Patents by Inventor Byron A. Pritchard

Byron A. Pritchard 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).

  • Publication number: 20240157383
    Abstract: A spray nozzle includes a first conduit that provides a first flow path for a first type of fluid, a second conduit that provides a second flow path for a second fluid that is different from the first fluid, a first dispensing aperture that ejects therefrom a spray that includes the first type of fluid and/or the second type of fluid, and at least one balancing outlet in fluid communication with the second conduit. The at least one balancing outlet permit the second type of fluid to exit therefrom to balance a force of ejection of the spray from the first dispensing aperture.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2022
    Publication date: May 16, 2024
    Inventors: Ambarish J. Kulkarni, Andrew Crispin Graham, Byron A. Pritchard, Todd William Danko, Bernard P. Bewlay, Stuart James Briggs, Trevor Owen Hawke
  • Publication number: 20240157382
    Abstract: An atomizing spray nozzle device includes an atomizing zone housing that receives different phases of materials used to form a coating. The atomizing zone housing mixes the different phases of the materials into a two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in a carrier gas. The device also includes a plenum housing fluidly coupled with the atomizing housing and extending from the atomizing housing to a delivery end. The plenum housing includes an interior plenum that receives the two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in the carrier gas from the atomizing zone housing. The device also includes one or more delivery nozzles fluidly coupled with the plenum chamber. The delivery nozzles provide outlets from which the two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in the carrier gas is delivered onto one or more surfaces of a target object as the coating on the target object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 13, 2023
    Publication date: May 16, 2024
    Inventors: Ambarish Jayant Kulkarni, Hrishikesh Keshavan, Mehmet Dede, Bernard Patrick Bewlay, Guanghua Wang, Byron Pritchard, Michael Solomon Idelchik
  • Publication number: 20240157336
    Abstract: A mixer assembly for a gas turbine engine. The mixer assembly includes a housing and a fuel injection port. The housing has a passage formed therein, and the housing includes a passage wall facing the passage. The fuel injection port is fluidly connected to a fuel source and is configured to inject a hydrocarbon fuel into the passage. At least a portion of the passage wall is a coated passage wall. The coated passage wall is (i) coated with a layer of catalyst particles comprising a rare earth oxide component and (ii) located downstream of the fuel injection port.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2023
    Publication date: May 16, 2024
    Inventors: Karthick Gourishankar, Lawrence B. Kool, Byron A. Pritchard, Sanjay Kumar Sondhi, Narayanan Janakiraman, Arundhati Sengupta, Atanu Saha, Bernard P. Bewlay
  • Patent number: 11946146
    Abstract: A coating system configured to be applied to a thermal barrier coating of an article includes an infiltration coating configured to be applied to the thermal barrier coating. The infiltration coating infiltrates at least some pores of the thermal barrier coating. The infiltration coating decomposes within the at least some pores of the thermal barrier coating to coat a portion of the at least some pores of the thermal barrier coating. The infiltration coating reduces a porosity of the thermal barrier coating. The coating system also includes a reactive phase spray formulation coat configured to be applied to the thermal barrier coating. The reactive phase spray formulation coating reacts with dust deposits on the thermal barrier coating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Hrishikesh Keshavan, Bernard Patrick Bewlay, Jose Sanchez, Margeaux Wallace, Byron Pritchard, Ambarish Kulkarni
  • Publication number: 20230398635
    Abstract: A coated part, such as a ceramic coated part, having a slot formed in a coating formed on a curvilinear portion of the part and a method of forming the slot. The method includes performing a plurality of laser ablation passes. Each laser ablation pass includes focusing a laser beam to a focus depth, irradiating the coating of the curvilinear portion with the laser beam focused at the focus depth to remove coating material of the coating by laser ablation, and scanning the laser beam in a scanning direction while irradiating the coating of the curvilinear portion with the laser beam. The scanning direction is a direction transverse to a thickness direction of the coating. The focus depth of each subsequent pass of the plurality of laser ablation passes is deeper in a thickness direction of the coating than the pass preceding the subsequent pass.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2022
    Publication date: December 14, 2023
    Inventors: Hrishikesh Keshavan, Bernard P. Bewlay, Byron A. Pritchard, Curtis A. Johnson, Hongqiang Chen, Jared Micheal Iverson, Weston B. Griffin, Younkoo Jeong, Jaewon Moon
  • Publication number: 20230313702
    Abstract: A servicing tool for a turbine engine and a method for using thereof are provided. A method includes inserting the tool into an access opening of the turbine engine, contacting a blade of the turbine engine, and removing material from the blade. The tool may comprise a wiper mount and a wiper, including a wiper surface, configured to contact and remove material from the blades. The tool may further comprise a body, an actuator, and fluid flowpaths for deploying the wiper and providing fluid locally to the blades of the turbine engine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2022
    Publication date: October 5, 2023
    Inventors: Ambarish J. Kulkarni, Byron A. Pritchard, Andrew Crispin Graham, Todd William Danko, Bernard P. Bewlay, Henry Ng, Michael E. Eriksen
  • Patent number: 11745195
    Abstract: An atomizing spray nozzle device includes an atomizing zone housing that receives different phases of materials used to form a coating. The atomizing zone housing mixes the different phases of the materials into a two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in a carrier gas. The device also includes a plenum housing fluidly coupled with the atomizing housing and extending from the atomizing housing to a delivery end. The plenum housing includes an interior plenum that receives the two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in the carrier gas from the atomizing zone housing. The device also includes one or more delivery nozzles fluidly coupled with the plenum chamber. The delivery nozzles provide outlets from which the two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in the carrier gas is delivered onto one or more surfaces of a target object as the coating on the target object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ambarish Jayant Kulkarni, Hrishikesh Keshavan, Mehmet Dede, Bernard Patrick Bewlay, Guanghua Wang, Byron Pritchard, Michael Solomon Idelchik
  • Publication number: 20230266012
    Abstract: A mixer assembly for a gas turbine engine. The mixer assembly includes a housing and a fuel injection port. The housing has a passage formed therein, and the housing includes a passage wall facing the passage. The fuel injection port is fluidly connected to a fuel source and is configured to inject a hydrocarbon fuel into the passage. At least a portion of the passage wall is a coated passage wall. The coated passage wall is (i) coated with a layer of a catalytic metal and (ii) located downstream of the fuel injection port.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2022
    Publication date: August 24, 2023
    Inventors: Lawrence B. Kool, Bernard P. Bewlay, Byron A. Pritchard, Ramal Janith Samarasinghe, Michael A. Benjamin, Lakshmi Krishnan, Hrishikesh Keshavan
  • Patent number: 11534780
    Abstract: An atomizing spray nozzle device includes an atomizing zone housing that receives different phases of materials used to form a coating. The atomizing zone housing mixes the different phases of the materials into a two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in a carrier gas. The device also includes a plenum housing fluidly coupled with the atomizing housing and extending from the atomizing housing to a delivery end. The plenum housing includes an interior plenum that receives the two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in the carrier gas from the atomizing zone housing. The device also includes one or more delivery nozzles fluidly coupled with the plenum chamber. The delivery nozzles provide outlets from which the two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in the carrier gas is delivered onto one or more surfaces of a target object as the coating on the target object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ambarish Jayant Kulkarni, Hrishikesh Keshavan, Mehmet Dede, Bernard Patrick Bewlay, Guanghua Wang, Byron Pritchard, Michael Solomon Idelchik
  • Patent number: 11358171
    Abstract: An atomizing spray device includes a housing having plural inlets and one or more outlets fluidly coupled with each other by an interior chamber. The inlets include a first inlet shaped to receive a first fluid and a second inlet shaped to receive a slurry of ceramic particles and a second fluid. The interior chamber in the housing is shaped to mix the first fluid received via the first inlet with the slurry received via the second inlet inside the housing to form a mixture in a location between the inlets and the one or more outlets. The interior chamber in the housing also is shaped to direct the mixture formed inside the housing as droplets outside of the housing via the one or more outlets such that, based on a discharged amount of the first fluid in the droplets, the first fluid promotes evaporation of the second fluid as the droplets traverse from the housing toward a surface of a component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Bernard Patrick Bewlay, Ambarish Jayant Kulkarni, Byron Pritchard, Krzysztof Lesnicki, Hrishikesh Keshavan, Mehmet Dede, Larry Rosenzweig, Jay Morgan
  • Publication number: 20220136095
    Abstract: A reactive phase spray formulation coating is configured to be disposed on the thermal barrier coating of an article. The reactive phase spray formulation coating comprises a base material and a binder material. The base material has a compliance that is higher than a compliance of the binder material, the binder material has a cohesive strength that is greater than a cohesive strength of the base material, the binder material has an adhesive strength that is greater than an adhesive strength of the base material, and the binder material has a surface area of at least ten square-meters per gram that is greater than a surface area of the base material. The binder material is configured to improve a cohesive strength level, an adhesive strength level, and a compliance of the formulation coating of the thermal barrier coating relative to the formulation coating not including the binder material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 13, 2022
    Publication date: May 5, 2022
    Inventors: Hrishikesh Keshavan, Byron Pritchard, Margeaux Wallace, Ambarish Kulkarni, Mehmet Dede, Bernard Patrick Bewlay
  • Patent number: 11161128
    Abstract: An atomizing spray nozzle device includes an atomizing zone housing that receives different phases of materials used to form a coating. The atomizing zone housing mixes the different phases of the materials into a two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in a carrier gas. The device also includes a plenum housing fluidly coupled with the atomizing housing and extending from the atomizing housing to a delivery end. The plenum housing includes an interior plenum that receives the two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in the carrier gas from the atomizing zone housing. The device also includes one or more delivery nozzles fluidly coupled with the plenum chamber. The delivery nozzles provide outlets from which the two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in the carrier gas is delivered onto one or more surfaces of a target object as the coating on the target object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ambarish Jayant Kulkarni, Hrishikesh Keshavan, Mehmet Dede, Bernard Patrick Bewlay, Guanghua Wang, Byron Pritchard, Michael Solomon Idelchik
  • Publication number: 20210323008
    Abstract: An atomizing spray nozzle device includes an atomizing zone housing that receives different phases of materials used to form a coating. The atomizing zone housing mixes the different phases of the materials into a two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in a carrier gas. The device also includes a plenum housing fluidly coupled with the atomizing housing and extending from the atomizing housing to a delivery end. The plenum housing includes an interior plenum that receives the two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in the carrier gas from the atomizing zone housing. The device also includes one or more delivery nozzles fluidly coupled with the plenum chamber. The delivery nozzles provide outlets from which the two-phase mixture of ceramic-liquid droplets in the carrier gas is delivered onto one or more surfaces of a target object as the coating on the target object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2021
    Publication date: October 21, 2021
    Inventors: Ambarish Jayant Kulkarni, Hrishikesh Keshavan, Mehmet Dede, Bernard Patrick Bewlay, Guanghua Wang, Byron Pritchard, Michael Solomon Idelchik
  • Publication number: 20210277523
    Abstract: A coating system configured to be applied to a thermal barrier coating of an article includes an infiltration coating configured to be applied to the thermal barrier coating. The infiltration coating infiltrates at least some pores of the thermal barrier coating. The infiltration coating decomposes within the at least some pores of the thermal barrier coating to coat a portion of the at least some pores of the thermal barrier coating. The infiltration coating reduces a porosity of the thermal barrier coating. The coating system also includes a reactive phase spray formulation coat configured to be applied to the thermal barrier coating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2021
    Publication date: September 9, 2021
    Inventors: Hrishikesh Keshavan, Bernard Patrick Bewlay, Jose Sanchez, Margeaux Wallace, Byron Pritchard, Ambarish Kulkarni
  • Patent number: 11028486
    Abstract: A method includes applying an infiltration coating on a thermal barrier coating of an article. The infiltration coating infiltrates at least some pores of the thermal barrier coating. The infiltration coating decomposes within the at least some pores of the thermal barrier coating to coat a portion of the at least some pores of the thermal barrier coating. The infiltration coating reduces a porosity of the thermal barrier coating. The method also includes applying a reactive phase spray formulation coating on the thermal barrier coating. The reactive phase spray formulation coating reacts with dust deposits on the thermal barrier coating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Hrishikesh Keshavan, Bernard Patrick Bewlay, Jose Sanchez, Margeaux Wallace, Byron Pritchard, Ambarish Kulkarni
  • Patent number: 10994287
    Abstract: An atomizing spray device includes a housing having inlets that receive a first fluid and a slurry of ceramic particles and a second fluid. The inlets are fluidly coupled with outlets by an interior chamber that mixes the first fluid with the slurry to form a primary mixture of the first fluid and first atomized droplets of the slurry. A first outlet on a first side of the housing and a second outlet on the first side of the housing are shaped to change the primary mixture to form a secondary mixture of the first fluid and second atomized droplets of the slurry. The first outlet sprays the secondary mixture onto a first surface as a first layer of coating and the second outlet sprays the secondary mixture onto the first surface as a second layer of coating while the housing moves in a direction along the first surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ambarish Kulkarni, Byron Pritchard, Hrishikesh Keshavan, Mehmet Dede, Bernard Patrick Bewlay
  • Patent number: 10875054
    Abstract: Systems and methods that provide or restore a coating to a component are provided. The systems and methods utilized an atomizing spray device. A gas and a slurry that comprises fluid and ceramic particles are supplied to the atomizing spray device. The slurry and gas are discharged from the spray device to form two-phase droplets. The fluid within the droplets evaporates to prevent the fluid from becoming part of the coating as the droplets traverse through the air and prior to impacting the surface of the component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Ambarish Kulkarni, Byron Pritchard, Shankar Sivaramakrishnan, Krzysztof Lesnicki, Hrishikesh Keshavan, Bernard Patrick Bewlay, Mehmet Dede, Larry Rosenzweig, Jay Morgan
  • Patent number: 10792679
    Abstract: A coating system includes a support fixture sized to be partially inserted into one or more openings of a component and a spray nozzle segment device comprising a housing configured to receive a slurry. The device is disposed radially outward of a central axis of the component and is shaped to extend circumferentially about at least part of the central axis of the component. The housing comprises plural delivery nozzles configured to spray the slurry onto a surface of the component. The device is operably coupled with the support fixture such that the fixture maintains a position of the device within the component when the support fixture is partially inserted into one or more openings of the component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Ambarish Kulkarni, Byron Pritchard, Hrishikesh Keshavan, Mehmet Dede, Bernard Patrick Bewlay
  • Patent number: 10710109
    Abstract: An atomizing spray nozzle device includes plural inlets that receive different phases of materials of a coating. The device also includes an atomizing zone housing portion fluidly coupled with the inlets and shaped to mix the different phases of the materials into a mixed phase slurry. The device also includes a plenum housing portion fluidly coupled with the atomizing housing portion along the center axis of the device. The plenum housing portion includes an interior plenum that is elongated along the center axis of the device. The plenum is configured to receive the mixed phase slurry from the atomizing zone. The device also includes one or more delivery nozzles fluidly coupled with the plenum. The one or more delivery nozzles provide one or more outlets from which the mixed phase slurry is delivered onto one or more surfaces of a target object as a coating on the target object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ambarish Jayant Kulkarni, Hrishikesh Keshavan, Mehmet Dede, Bernard Patrick Bewlay, Guanghua Wang, Byron Pritchard, Michael Solomon Idelchik
  • Publication number: 20200173033
    Abstract: A method includes applying an infiltration coating on a thermal barrier coating of an article. The infiltration coating infiltrates at least some pores of the thermal barrier coating. The infiltration coating decomposes within the at least some pores of the thermal barrier coating to coat a portion of the at least some pores of the thermal barrier coating. The infiltration coating reduces a porosity of the thermal barrier coating. The method also includes applying a reactive phase spray formulation coating on the thermal barrier coating. The reactive phase spray formulation coating reacts with dust deposits on the thermal barrier coating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2018
    Publication date: June 4, 2020
    Inventors: Hrishikesh Keshavan, Bernard Patrick Bewlay, Jose Sanchez, Margeaux Wallace, Byron Pritchard, Ambarish Kulkarni