Patents by Inventor Alexander M. Cargill

Alexander M. Cargill has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5141391
    Abstract: A control system actively controls at least one troublesome mode of an unsteady motion phenomenon in turbomachinery in order to enable an increase in the operating range of the turbomachinery. For example, rotor blade flutter or rotating stall may be controlled in a turbocompressor. The control system has a control bandwidth which is at least partly coextensive with the bandwidth of the unsteady motion phenomenon and operates by passing sensor signals related to the unsteady motion phenomenon from a sensor array in the turbomachine to a mode filter which produces a signal or signals which are related to the troublesome mode or modes. The selected mode signals are amplified and phase-shifted by time-variable amounts so as to produce control signals having controlled amplitude and phase relationship to the troublesome mode. Actuators in an actuator array continuously driven by the control signals and produce physical effects in the turbomachine which act counter to the troublesome mode without exciting others.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1991
    Date of Patent: August 25, 1992
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce, plc
    Inventors: Elizabeth Acton, Alexander M. Cargill, Colin F. Ross, Graham P. Eatwell
  • Patent number: 5082421
    Abstract: A control system actively controls at least one troublesome mode of an unsteady motion phenomenon in turbomachinery in order to enable an increase in the operating range of the turbomachinery. For example, rotor blade flutter or rotating stall may be controlled in a turbocompressor. The control system has a control bandwidth which is at least partly coextensive with the bandwidth of the unsteady motion phenomenon and operates by passing sensor signals related to the unstady motion phenomenon from a sensor array in the turbomachine to a mode filter which produces a signal or signals which are related to the troublesome mode or modes. The selected mode signals are amplified and phase-shifted by time-variable amounts so as to produce control signals having controlled amplitude and phase relationship to the troublesome mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 1990
    Date of Patent: January 21, 1992
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce plc
    Inventors: Elizabeth Acton, Alexander M. Cargill, Colin F. Ross, Graham P. Eatwell
  • Patent number: 5005353
    Abstract: A control system actively controls at least one troublesome mode of an unsteady motion phenomenon in turbomachinery in order to enable an increase in the operating range of the turbomachinery. For example, rotor blade flutter or rotating stall may be controlled in a turbocompressor. The control system has a control bandwidth which is at least partly coextensive with the bandwidth of the unsteady motion phenomenon and operates by passing sensor signals related to the unsteady motion phenomenon from a sensor array in the turbomachine to a mode filter which produces a signal or signals which are related to the troublesome mode or modes. The selected mode signals are amplified and phase-shifted by time-variable amounts so as to produce control signals having controlled amplitude and phase relationship to the troublesome mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 1990
    Date of Patent: April 9, 1991
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce plc
    Inventors: Elizabeth Acton, Alexander M. Cargill, Colin F. Ross, Graham P. Eatwell
  • Patent number: 4967550
    Abstract: A control system actively controls at least one troublesome mode of an unsteady motion phenomenon in turbomachinery in order to enable an increase in the operating range of the turbomachinery. For example, rotor blade flutter or rotating stall may be controlled in a turbocompressor. The control system has a control bandwidth which is at least partly coexstensive with the bandwidth of the unsteady motion phenomenon and operates by passing sensor signals related to the unsteady motion phenomenon from a sensor array in the turbomachine to a mode filter which produces a signal or signals which are related to the troublesome mode or modes. The selected mode signals are amplified and phase-shifted by time-variable amounts so as to produce control signals having controlled amplitude and phase relationship to the troublesome mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 1988
    Date of Patent: November 6, 1990
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce plc
    Inventors: Elizabeth Acton, Alexander M. Cargill, Colin F. Ross, Graham P. Eatwell