Patents by Inventor Donald A. Clements

Donald A. Clements 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: 11053797
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a rotor thrust balanced turbine engine that may increase engine performance and efficiency while managing thrust mismatch or imbalance in a low pressure (LP) spool between a fan assembly and a turbine rotor assembly. The gas turbine engine defines a radial direction, a longitudinal direction, and a circumferential direction, an upstream end and a downstream end along the longitudinal direction, and an axial centerline extended along the longitudinal direction. The gas turbine engine includes a turbine rotor assembly and a turbine frame. The turbine rotor assembly defines a first flowpath radius and a second flowpath radius each extended from the axial centerline. The first flowpath radius is disposed at the upstream end of the turbine rotor assembly, and wherein the second flowpath radius is disposed at the downstream end of the turbine rotor assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Thomas Ory Moniz, Jeffrey Donald Clements
  • Patent number: 10975717
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a fan section having a fan rotatable with a fan shaft and a turbomachinery section having a turbine and a turbomachine shaft rotatable with the turbine. A power gearbox is also provided mechanically coupled to both the fan shaft and the turbomachine shaft such that the fan shaft is rotatable by the turbomachine shaft across the power gearbox. A torque monitoring system includes a gearbox sensor operable with a gear of the power gearbox and a shaft sensor operable with at least one of the turbomachine shaft or the fan shaft. The torque monitoring system determines an angular position of the gear of the gearbox relative to at least one of the fan shaft or the turbomachine shaft using the gearbox sensor and the shaft sensor to determine a torque within the gas turbine engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Thomas Ory Moniz, Joseph George Rose, Robert Harold Weisgerber, Jeffrey Donald Clements, Brandon Wayne Miller
  • Patent number: 10961850
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine including a torque frame is provided. The torque frame includes an inner shroud defined circumferentially around the axial centerline, an outer shroud surrounding the inner shroud and defined circumferentially around the axial centerline, and a structural member extended along the radial direction and coupled to the inner shroud and the outer shroud. The torque frame is configured to rotate around the axial centerline.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Gert Johannes van der Merwe, Darek Tomasz Zatorski, Richard Alan Wesling, Jeffrey Donald Clements
  • Patent number: 10876407
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a gas turbine engine defining a radial direction, a circumferential direction, an axial centerline along a longitudinal direction, and an upstream end and a downstream end along the longitudinal direction. The gas turbine engine defines a core flowpath extended generally along the longitudinal direction. The gas turbine engine includes a first turbine rotor. The first turbine rotor includes an annular outer band disposed outward of the core flowpath along the radial direction. The first turbine rotor further includes a plurality of airfoils coupled to an inner diameter of the outer band in which the plurality of airfoils are extended generally inward along the radial direction. The outer band defines a plurality of airfoil cooling passages in which the plurality of airfoil cooling passages are extended at least partially in the radial direction in fluid communication with the plurality of airfoils.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Brandon Wayne Miller, Jeffrey Donald Clements, Daniel Waslo, Joel Francis Kirk
  • Publication number: 20200362713
    Abstract: A turbomachinery apparatus includes: a turbine, including: a turbine component defining an arcuate flowpath surface; an array of axial-flow turbine airfoils extending from the flowpath surface, the turbine airfoils defining spaces therebetween; and a plurality of fences extending from the flowpath surface, in the spaces between the turbine airfoils, each fence having opposed concave and convex sides extending between a leading edge and a trailing edge, wherein the fences have a nonzero camber and a constant thickness, are axially located near the leading edges of adjacent turbine airfoils, and wherein at least one of a chord dimension of the fences and a span dimension of the fences is less than the corresponding dimension of the turbine airfoils.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2019
    Publication date: November 19, 2020
    Inventors: Francesco Bertini, Aspi Rustom Wadia, Lyle D. Dailey, Andrea Arnone, Filippo Rubechinni, Matteo Giovanni, Paul Hadley Vitt, Jeffrey Donald Clements
  • Patent number: 10823114
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a gas turbine engine defining a longitudinal direction, a radial direction, and a circumferential direction, and an upstream end and a downstream end along the longitudinal direction. The gas turbine engine includes a turbine section, a gearbox proximate to the turbine section, and a driveshaft. The turbine section includes a first rotating component interdigitated with a second rotating component along the longitudinal direction. The first rotating component includes an outer shroud defining a plurality of outer shroud airfoils extended inward of the outer shroud along the radial direction and one or more connecting airfoils coupling the outer shroud to a radially extended rotor. The second rotating component includes an inner shroud defining a plurality of inner shroud airfoils extended outward of the inner shroud along the radial direction. The second rotating component is coupled to an input shaft connected to an input gear of the gearbox.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Jeffrey Donald Clements, Darek Tomasz Zatorski, Alan Roy Stuart
  • Patent number: 10823064
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a low pressure compressor and a low pressure turbine, with a low pressure shaft coupled to the low pressure turbine through a turbine extension and coupled to the low pressure compressor through a compressor extension. A forward bearing assembly supports the low pressure shaft within a compressor section and at a location aft of the compressor extension and an aft LP bearing assembly supports the low pressure shaft within a turbine section at a location aft of the turbine extension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Thomas Ory Moniz, Joseph George Rose, Jeffrey Donald Clements
  • Patent number: 10815886
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a compressor section and a turbine section. The turbine section includes a drive turbine and is located downstream of the compressor section. The gas turbine engine also includes a fan mechanically coupled to and rotatable with the drive turbine such that the fan is rotatable by the drive turbine at the same rotational speed as the drive turbine, the fan defining a fan pressure ratio and including a plurality of fan blades, each fan blade defining a fan tip speed. During operation of the gas turbine engine at a rated speed, the fan pressure ratio of the fan is less than 1.5 and the fan tip speed of each of the fan blades is greater than 1,250 feet per second.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Christopher James Kroger, Brandon Wayne Miller, Trevor Wayne Goerig, David William Crall, Tsuguji Nakano, Jeffrey Donald Clements, Bhaskar Nanda Mondal
  • Patent number: 10815881
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a gas turbine engine including a turbine section including a first rotating component interdigitated along a longitudinal direction with a second rotating component. The first rotating component and the second rotating component are each coupled to a speed reduction assembly in counter-rotating arrangement. The first rotating component comprising an outer shroud and a plurality of outer shroud airfoils extended inward along a radial direction from the outer shroud. A connecting member couples the outer shroud to a radially extended first rotor. The second rotating component comprising an inner shroud and a plurality of inner shroud airfoils extended outward along the radial direction from the inner shroud, the plurality of inner shroud airfoils in alternating arrangement along the longitudinal direction with the plurality of outer shroud airfoils.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Jeffrey Donald Clements, Darek Tomasz Zatorski, Alan Roy Stuart
  • Patent number: 10801442
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a gas turbine engine defining a longitudinal direction, a radial direction, and a circumferential direction, and an upstream end and a downstream end along the longitudinal direction. The gas turbine engine includes a turbine section and a gear assembly within or downstream of the turbine section. The turbine section includes a first rotating component and a second rotating component along the longitudinal direction. The first rotating component includes one or more connecting airfoils coupled to a radially extended rotor, and the second rotating component includes an inner shroud defining a plurality of inner shroud airfoils extended outward of the inner shroud along the radial direction. The second rotating component is coupled to a second shaft connected to an input accessory of the gear assembly, and the first rotating component is coupled to an output accessory of the gear assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Jeffrey Donald Clements, Darek Tomasz Zatorski, Alan Roy Stuart
  • Patent number: 10794396
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a turbomachine and a fan rotatable by the turbomachine. The fan includes a plurality of fan blades. The gas turbine engine also includes an outer nacelle surrounding the plurality of fan blades and including an inner wall, the inner wall of the outer nacelle including a plurality of pre-swirl contours positioned forward of the fan blades of the fan along an axial direction and extending inwardly along a radial direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Christopher James Kroger, Trevor Wayne Goerig, Tsuguji Nakano, Jeffrey Donald Clements
  • Patent number: 10787931
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a method of turbine section thermal management for a gas turbine engine. The engine includes a first turbine bearing defining an outer air bearing disposed radially adjacent to a low speed turbine rotor hub of a low speed turbine rotor and an inner bearing disposed radially adjacent to a high pressure (HP) shaft coupled to a high speed turbine rotor, wherein a first manifold is in fluid communication from a pressure plenum of a combustion section to the first turbine bearing, and wherein a second manifold is in fluid communication from the first turbine bearing to a pressure regulating valve and an outer diameter secondary flowpath of the turbine section, and wherein a third manifold is in fluid communication from the pressure plenum of the combustion section to the pressure regulating valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Alan Roy Stuart, Jeffrey Donald Clements, Richard Schmidt, Thomas Ory Moniz
  • Patent number: 10724435
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a turbomachine and a fan rotatable by the turbomachine. The fan includes a plurality of fan blades. The gas turbine engine also includes an outer nacelle surrounding the plurality of fan blades and a plurality of part-span inlet guide vanes cantilevered from the outer nacelle at a location forward of the plurality of fan blades along the axial direction. Each of the plurality of inlet guide vanes defines an inner end along the radial direction and it is unconnected with an adjacent part-span inlet guide vane at the inner end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Co.
    Inventors: Christopher James Kroger, Brandon Wayne Miller, Trevor Wayne Goerig, David William Crall, Tsuguji Nakano, Jeffrey Donald Clements, Bhaskar Nanda Mondal
  • Patent number: 10723471
    Abstract: A system for mounting an engine to an aircraft includes an engine forward mount angled toward the forward end of the engine at a first angle. At least two thrust links extend between an engine aft mount to a link support connection at a second angle. The engine aft mount is angled toward the forward end of the engine at a third angle. A projection of a load vector of the engine forward mount onto a vertical plane extending through the axis of rotation of the engine and a projection of a load vector of each of the at least two thrust links onto the vertical plane intersect the axis of rotation of the engine within a first vertical plane segment extending between a forward end of a nose of a fan assembly and forward of a forward mount interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Alan Roy Stuart, Thomas Ory Moniz, Jeffrey Donald Clements, Joseph George Rose
  • Patent number: 10718265
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a gas turbine engine defining a longitudinal direction, a radial direction extended from an axial centerline, and a circumferential direction. The gas turbine engine includes a compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section in serial flow arrangement along the longitudinal direction. The gas turbine engine includes a low speed turbine rotor comprising a hub extended along the longitudinal direction and radially within the combustion section; a high speed turbine rotor comprising a high pressure (HP) shaft coupling the high speed turbine rotor to a HP compressor in the compressor section; a first turbine bearing disposed radially between the hub of the low speed turbine rotor and the HP shaft. The HP shaft extends along the longitudinal direction and radially within the hub of the low speed turbine rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Alan Roy Stuart, Jeffrey Donald Clements, Richard Schmidt, Thomas Ory Moniz
  • Patent number: 10711797
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a turbomachine and a fan rotatable by the turbomachine. The fan includes a plurality of fan blades, each of the plurality of fan blades defining a fan blade span along a radial direction. The gas turbine engine further includes an outer nacelle surrounding the plurality of fan blades and a plurality of part-span inlet guide varies attached to the outer nacelle at a location forward of the plurality of fan blades along an axial direction. Each of the plurality of inlet guide vanes defines an IGV span along the radial direction, the IGV span being at least about five percent of the fan blade span and up to about fifty-five percent of the fan blade span.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Christopher James Kroger, Brandon Wayne Miller, Trevor Wayne Goerig, David William Crall, Tsuguji Nakano, Jeffrey Donald Clements, Bhaskar Nanda Mondal
  • Patent number: 10677264
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a fan section having a single-stage fan, a core turbine engine, and a nacelle at least partially surrounding the fan of the fan section and the core turbine engine. The gas turbine engine also includes an outlet guide vane extending between a casing of the core turbine engine and the nacelle. The gas turbine engine is configured to define an acoustic ratio greater than or equal to 2.3, with the acoustic ratio being a ratio of an axial spacing between the trailing edge of the fan blade and the leading edge of the outlet guide vane at a radial location seventy-five percent (75%) along the span of the fan blade to the axial width of the fan blade also at the radial location seventy-five percent (75%) along the span of the fan blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Thomas Ory Moniz, Daniel Robert Dwyer, Mark John Laricchiuta, Jeffrey Donald Clements, Brandon Wayne Miller
  • Patent number: 10669893
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a gas turbine engine defining a longitudinal direction, an axial centerline extended along the longitudinal direction, an upstream end and a downstream end opposite of the upstream end along the longitudinal direction, a radial direction, and a circumferential direction. The gas turbine engine includes a high speed turbine rotor coupled to a high pressure (HP) shaft and HP compressor, a low speed turbine rotor comprising an axially extended hub, and a first turbine bearing disposed radially between the low speed turbine rotor and the high speed turbine rotor. The high speed turbine rotor defines a turbine cooling conduit through the high speed turbine rotor. The low speed turbine rotor includes a rotating nozzle adjacent to the turbine cooling conduit. The first turbine bearing defines an outer air bearing and an inner air bearing. The first turbine bearing defines a stationary nozzle adjacent to the rotating nozzle of the first turbine rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Alan Roy Stuart, Jeffrey Donald Clements, Richard Schmidt, Thomas Ory Moniz
  • Patent number: 10654577
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a gas turbine engine defining a radial direction, a longitudinal direction, and a circumferential direction, an upstream end and a downstream end along the longitudinal direction, and an axial centerline extended along the longitudinal direction. The gas turbine engine includes a low pressure (LP) turbine defining an outer flowpath. The outer flowpath defines a first outer flowpath radius at an upstream-most end of the LP turbine, a last outer flowpath radius disposed at a downstream-most end of the LP turbine, a middle outer flowpath radius disposed therebetween along the longitudinal direction. The middle outer flowpath radius is greater than the last outer flowpath radius.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Brandon Wayne Miller, Thomas Ory Moniz, Monty Lee Shelton, Joel Francis Kirk, Jeffrey Donald Clements
  • Patent number: 10655537
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a method of operating a gas turbine engine with an interdigitated turbine section. The engine includes a fan rotor, an intermediate pressure compressor, a high pressure compressor, a combustion section, and a turbine section in serial flow arrangement. The turbine section includes, in serial flow arrangement, a first stage of a low speed turbine rotor, a high speed turbine rotor, a second stage of the low speed turbine rotor, an intermediate speed turbine rotor, and one or more additional stages of the low speed turbine rotor. The low speed turbine rotor is coupled to the fan rotor via a low pressure shaft. The intermediate speed turbine rotor is coupled to the intermediate pressure compressor via an intermediate pressure shaft. The high speed turbine rotor is coupled to the high pressure compressor via a high pressure shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Alan Roy Stuart, Jeffrey Donald Clements, Richard Schmidt, Thomas Ory Moniz