Patents by Inventor Richard J. Keck
Richard J. Keck 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).
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Patent number: 6495942Abstract: A non-metallic structural enclosure for a generator rotor replaces conventional containment components including rotor wedges, rotor teeth and retaining rings. The enclosure includes a non-metallic tube formed of a plurality of spaced rings or of a continuous tube including ventilation holes or slots. The simplified rotor assembly serves to restrain the winding against centrifugal forces with a more highly optimized use of space and materials. The arrangement allows more space for copper and ventilation, thereby benefiting both efficiency and the performance of the machine. The use of individual rings has the additional benefit of providing restraint against centrifugal forces without reducing the effectiveness of cross slots in the rotor body from correcting peripheral dissymmetries in rotor stiffness. The rings also provide openings for ventilation without introducing stress concentrations in the enclosure.Type: GrantFiled: January 26, 2000Date of Patent: December 17, 2002Assignee: General Electric CompanyInventors: Christopher A. Kaminski, Richard J. Keck, Yu Wang
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Patent number: 6088904Abstract: The generator frame includes an inner frame module having openings at opposite ends sufficiently large to permit installation of various elements of the stator core, including the laminations and windings. Separate end cap modules having openings for receiving the rotor, as well as integral pedestal supports, are fabricated separately from the inner frame module and later secured, for example, by bolting, to the inner frame. Upon installation of the rotor, a packaged generator is afforded which can be bolted directly to a foundation at the installation site without an intervening base assembly.Type: GrantFiled: January 8, 1998Date of Patent: July 18, 2000Assignee: General Electric CompanyInventors: Richard J. Keck, Frank Zwack, Sr., Theodore S. Kralovic, Thomas E. Van Schaick
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Patent number: 5744885Abstract: The generator frame includes an inner frame module having openings at opposite ends sufficiently large to permit installation of various elements of the stator core, including the laminations and windings. Separate end cap modules having openings for receiving the rotor, as well as integral pedestal supports, are fabricated separately from the inner frame module and later secured, for example, by bolting, to the inner frame. Upon installation of the rotor, a packaged generator is afforded which can be bolted directly to a foundation at the installation site without an intervening base assembly.Type: GrantFiled: February 4, 1997Date of Patent: April 28, 1998Assignee: General Electric Co.Inventors: Richard J. Keck, Frank Zwack, Sr., Theodore S. Kralovic, Thomas E. Van Schaick
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Patent number: 5423613Abstract: The tilt pad journal bearing assembly includes a conduit within the bearing housing for supplying lubricant hydrostatically to each tilt bearing pad. The conduit includes a flexible segment coupled at respective opposite ends to the tilt pad and to a quick connect/disconnect coupling extending through an aperture in the side wall of the bearing housing. A supply line is coupled to each supply conduit adjacent the side wall by the quick connect/disconnect coupling. The flexible segment within the bearing housing accommodates the rocking motion of the tilt pad and the design and routing of the external supply line is therefore not dependent on any requirements of the bearing assembly. To service the bearing assembly, a set screw is unscrewed, permitting a portion of a coupler, together with a bushing to be withdrawn through the aperture into the interior of the housing for withdrawal with the tilt pad as a discrete sub-assembly.Type: GrantFiled: May 26, 1993Date of Patent: June 13, 1995Assignee: General Electric Co.Inventors: Richard J. Keck, Blake W. Wilson, Gary G. Wegner, Thomas R. Byrne
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Patent number: 5382856Abstract: A collector terminal and hydrogen seal assembly for insertion within a radial hole in a generator rotor and connectable to a conductor bar located within an axial bore formed in the rotor, the seal assembly comprising a substantially cylindrical terminal stud portion having threaded upper and lower sections and a smooth intermediate section; insulation wrapped about the intermediate section; a spacer block located between the seal elements and defining an annular space surrounding the insulation; and a conduit in the terminal stud adapted to introduce compressed air from outside the generator rotor to the annular space for testing the integrity of the seal elements.Type: GrantFiled: December 9, 1992Date of Patent: January 17, 1995Assignee: General Electric Co.Inventors: Richard J. Keck, Kirk G. O'Brien, Michael J. Bigelow
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Patent number: 5122698Abstract: Disclosed is a rotor body for an electric machine having slots for windings and slot keys with wedges for retaining the windings in the slots. The slot keys contain elongated spring strips underlying an amortisseur, in turn, underlying the wedges in the slot keys. The spring strips bias the amortisseur and wedges radially outwardly. Thus, the wedges lie in sufficient, low-resistance, efficient electrical contact with the rotor body at start-up and during low rotor speeds to prevent arcing and localized heating along the interfaces of the rotor parts otherwise resultant from induced surface currents at start-up and low rotor speeds. At the rotor ends, the spring strips bias the amortisseur ends radially outwardly into efficient electrical contact with retaining rings at opposite ends of the rotor body.Type: GrantFiled: July 26, 1990Date of Patent: June 16, 1992Assignee: General Electric CompanyInventors: Duncan N. Walker, Vincent G. Terry, Richard J. Keck, James R. Pedersen, Dennis R. Ulery, Edmund E. Kazmierczak, Brian E. Gott
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Patent number: 5090114Abstract: A tool for applying slot wedges having a main arm, a pair of pivotally mounted dogs for engagement in the slot key and straddling the external surface of the slot key, respectively, whereby the tool may be fixed in axial position along the slot key by pressure on the main arm. A second pivotal arm carries a wedge-engaging head whereby the lever is fixed in the slot and the second arm drives the wedge longitudinally into axial position in the slot key.Type: GrantFiled: July 25, 1991Date of Patent: February 25, 1992Assignee: General Electric CompanyInventors: Duncan N. Walker, Vincent G. Terry, Dennis R. Ulery, Edmund E. Kazmierczak, Richard J. Keck, James R. Pedersen, Brian E. Gott
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Patent number: 5075959Abstract: A method and apparatus for the assembly and disassembly of dovetail shaped wedges into and from the coil slots of dynamoelectric rotors using a fixture attached to a rotor shaft coupling in a selectable radial position so as to be aligned with a rotor slot. The method and apparatus further uses a pulling tool attached to a wedge and also connected to a winch located on the fixture via a winch belt extending between the tool and fixture.Type: GrantFiled: July 26, 1990Date of Patent: December 31, 1991Assignee: General Electric CompanyInventors: Richard J. Keck, Dennis R. Ulery, Steven C. Walko
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Patent number: 5048177Abstract: A method and apparatus for the assembly and disassembly of dovetail shaped wedges into and from the coil slots of dynamoelectric rotors using a fixture attached to a rotor shaft coupling in a selectable radial position so as to be aligned with a rotor slot. The method and apparatus further uses a pulling tool attached to a wedge and also connected to a winch located on the fixture via a winch belt extending between the tool and fixture.Type: GrantFiled: November 8, 1990Date of Patent: September 17, 1991Assignee: General Electric CompanyInventors: Richard J. Keck, Dennis R. Ulery
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Patent number: 5027500Abstract: A method and apparatus for the assembly and disassembly of dovetail shaped wedges into and from the coil slots of dynamoelectric rotors using a fixture attached to a rotor shaft coupling in a selectable radial position so as to be aligned with a rotor slot. The method and apparatus further uses a pulling tool attached to a wedge and also connected to a winch located on the fixture via a winch belt extending between the tool and fixture.Type: GrantFiled: November 8, 1990Date of Patent: July 2, 1991Assignee: General Electric CompanyInventors: Richard J. Keck, Dennis R. Ulery, Steven C. Walko