Patents by Inventor Pepe Palafox

Pepe Palafox 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: 11340184
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for inspecting cooling holes in an engine component can include a cover that is placed over the engine component and positioned proximate at least some of the cooling holes. A fluid is passed through the engine component to exhaust out of the cooling holes and impinge upon the cover. Analysis of the signature of the fluid impinging on the cover can be used to determine operation of the cooling holes with comparison of the signature to a reference signature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Jeremy Clyde Bailey, Pepe Palafox
  • Publication number: 20200141888
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for inspecting cooling holes in an engine component can include a cover that is placed over the engine component and positioned proximate at least some of the cooling holes. A fluid is passed through the engine component to exhaust out of the cooling holes and impinge upon the cover. Analysis of the signature of the fluid impinging on the cover can be used to determine operation of the cooling holes with comparison of the signature to a reference signature.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2018
    Publication date: May 7, 2020
    Inventors: Jeremy Clyde Bailey, Pepe Palafox
  • Patent number: 8487489
    Abstract: Provided is an apparatus, for example, for use with a rotating electric machine, that includes a housing. The housing can include a housing main portion and a housing end portion. The housing main portion can be configured to be disposed proximal to a body portion of a stator section of an electric machine. The housing main portion can define a main fluid channel that is configured to conduct fluid therethrough. The housing end portion can receive fluid from said main fluid channel and direct fluid into contact with a winding end portion of a conductive winding of the stator section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Pepe Palafox, William Dwight Gerstler, Xiaochun Shen, Ayman Mohamed Fawzi El-Refaie, Murtuza Lokhandwalla, Lembit Salasoo
  • Patent number: 8348608
    Abstract: A rotor of a turbomachine includes a rotor drum located at a central axis and a plurality of buckets secured to the rotor drum. A rotor shell extends between axially adjacent buckets of the plurality of buckets and is secured to and supported by the plurality of buckets defining a cooling passage between the rotor drum and the rotor shell. A low pressure sink is located at an upstream end of the rotor receptive of a coolant flow through the cooling passage. A method of cooling a rotor of a steam turbine includes locating a rotor shell radially outboard of a rotor drum defining a cooling passage therebetween. A flow of steam is urged from a downstream portion of the steam turbine through the cooling passage toward a low pressure sink located at an upstream end of the steam turbine thereby cooling the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Fred Thomas Willett, Howard Michael Brilliant, Pepe Palafox
  • Patent number: 8327641
    Abstract: An electricity generation system is presented. The electricity generation system includes a solar preheater for preheating compressed discharge air, a combustor to receive the heated compressed air from the solar preheater, burn a fuel using the heated compressed air to generate hot burned gas, a first turbine to receive the hot burned gas from the combustor, expand the hot burned gas to generate exhaust gas, a heat recovery steam generator to receive the exhaust gas from the first turbine, generate vapor by heating a condensed fluid using the exhaust gas, a solar evaporator/superheater to receive a heated working fluid from the heat recovery steam generator, generate solar vapor by heating the heated working fluid, and a second turbine to drive a second generator using vapor and the solar vapor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Sebastian Walter Freund, Kevin Richard Lang, Pepe Palafox
  • Publication number: 20120025638
    Abstract: Provided is an apparatus, for example, for use with a rotating electric machine, that includes a housing. The housing can include a housing main portion and a housing end portion. The housing main portion can be configured to be disposed proximal to a body portion of a stator section of an electric machine. The housing main portion can define a main fluid channel that is configured to conduct fluid therethrough. The housing end portion can receive fluid from said main fluid channel and direct fluid into contact with a winding end portion of a conductive winding of the stator section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2010
    Publication date: February 2, 2012
    Applicant: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Pepe Palafox, William Dwight Gerstler, Xiaochun Shen, Ayman Mohamed Fawzi El-Refaie, Murtuza Lokhandwalla, Lembit Salasoo
  • Patent number: 7994668
    Abstract: An electrical machine comprising a rotor is presented. The electrical machine includes the rotor disposed on a rotatable shaft and defining a plurality of radial protrusions extending from the shaft up to a periphery of the rotor. The radial protrusions having cavities define a fluid path. A stationary shaft is disposed concentrically within the rotatable shaft wherein an annular space is formed between the stationary and rotatable shaft. A plurality of magnetic segments is disposed on the radial protrusions and the fluid path from within the stationary shaft into the annular space and extending through the cavities within the radial protrusions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: William Dwight Gerstler, Ayman Mohamed Fawzi El-Refaie, Murtuza Lokhandwalla, James Pellegrino Alexander, Owen Scott Quirion, Pepe Palafox, Xiaochun Shen, Lembit Salasoo
  • Publication number: 20110127773
    Abstract: An electricity generation system is presented. The electricity generation system includes a solar preheater for preheating compressed discharge air, a combustor to receive the heated compressed air from the solar preheater, burn a fuel using the heated compressed air to generate hot burned gas, a first turbine to receive the hot burned gas from the combustor, expand the hot burned gas to generate exhaust gas, a heat recovery steam generator to receive the exhaust gas from the first turbine, generate vapor by heating a condensed fluid using the exhaust gas, a solar evaporator/superheater to receive a heated working fluid from the heat recovery steam generator, generate solar vapor by heating the heated working fluid, and a second turbine to drive a second generator using vapor and the solar vapor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2009
    Publication date: June 2, 2011
    Applicant: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Sebastian Walter Freund, Kevin Richard Lang, Pepe Palafox
  • Publication number: 20110085905
    Abstract: A rotor of a turbomachine includes a rotor drum located at a central axis and a plurality of buckets secured to the rotor drum. A rotor shell extends between axially adjacent buckets of the plurality of buckets and is secured to and supported by the plurality of buckets defining a cooling passage between the rotor drum and the rotor shell. A low pressure sink is located at an upstream end of the rotor receptive of a coolant flow through the cooling passage. A method of cooling a rotor of a steam turbine includes locating a rotor shell radially outboard of a rotor drum defining a cooling passage therebetween. A flow of steam is urged from a downstream portion of the steam turbine through the cooling passage toward a low pressure sink located at an upstream end of the steam turbine thereby cooling the rotor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2009
    Publication date: April 14, 2011
    Applicant: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Fred Thomas Willett, Howard Michael Brilliant, Pepe Palafox
  • Publication number: 20100289386
    Abstract: An electrical machine comprising a rotor is presented. The electrical machine includes the rotor disposed on a rotatable shaft and defining a plurality of radial protrusions extending from the shaft up to a periphery of the rotor. The radial protrusions having cavities define a fluid path. A stationary shaft is disposed concentrically within the rotatable shaft wherein an annular space is formed between the stationary and rotatable shaft. A plurality of magnetic segments is disposed on the radial protrusions and the fluid path from within the stationary shaft into the annular space and extending through the cavities within the radial protrusions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2009
    Publication date: November 18, 2010
    Applicant: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: William Dwight Gerstler, Ayman Mohamed Fawzi EL-Refaie, Murtuza Lokhandwalla, James Pellegrino Alexander, Owen Scott Quirion, Pepe Palafox, Xiaochun Shen, Lembit Salasoo