Patents by Inventor Nigel Rhodes

Nigel Rhodes 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: 20080007008
    Abstract: A leaf seal for sealing a shaft rotating about an axis, in particular in a gas turbine, includes a plurality of spaced-apart leaves disposed in a concentric circle around the axis and fixed in position. Each of the leaves includes a surface oriented essentially parallel to the axis and an integrally formed element configured to position and retain the leaves in the leaf seal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2007
    Publication date: January 10, 2008
    Applicant: ALSTOM Technology Ltd
    Inventors: Matthias Hoebel, Nigel Rhodes, Ian Summerside
  • Publication number: 20070261225
    Abstract: In a process for producing leaves (20, 20?) for a leaf seal, in particular as a seal for a gas turbine, which leaves (20, 20?) are laterally delimited by a peripheral edge contour and have regions of different thicknesses (d1, d2), a simplification, without sacrificing precision, is achieved by virtue of the edge contour of the leaves (20, 20?) being cut out of a metal sheet (28) by an etching process and the regions of different thicknesses (d1, d2) also being produced simultaneously as part of the etching process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2006
    Publication date: November 15, 2007
    Inventors: Simon Hogg, Nigel Rhodes, Erwin Schoenfeld
  • Publication number: 20070120326
    Abstract: A leaf seal for sealing a shaft rotating about an axis, in particular in a gas turbine, includes a plurality of spaced-apart leaves arranged in a concentric circle around the axis and fixed in position by brazing, the leaves having surfaces oriented essentially parallel to the axis. The leaves are brazed to one another via intermediate spacers made of a brazing foil, so that a brazed joint is produced by brazing alloy from the brazing foils. The brazing temperature may be set to an optimum value just above the solidus temperature of the brazing foil, at which partial melting of the brazing foil occurs and penetration of liquid brazing alloy into the gap between the leaves is avoided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2006
    Publication date: May 31, 2007
    Applicant: Alstom Technology Ltd.
    Inventors: Nigel Rhodes, Matthias Hoebel, Walter Brehm, Alexander Schnell
  • Publication number: 20070119909
    Abstract: A method of processing seals (20), like leaf seals, in which seals (20) an annular gap, formed between two coaxial, cylindrical surfaces, is sealed off in the axial direction by a multiplicity of individual, thin sealing elements (22; 22a, b) which, with an orientation deviating from the radial direction, extend transversely through the gap and are fixed at their end assigned to the one cylindrical surface and bear loosely with the other, free end against the other cylindrical surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2006
    Publication date: May 31, 2007
    Inventor: Nigel Rhodes
  • Publication number: 20070085277
    Abstract: A leaf seal for sealing a shaft rotating about an axis, in particular in a gas turbine, includes a multiplicity of spaced-apart leaves (26) which are arranged in a concentric circle around the axis and are fixed in their position by welded connections produced by electron beam welding, the leaves (26), with their surfaces, being oriented essentially parallel to the axis. The welded connections of the leaves are improved by the leaves (26) being designed in such a way and being arranged in the leaf seal in such a way that they abut against one another at the side edges directly or via intermediate spacers (27) along at least one contact line (36) extending over a plurality of leaves (26), and by the welded connections being designed as welds directed along the at least one contact line (36) and oriented in axial direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2006
    Publication date: April 19, 2007
    Inventors: Nigel Rhodes, Ernst Vogt