted around each tube (23), each tube (23) extending circumferentially around the housing, each cooling module (30a, 30b, 30c) having first fastening means capable of firmly holding its tube holder (31, 32) with respect to the housing, the fixing means comprising at least one spacer (41) having a radially inner end intended to bear against the housing and a radially outer end bearing on the single or on one of the sheets of the tube support (31, 32).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: SAFRAN AIRCRAFT ENGINES
    Inventor: Nicolas Jean-Marc Marcel Beauquin
  • Patent number: 11371379
    Abstract: An engine assembly includes an engine including a component and defining an opening and an interior, the component including a first side and an opposite second side, the second side positioned within the interior of the engine. The engine assembly also includes an inspection tool having a first member including at least one of a receiver or a transmitter and directed at the first side of the component. The inspection tool also includes a second member including the other of the receiver or the transmitter and positioned at least partially within the interior of the engine and directed at the second side of the component to communicate a signal with the first member through the component, the second member being a robotic arm extending through the opening of the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Gert Johannes van der Merwe, Darek Tomasz Zatorski
  • Patent number: 11365634
    Abstract: A boundary layer ingestion fan system for location aft of the fuselage of an aircraft is shown. It comprises a nacelle defining a duct, and a fan located within the duct. The fan comprises a hub arranged to rotate around a rotational axis (A-A) and a plurality of blades attached to the hub, each of which has a span from a root at the hub defining a 0 percent span position (rhub) to a tip defining a 100 percent span position (rtip) and a plurality of span positions therebetween (r?[rhub, rtip]). A hub-tip ratio of the fan, defined as the ratio of the diameter of the hub to the diameter of the fan measured at the leading edge of the blades, is from 0.45 to 0.55.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce plc
    Inventor: Martin N. Goodhand
  • Patent number: 11365633
    Abstract: A boundary layer ingestion fan system for location aft of the fuselage of an aircraft includes a nacelle (501) defining a duct (502), and a fan (503) located therewithin. The fan comprises a hub which rotates around a rotational axis (A-A) and a plurality of blades attached thereto. Each blade has a span (r) from a root at the hub defining a 0 percent span position (r=0) to a tip defining a 100 percent span position (r=1) and a plurality of span positions therebetween (r?[0, 1]), a leading edge and a trailing edge defining, for each span position, a chord therebetween having a chord length (c), and a blade thickness (t) defined for each span position thereof. For each blade, a ratio of thickness at the 0 percent span position (thub) to chord length is 0.1 or greater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce plc
    Inventor: Martin N. Goodhand
  • Patent number: 11364996
    Abstract: A boundary layer ingestion fan system for location aft of the fuselage of an aircraft is shown. It comprises a nacelle (501) defining a duct (502), and a fan (503) located within the duct. The fan comprises a hub arranged to rotate around a rotational axis (A-A) and a plurality of blades attached to the hub. Each blade has a span (r) from a root at the hub defining a 0 percent span position (r=0) to a tip defining a 100 percent span position (r=1) and a plurality of span positions therebetween (r ? [0, 1]), and a stagger angle at the 0 percent span position (?hub) relative to the rotational axis of 40 degrees or greater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Inventor: Martin N. Goodhand
  • Patent number: 11365631
    Abstract: A turbine rotor blade according to at least one embodiment to be connected to a rotational shaft so as to be rotatable around an axis includes a hub having a hub surface inclined with respect to the axis in a cross-section along the axis; and a plurality of rotor blades disposed on the hub surface. In a throat portion where a blade-to-blade distance between two adjacent rotor blades is smallest, a value (Lt/r) obtained by dividing the blade-to-blade Lt at a given radial position by a distance r from the axis to the radial position is maximum at a position where a dimensionless span length is in a range of 0.2 to 0.65, assuming that the dimensionless span length is 0 at a position of a root end portion on a hub side and is 1 at a position of a tip end portion opposite to the hub side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES ENGINE & TURBOCHARGER, LTD.
    Inventors: Takeru Chiba, Toru Hoshi
  • Patent number: 11365639
    Abstract: A sealing washer for use in a rotor of a gas turbine, sealing being brought about on one side of the sealing washer by an approximately radially oriented bearing face and on the other side by way of a supporting face which is oriented in an inclined manner with respect to the rotor axis. The sealing washer is of split configuration and has at least one washer segment with a circumferential washer section. At the dividing point, a pressing section and a triangular section overlap along a dividing face. Here, the dividing face intersects the bearing face and makes sealing both with the pressing section and with the triangular section possible. In order to also make sealing on the supporting face with the pressing section and the triangular section possible, the triangular section is reduced to at most 0.3 times the cross-sectional area of the washer section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: SIEMENS ENERGY GLOBAL GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Joachim Krützfeldt, Peter Schröder
  • Patent number: 11359595
    Abstract: A runner for a hydraulic turbine or pump includes a plurality of blades, each blade being defined by a pressure surface, an oppositely facing suction surface, a leading edge and a spaced apart trailing edge. At least one blade has a device for supplying a flow of oxygen containing gas to the trailing edge of at least one of the blades. The profile of the suction side surface of the blade along a cross section through a point P1 and a point P2 is concave. The point P1 is located on the suction side surface of the trailing edge where an opening is located, the point P2 is spaced apart from the point P1 by less than 3% of the runner outlet diameter D and the point P2 is located upstream of the point P1 on a line perpendicular to the trailing edge starting at the point P1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Voith Patent GmbH
    Inventors: Stuart Coulson, Jason Foust, Jesse Zoll, Steven McHale, Jianbo Jiang, Brandon Harmer
  • Patent number: 11359548
    Abstract: An engine core including a turbine, compressor, and a core shaft connecting the turbine and compressor; a fan located upstream of the engine core including a plurality of fan blades; and a gearbox. The gearbox is arranged to receive an input from the core shaft and to output drive to the fan to drive the fan at a lower rotational speed than the core shaft. The gearbox is an epicyclic gearbox and includes a sun gear, a plurality of planet gears, ring gear, and planet carrier to the mounted planet gears. The planet carrier has an effective linear torsional stiffness and the gearbox has a gear mesh stiffness between the planet gears and the ring gear. A carrier to ring mesh ratio of: the ? ? effective ? ? linear ? ? torsional ? ? stiffness ? ? of ? ? the ? ? planet ? ? carrier gear ? ? mesh ? ? stiffness ? ? between ? ? the ? ? planet ? ? gears ? ? and ? ? the ? ? ring ? ? gear is greater than or equal to 0.2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventor: Mark Spruce