Patents by Inventor Wayne Alan Lillibridge

Wayne Alan Lillibridge 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).

  • Bucket dovetail design for turbine rotors
    Patent number: 6840740
    Abstract: A turbine bucket dovetail secures buckets in a turbine rotor. The turbine bucket dovetail includes a plurality of hooks engageable with a wheel post of the turbine rotor, which hooks extend in an axial direction relative to the turbine rotor. A pocket is machined in a tangential face of the dovetail, resulting in reduced peak stress in the wheel post dovetail edge at the gate opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2005
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Gary Edward Yehle, Wayne Alan Lillibridge, Noel Jacob Bylina
  • Bucket dovetail design for turbine rotors
    Publication number: 20040109766
    Abstract: A turbine bucket dovetail secures buckets in a turbine rotor. The turbine bucket dovetail includes a plurality of hooks engageable with a wheel post of the turbine rotor, which hooks extend in an axial direction relative to the turbine rotor. A pocket is machined in a tangential face of the dovetail, resulting in reduced peak stress in the wheel post dovetail edge at the gate opening.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2002
    Publication date: June 10, 2004
    Inventors: Gary Edward Yehle, Wayne Alan Lillibridge, Noel Jacob Bylina
  • Bucket and wheel dovetail design for turbine rotors
    Patent number: 6652237
    Abstract: A dovetail joint between a rotor wheel and a bucket includes a male dovetail component on the rotor wheel and a female dovetail component on the bucket. The male dovetail component has axially projecting hooks with slanted surfaces along generally radially inwardly directed surfaces. The slanted surfaces form included angles with a plane normal to the axis of rotation and bisecting the wheel dovetail which are larger than 90° and remain constant for all of the hooks. Single radius fillets are also provided along the transition surfaces between the slanted crush surfaces and the neck surfaces. The stress concentrations are therefore minimized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2003
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Gary Edward Yehle, Noel Jacob Bylina, Wayne Alan Lillibridge
  • Bucket and wheel dovetail design for turbine rotors
    Publication number: 20030077176
    Abstract: A dovetail joint between a rotor wheel and a bucket includes a male dovetail component on the rotor wheel and a female dovetail component on the bucket. The male dovetail component has axially projecting hooks with slanted surfaces along generally radially inwardly directed surfaces. The slanted surfaces form included angles with a plane normal to the axis of rotation and bisecting the wheel dovetail which are larger than 90° and remain constant for all of the hooks. Single radius fillets are also provided along the transition surfaces between the slanted crush surfaces and the neck surfaces. The stress concentrations are therefore minimized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2001
    Publication date: April 24, 2003
    Inventors: Gary Edward Yehle, Noel Jacob Bylina, Wayne Alan Lillibridge