Patents by Inventor Ian A. Waitz

Ian A. Waitz 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: 6392313
    Abstract: The invention overcomes limitations of conventional power and thermodynamic sources by with micromachinery components that enable production of significant power and efficient operation of thermodynamic systems in the millimeter and micron regime to meet the efficiency, mobility, modularity, weight, and cost requirements of many modern applications. A micromachine of the invention has a rotor disk journalled for rotation in a stationary structure by a journal bearing. A plurality of radial flow rotor blades, substantially untapered in height, are disposed on a first rotor disk face, and an electrically conducting region is disposed on a rotor disk face. A plurality of stator electrodes that are electrically interconnected to define multiple electrical stator phases are disposed on a wall of the stationary structure located opposite the electrically conducting region of the rotor disk.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2002
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Alan H. Epstein, Stephen D. Senturia, Ian A. Waitz, Jeffrey H. Lang, Stuart A. Jacobson, Fredric F. Ehrich, Martin A. Schmidt, G. K. Ananthasuresh, Mark S. Spearing, Kenneth S. Breuer, Steven F. Nagle
  • Patent number: 6004095
    Abstract: In the invention, propagating broad band and tonal acoustic components of noise characteristic of interaction of a turbomachine blade wake, produced by a turbomachine blade as the blade rotates, with a turbomachine component downstream of the rotating blade, are reduced. This is accomplished by injection of fluid into the blade wake through a port in the rotor blade. The mass flow rate of the fluid injected into the blade wake is selected to reduce the momentum deficit of the wake to correspondingly increase the time-mean velocity of the wake and decrease the turbulent velocity fluctuations of the wake. With this fluid injection, reduction of both propagating broad band and tonal acoustic components of noise produced by interaction of the blade wake with a turbomachine component downstream of the rotating blade is achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 21, 1999
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Ian A. Waitz, John M. Brookfield, Julian Sell, Belva J. Hayden, K. Uno Ingard
  • Patent number: 5932940
    Abstract: The invention provides a micro-gas turbine engine and associated microcomponentry. The engine components, including, e.g., a compressor, a diffuser having diffuser vanes, a combustion chamber, turbine guide vanes, and a turbine are each manufactured by, e.g., microfabrication techniques, of a structural material common to all of the elements, e.g., a microelectronic material such as silicon or silicon carbide. Vapor deposition techniques, as well as bulk wafer etching techniques, can be employed to produce the engine. The engine includes a rotor having a shaft with a substantially untapered compressor disk on a first end, defining a centrifugal compressor, and a substantially untapered turbine disk on the opposite end, defining a radial inflow turbine. The rotor is preferably formed of a material characterized by a strength-to-density ratio that enables a rotor speed of at least about 500,000 rotations per minute.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 3, 1999
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Alan H. Epstein, Stephen D. Senturia, Ian A. Waitz, Jeffrey H. Lang, Stuart A. Jacobson, Fredric F. Ehrich, Martin A. Schmidt, G. K. Ananthasuresh, Mark S. Spearing, Kenneth S. Breuer, Steven F. Nagle