Patents by Inventor Robin Thomas David McMillan

Robin Thomas David McMillan 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: 6684640
    Abstract: A gas-fuelled burner, especially for gas turbines powered by low calorific value fuel, is provided with restrictors to slow the incoming fuel from inlets to a similar mass mean velocity as the air provided through inlets, thereby reducing turbulence and improving combustion. The restrictors and outlet passages carrying the fuel to the combustion pre-chamber are located in vanes of a radial inlet swirler so as to alternate with the air inlets. The geometry is such that the respective flows emerge tangentially to a notional circle centered on the combustion pre-chamber of the turbine. The circle is preferably between 0.7 and 1.0 times the diameter of the actual pre-chamber. The ratio of the area of the restrictor to that of the outlet passage may lie between 1:1.1 and 1:1.7, preferably 1:1.4.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2004
    Assignee: Alstom Power N.V.
    Inventors: Robin Thomas David McMillan, Martin Paul Brown, Sarah Gillian Dawson
  • Patent number: 6546731
    Abstract: In a twin wall combustion chamber for a gas turbine engine, the outer wall has impingement holes so that compressed air surrounding the chamber can pass through the holes to impinge on the inner wall, and the inner wall has effusion holes whereby air can effuse into the combustion chamber. The number of effusion holes is greater than the number of impingement holes, the effusion-holes preferably being arranged in groups of seven, comprising six holes equi-spaced around a central seventh hole, each group having an impingement hole in a fixed positional relationship to the central hole, preferably downstream of it.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: ABB Alstom Power UK Ltd.
    Inventors: Hisham Salman Alkabie, Robin Thomas David McMillan
  • Publication number: 20020112480
    Abstract: A gas-fuelled burner, especially for gas turbines powered by low calorific value fuel, is provided with restrictors to slow the incoming fuel from inlets to a similar mass mean velocity as the air provided through inlets, thereby reducing turbulence and improving combustion. The restrictors and outlet passages carrying the fuel to the combustion pre-chamber are located in vanes of a radial inlet swirler so as to alternate with the air inlets. The geometry is such that the respective flows emerge tangentially to a notional circle centered on the combustion pre-chamber of the turbine. The circle is preferably between 0.7 and 1.0 times the diameter of the actual pre-chamber. The ratio of the area of the restrictor to that of the outlet passage may lie between 1:1.1 and 1:1.7, preferably 1:1.4.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2001
    Publication date: August 22, 2002
    Inventors: Robin Thomas David McMillan, Martin Paul Brown, Sarah Gillian Dawson
  • Publication number: 20010004835
    Abstract: In a twin wall combustion chamber for a gas turbine engine, the outer wall has impingement holes so that compressed air surrounding the chamber can pass through the holes to impinge on the inner wall, and the inner wall has effusion holes whereby air can effuse into the combustion chamber. The number of effusion holes is greater than the number of impingement holes, the effusion holes preferably being arranged in groups of seven, comprising six holes equi-spaced around a central seventh hole, each group having an impingement hole in a fixed positional relationship to the central hole, preferably downstream of it.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2000
    Publication date: June 28, 2001
    Inventors: Hisham Salman Alkabie, Robin Thomas David McMillan