Process Patents (Class 60/772)
  • Patent number: 11029027
    Abstract: A combustor panel may comprise a dilution hole, a plurality of film cooling holes each of the plurality comprising an inlet and an outlet, a first group of the plurality of film cooling holes arranged circumferentially about the dilution hole, wherein each of film cooling holes of the first group have a first outlet angle oriented radially toward the center of the dilution hole, and a second group of the plurality of film cooling holes arranged radially outward of the first group and relatively circumferentially between the first group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: Raytheon Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Scott D. Lewis, James B. Hoke, Jeffrey Jay Lienau
  • Patent number: 10982854
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a combustor comprising a plurality of combustion nozzles, a cooling chamber configured to surround the plurality of combustion nozzles, an inner liner configured to surround one end of the cooling chamber and to have a plurality of through-holes formed in a circumferential direction in an end region surrounding the one end, an outer liner configured to surround the inner liner and to be spaced apart from the inner liner at a predetermined interval, and a plurality of protrusions configured to be disposed so as to be spaced apart from each other in the circumferential direction on an outer circumferential surface of the inner liner in the end region, where some of the plurality of protrusions are spaced apart from the outer circumferential surface of the inner liner and overlap with a virtual line connecting the plurality of through-holes in a direction vertical to the outer circumferential surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Inventor: Eunyoung Kim
  • Patent number: 10976052
    Abstract: A combustor assembly is generally provided. The combustor assembly includes a volute wall extended annularly around a combustor centerline. The volute wall is extended at least partially as a spiral curve from a circumferential reference line around the combustor centerline. The volute wall defines a combustion chamber therewithin. An annular inner wall is extended at least partially along a lengthwise direction from the volute wall. An annular outer wall is extended at least partially along the lengthwise direction from the volute wall. The inner wall and the outer wall are each separated along a radial direction from the combustor centerline. A primary flow passage is defined between the inner wall and the outer wall in fluid communication from the combustion chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Gregory Allen Boardman, Pradeep Naik, Joseph Zelina, Clayton Stuart Cooper
  • Patent number: 10961911
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes an engine core having a compressor section, a combustor fluidly connected to the compressor section, and a turbine section fluidly connected to the combustor section. At least one compressor bleed connects a compressor flowpath with a first cooled cooling air path. The first cooled cooling air path includes a supplementary coolant injector connected to a supplementary coolant supply. The cooled cooling air path including a portion exterior to the engine core.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: Raytheon Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew E. Bintz, Dilip Prasad
  • Patent number: 10955138
    Abstract: A fuel injector for a gas turbine engine of an aircraft having a fuel nozzle including a fuel swirler and/or an outer air swirler. The fuel swirler may include a manifold for receiving fuel from a fuel conduit, and a plurality of fuel passages to direct fuel from the manifold to discharge orifices that direct fuel with swirling flow. The fuel swirler may be configured to provide uniform spray while minimizing recirculation zones; reduce residence time as fuel enters the manifold; minimize flow disruptions, boundary layer growth, and/or pressure drop as fuel flows through the fuel passages; reduces coking internally of the nozzle; reduces thermal stresses; and is simple and low-cost to manufacture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: Parker-Hannifin Corporation
    Inventors: Luther Wirtz, Jeffrey Lehtinen, Adel Mansour, David Tibbs, Robert Pelletier, Jon Stockill
  • Patent number: 10941706
    Abstract: An aeronautical gas turbine engine includes a turbomachine including a compressor section, a combustion section, a turbine section, and an exhaust section in serial flow order. The aeronautical gas turbine engine additionally includes a closed cycle heat engine including a compressor configured to compress a working fluid; a primary heat exchanger in thermal communication with the turbomachine and the working fluid, the primary heat exchanger configured to transfer heat from the turbomachine to the working fluid; an expander coupled to the compressor for expanding the working fluid; and an output shaft driven by the expander.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2021
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Arnab Sen, Brandon Wayne Miller, Bhaskar Nanda Mondal, Kishanjit Pal, Daniel Alan Niergarth
  • Patent number: 10934888
    Abstract: Disclosed is a lubricant supply system for a plurality of bearing dampers in a plurality of engine bearing compartments of a gas turbine engine, including a lubricant supply conduit, a first lubricant delivery conduit fluidly coupled to the supply conduit, the first delivery conduit including one or more lubricant delivery flow paths and delivering lubrication to engine components, a second lubricant delivery conduit fluidly coupled to the supply conduit, the second delivery conduit delivering lubricant to one or more of the plurality of bearing dampers, and an active oil flow management valve, selectively restricting lubricant flow in the first delivery conduit, increasing pressure in the second delivery conduit, based on an engine shaft rotational speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: RAYTHEON TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Thomas Bruce Avis, Francis Parnin, Michael Dreher, James S. Elder
  • Patent number: 10926883
    Abstract: An aircraft includes a first engine that generates first bleed air flow and a second engine that generates second bleed air flow. The aircraft further includes an aircraft environmental control system (ECS) with a bleed manifold to collect the first bleed air flow and the second bleed air flow, and one or more air cycle machines to perform air conditioning consuming bleed air flow from the bleed manifold. The ECS balances the first bleed air flow and the second bleed air flow output from the first engine and second engine, respectively, based on a bleed manifold pressure of the bleed manifold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: HAMILTON SUNSTRAND CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jeffry K. Kamenetz, Erin G. Kline, Jeffrey Ernst, James Joyce, Kevin R. DeRoy
  • Patent number: 10927713
    Abstract: An intake air cooling device includes a water supply line and a heat pump device. The water supply line is configured to send water to a waste heat recovery boiler which is configured to generate steam using heat of an exhaust gas from a gas turbine. The heat pump device is configured to transfer heat of air suctioned by the gas turbine to water flowing through the water supply line and thereby cool the air while heating the water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Hideyuki Uechi, Eisaku Ito, Hideaki Sugishita, Naoki Hisada
  • Patent number: 10920984
    Abstract: A fuel injector for a gas turbine engine of an aircraft having a fuel nozzle including a fuel swirler and/or an outer air swirler. The fuel swirler may include a manifold for receiving fuel from a fuel conduit, and a plurality of fuel passages to direct fuel from the manifold to discharge orifices that direct fuel with swirling flow. The fuel swirler may be configured to provide uniform spray while minimizing recirculation zones; reduce residence time as fuel enters the manifold; minimize flow disruptions, boundary layer growth, and/or pressure drop as fuel flows through the fuel passages; reduces coking internally of the nozzle; reduces thermal stresses; and is simple and low-cost to manufacture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Parker-Hannifin Corporation
    Inventors: Luther Wirtz, Jeffrey Lehtinen, Adel Mansour, David Tibbs, Robert Pelletier, Jon Stockill
  • Patent number: 10914200
    Abstract: A CCPP includes a gas turbine, a HRSG, a steam turbine a flash tank and first and second supply lines. The gas turbine, the HRSG and the steam turbine are interconnected to generate power. The gas turbine may include an air preheating system to preheat the air supplied in the gas turbine to enable expedite combustion therein. The flash tank is fluidically connected at a cold end of the HRSG to extract waste hot water from the cold end. Further, the first supply line is configured to interconnect the flash tank and the steam turbine to supply of flash steam to the steam turbine. Furthermore, the second supply line is configured to interconnect the flash tank and the air preheating system to supply hot flash condensate thereto.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGY GMBH
    Inventors: Klara Berg, Mariah Couzzi-Carneiro, Paul Drouvot, Torbjörn Stenström
  • Patent number: 10909450
    Abstract: A processing unit can determine a first feature value corresponding to a session by operating a first network computational model (NCM) based part on information of the session. The processing unit can determine respective second feature values corresponding to individual actions of a plurality of actions by operating a second NCM. The second NCM can use a common set of parameters in determining the second feature values. The processing unit can determine respective expectation values of some of the actions of the plurality of actions based on the first feature value and the respective second feature values. The processing unit can select a first action of the plurality of actions based on at least one of the expectation values. In some examples, the processing unit can operate an NCM to determine expectation values based on information of a session and information of respective actions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Jianshu Chen, Li Deng, Jianfeng Gao, Xiadong He, Lihong Li, Ji He, Mari Ostendorf
  • Patent number: 10894230
    Abstract: The CO2 separation system performs, when the internal combustion engine is operating and the vehicle is travelling, a first mode wherein exhaust gas generated by the internal combustion engine is introduced to a CO2 supply side of a first CO2 separation device via a first CO2 supply side introduction flow path, and air from outside the vehicle is introduced to a CO2 permeation side of the first CO2 separation device via a first CO2 permeation side introduction flow path using travelling wind, whereby CO2 in the exhaust gas selectively permeates from the CO2 supply side to the CO2 permeation side of the first CO2 separation device through a CO2 permeable membrane of the first CO2 separation device using a difference in CO2 partial pressure between the CO2 supply side and the CO2 permeation side of the first CO2 separation device as a driving force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kouseki Sugiyama
  • Patent number: 10883414
    Abstract: An engine assembly including an engine core including at least one internal combustion engine each including a rotor sealingly and rotationally received within a respective internal cavity to provide rotating chambers of variable volume in the respective internal cavity, a compressor having an outlet in fluid communication with an inlet of the engine core, a first intake conduit in fluid communication with an inlet of the compressor and with a first source of air, a second intake conduit in fluid communication with the inlet of the compressor and with a second source of air warmer than the first source of air, and a selector valve configurable to selectively open and close at least the fluid communication between the inlet of the compressor and the first intake conduit. A method of supplying air to a compressor is also discussed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
    Inventors: Jean Thomassin, Sebastien Bolduc, Bruno Villeneuve, Stephane Berube, Mike Fontaine, David Gagnon-Martin, Andre Julien, Mark Cunningham, Serge Lafortune, Pierre-Yves Legare
  • Patent number: 10844787
    Abstract: A method for assembling and disassembling a module of gas turbine engine is provided, along with a gas turbine engine configured for modular assembly/disassembly. The engine includes a first shaft and a second shaft. The first shaft connects a compressor section and a first turbine section. The second shaft is connected to the second turbine section. The first and second shafts are rotatable about the engine rotational axis. The second shaft and the second turbine section together form a module that can be assembled, or disassembled, or both from the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Raytheon Technologies Corporation
    Inventor: Paul R. Hanrahan
  • Patent number: 10842044
    Abstract: A cooling system in a hybrid electric propulsion gas turbine engine is provided for cooling electrical components therein. The cooling system includes an electrical component disposed in proximity to an aircraft power generation component in the hybrid electric propulsion gas turbine engine such that the electrical component is thermally heated by the aircraft power generation component. A loop heat pipe structure is in thermal communication with the electrical component to transfer heat away from the electrical component. Wherein the loop heat pipe includes an evaporator portion, a condenser portion, a first pipe to supply a biphasic working fluid in a liquid state to the evaporator portion, and a second pipe to return the biphasic working fluid in a gaseous state to the condenser portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce North American Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Douglas J. Snyder
  • Patent number: 10830107
    Abstract: A natural gas power generation process with zero carbon emission is described. The process includes pressurizing air and introducing the pressurized air into an air separation facility to obtain liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen. The liquid oxygen is used for gasification and power generation The liquid nitrogen is applied as a coolant of flue gas, and then for gasification and power generation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: CHINA UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM (EAST CHINA)
    Inventors: Yingyun Qiao, Yuanyu Tian, Kechang Xie, Lanyi Sun, Rui Liu, Lichao Hu, Ze Yang
  • Patent number: 10830145
    Abstract: A method of modulating cooling of gas turbine engine components includes the steps of identifying an input indicative of a usage rate for at least a first gas turbine engine component of a plurality of gas turbine engine components. A cooling system is operated for at least the first gas turbine engine component. The cooling system is moved between a higher cooling potential mode and a lower cooling potential mode based on the identified rate. A gas turbine engine is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Raytheon Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Frederick M. Schwarz, Michael G. McCaffrey
  • Patent number: 10830247
    Abstract: A turbocharger includes a center housing, a turbine connected on one side of the center housing, the turbine including a turbine wheel connected to a shaft, the shaft extending through the center housing, and a compressor connected on an opposite side of the center housing, the compressor including a compressor wheel connected to the shaft opposite the turbine wheel. The shaft includes a cylindrical body having a centerline, a bore extending into the body adjacent the compressor wheel, and a stublet having an internal end engaged in the bore, and an external end connected to the compressor wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Kegan Luick, Rodolfo Calvo Islas
  • Patent number: 10794285
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a novel apparatus and methods for controlling an air injection system for augmenting the power of a gas turbine engine, improving gas turbine engine operation, and reducing the response time necessary to meet changing demands of a power plant. Improvements in control of the air injection system include ways directed towards preheating the air injection system, including using an gas turbine components, such as an inlet bleed heat system to aid in the preheating process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: PowerPHASE LLC
    Inventors: Robert J. Kraft, Scott Auerbach
  • Patent number: 10793281
    Abstract: A propulsion system for an aircraft includes a turbomachine having a first turbine, a primary fan mechanically driven by the first turbine of the turbomachine, and an electric generator mechanically driven by the first turbine of the turbomachine. The propulsion system also includes an electric fan assembly, the electric generator electrically connected to the electric fan assembly for powering the electric fan assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Randy M. Vondrell, Glenn David Crabtree
  • Patent number: 10781800
    Abstract: An SMA actuation assembly comprising SMA actuator wires connected in tension between a support structure and a movable element is controlled to drive movement of the movable element with respect to the support structure by supplying drive signals to the SMA actuator wire. Target signals representing desired positions of the movable element are set, varying within a predetermined spatial envelope. Measures of resistance of the SMA actuator wires are derived and the power of the drive signals is controlled under closed loop control on the basis of the target signals and feedback signals obtained from the measures of resistance. Electrical characteristics of the SMA actuator wires are monitored and used to detect when a motion limit of the movement is reached. In response thereto, the spatial envelope is adjusted to restrict the movement to be within the detected motion limit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2020
    Assignee: CAMBRIDGE MECHATRONICS LIMITED
    Inventors: Andrew Benjamin David Brown, Daniel John Burbridge, John Grayley, Igor Gotlibovych, Thomas Matthew Gregory
  • Patent number: 10754333
    Abstract: A method for monitoring the operation of a turbomachine controlled by a digital control system including at least one component, includes acquiring operating state information relating to the state of at least one component; determining, depending on the state information acquired, a current degraded configuration in which at least one of the components has failed; determining a classification of the current degraded configuration using at least one classification table stored in a storage device, the classification tables associating with at least one degraded configuration one classification expressing the level of criticality of the degraded configuration, the tables being obtained by calculating a conditional probability of a predefined anticipated event from the probability of occurrence of elementary events relating to a failure of one of the components; and estimating an operating time permitted for the turbomachine depending on the classification determined for the current degraded configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: Safran Aircraft Engines
    Inventors: Augustin Marie Michel Descoqs, Denis Thierry Sauvage
  • Patent number: 10746677
    Abstract: An open cup flash point detector is shown that rapidly increases the temperature of the substance being tested until temperature is close to a theoretical flash point. Thereafter, as temperature is slowly increased, an igniter flame moves in an arc over the upper lip of the test cup while simultaneously a UV sensor senses a wedge-shaped area, also immediately over the upper lip of the test cup. The arc of the igniter flame and the wedge-shaped area do not overlap. By incremental increases in temperature and repeating the arc movement of the igniter flame, the flash point can be detected by the UV sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: Petroleum Analyzer Company, LP
    Inventors: Michael Brosseau, Thomas Herold, Simon Blass, Oezkan Oguz
  • Patent number: 10731856
    Abstract: A helicoidal structure promotes cooling of a liner applied in an annular space of a double-shell structure formed of the liner and a flow sleeve to cool a duct assembly, by increasing the residence time and cooling area of cooling compressed air on the surface of the liner. The helicoidal structure includes a helicoidal rib protruding from a surface of the liner to guide the cooling compressed air at a predetermined angle with respect to an axial direction of the liner, the helicoidal rib having cooling holes and forming a first cooling passage along which main-cooling compressed air flows and a second cooling passage along which auxiliary-cooling compressed air flows. The second cooling passage induces a flow of the auxiliary-cooling compressed air through the cooling holes, and the flow of the auxiliary-cooling compressed air is derived from a flow of the main-cooling compressed air in the first cooling passage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Doosan Heavy Industries Construction Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Geun Cheol Kim
  • Patent number: 10727768
    Abstract: A system includes a control system configured to control one or more parameters of an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) gas turbine system to control a portion of electrical power for export from a generator driven by the turbine to an electrical grid. The control system includes a closed-loop controller configured to control parameters of the EGR gas turbine system and an open-loop controller configured to temporarily control the parameters of the EGR gas turbine system to increase the portion of the electrical power exported to the electrical grid to provide a Primary Frequency Response (PFR) in response to a transient event associated with the electrical power. The open-loop controller is configured to provide control signals to increase a concentration of an oxidant in a combustor to provide the PFR in response to the transient event when the EGR gas turbine system is operating in an emissions compliant mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
    Inventors: Richard A. Huntington, Karl Dean Minto, Bin Xu, Jonathan Carl Thatcher, Aaron Lavene Vorel
  • Patent number: 10704467
    Abstract: The present application provides a thermal storage system for use with a gas turbine engine having an intercooler. The thermal storage system may include a secondary cooler in communication with the intercooler, a thermal energy storage tank in communication with the secondary cooler and the intercooler, and a temperature conditioning device positioned about the gas turbine engine and in communication with the thermal energy storage tank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Douglas Alan Jones, Ching-Jen Tang
  • Patent number: 10704427
    Abstract: A monitoring system of a combined cycle power plant having a topping cycle performed by a gas turbine and a bottoming cycle performed by a steam turbine, the monitoring system. The monitoring system includes a processor that receives a first set of data indicating a first measurement value of an operating parameter of the combined cycle power plant. The processor determines a baseline efficiency of the process based on the first measurement value using a bottoming cycle performance (BCP) model. The processor determines a threshold based on the baseline efficiency. The processor receives a second set of data indicating a second measurement value of the operating parameter. The processor compare the threshold to an operational efficiency based on the second measurement value using the BCP model, and provides an indication of a decrease in efficiency of the process if the operational efficiency is below the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Prabhanjana Kalya, Pramod Kumar Yadav, Sidharth Abrol, Giriprasad Chebiyyam
  • Patent number: 10697637
    Abstract: A gas turbine system includes a plenum that includes an inlet and an outlet. The inlet is configured to receive a flow of oxidant and the outlet is configured to direct the flow of oxidant in a downstream direction. Additionally, a support system is coupled to the plenum and to a cone. The support system enables the cone to move along the support system from a first position to a second position. The cone includes an upstream end and the upstream end is removably coupled to the outlet of the plenum in the first position. When the cone is in the first position, the cone is configured to direct the flow of oxidant in the downstream direction to a gas turbine engine. The upstream end is disposed upstream of the outlet and is decoupled from the outlet when the cone is in the second position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ravinder Yerram, Balakrishnan Ponnuraj, Yalid Mariluz Lopez Moctezuma, Donald Gordon Laing, Gerardo Plata, Timothy Martin Christensen
  • Patent number: 10641145
    Abstract: An extraction apparatus (10) adapted to capture exhaust gas emitted by an internal combustion engine and to dilute the exhaust gas by mixing with air and also cool the exhaust gas. The extraction apparatus (10) has a first flow path (31), second flow path (32), and third flow path (33). The first flow path (31) extends between inlet (35) and an outlet (37) for air flow from the inlet to the outlet. The second flow path (32) receives exhaust gas emitted from the engine and delivers it into the first flow path (31) for mixing with an air flow along the first flow path. The third flow path (33) delivers water for mixing with the air flow. The arrangement is such that there is confluence of air, exhaust gas and water to provide a fluid mixture for discharging through the outlet (37). The exhaust gas is cooled using the cooling effects of the air and also the cooling effects of water in heat exchange relation with the exhaust gas prior to mixing of the exhaust gas with the air.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: ENVIROCHASING IP HOLDINGS PTY LTD
    Inventor: Steven Terpstra
  • Patent number: 10634054
    Abstract: A ducted heat exchanger system for a gas turbine engine includes an additive manufactured heat exchanger core with a contoured external and/or internal geometry. A method of additively manufacturing a heat exchanger for a gas turbine engine includes additively manufacturing a core of a heat exchanger to set a ratio of local surface area to flow area to control a pressure drop per unit length along the core.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventor: John T Schmitz
  • Patent number: 10612775
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a dual-fuel fuel nozzle including a center body having a tube shape and a gas fuel plenum defined within the center body. The fuel nozzle also includes a plurality of turning vanes extending radially outward from the center body. Each turning vane includes at least one fuel port in fluid communication with the gas fuel plenum. A plurality of apertures is disposed through the plurality of turning vanes. The fuel nozzle further includes a ring manifold disposed within the center body downstream of the plurality of turning vanes. Additionally, the fuel nozzle includes a first fuel tube extending helically around a centerline of the center body. Furthermore, the fuel nozzle includes an air shield disposed within the center body and extending circumferentially around the first fuel tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Thomas Edward Johnson, Kaitlin Marie Graham, Geoffrey David Myers
  • Patent number: 10604278
    Abstract: An example apparatus includes a parameter calculator to determine a baseline value of a set of health parameters for a turbine engine of a vehicle based on a first set of sensor measurements to estimate an initial health of turbine engine components, and determine an operational value of the set of health parameters based on a second set of sensor measurements to estimate an operational health of the turbine engine components. The apparatus further includes a difference calculator to calculate a difference between the baseline value and the operational value to assess a health of the turbine engine, a database to store the first set of sensor measurements or the initial health of the turbine engine components, and an alert generator to generate an alert when the difference satisfies a threshold, the alert including a notification to perform maintenance on the component based on the difference and the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Sridhar Adibhatla
  • Patent number: 10544740
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine including an engine core and a cooling air system is disclosed herein. The cooling air system is fluidly coupled between a compressor section of the engine core and a turbine section of the engine core to conduct pressurized air from the compressor section to the turbine section to cool components of the turbine section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2020
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Corporation
    Inventor: Behram V. Kapadia
  • Patent number: 10539023
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a turbine engine cooling system configured to provide cooling air to a particular region of the engine to cool that region of the engine. The cooling system is configured to modulate the flow of cooling air to reduce the amount of cooling air flowing to that region of the engine during periods in which less cooling is needed. The cooling system includes a flow limiter configured to choke the mass flow rate of the cooling air provided to the region during modulation to avoid providing more cooling air than is needed to adequately cool that region of the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael Grzelecki, Michael Monzella, Renée M. Wiley
  • Patent number: 10520192
    Abstract: An air flow guide cap for inducing an air flow into a through hole of the floor includes: an upper surface upwardly inclined relative to a horizontal plane; and a wall surface downwardly extending along edges of the upper surface except the edge adjacent to an air inlet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: Doosan Heavy Industries Construction Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Youngsam Shim, Donggon Lee
  • Patent number: 10473028
    Abstract: A clutched compressor section of a gas turbine engine coupled to a rotor shaft. The clutched compressor section includes at least one decoupleable rotor stage, the decoupleable rotor stage switchable between a coupled condition and a decoupled condition with a clutch mechanism, the coupled condition coupling the decoupleable rotor stage with the rotor shaft, the decoupled condition decoupling the decoupleable rotor stage from the rotor shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: John C. DiTomasso, Enzo DiBenedetto
  • Patent number: 10450892
    Abstract: A turbine casing may comprise a casing body and a first heat pipe disposed in the casing body. The first heat pipe may comprise a first working medium. The first heat pipe may include a first vaporization section and a first condensation section. The first vaporization section may be located forward the first condensation section. A second heat pipe may be disposed in the casing body and may comprise a second working medium different from the first working medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Ram Ranjan
  • Patent number: 10444714
    Abstract: A machine monitoring device is provided which includes a communications link to interrogate a machine with a probe signal and receive one or more measured machine operating condition outputs; and a device controller capable of selecting a machine operating condition input variable for which a corresponding machine operating condition output is unknown; applying a predictive model in which the machine operating condition input variable serves as an argument of a predicted machine operating condition output; updating a library of predicted machine operating condition outputs; and alerting a human operator if a measured or predicted machine operating condition output exceeds a predetermined limit. The predictive model is based on at least two independent primary models having at least one correspondence between a primary model machine operating condition and a corresponding machine output. The primary models share a common basis in the predictive model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Adolfo Anta Martinez
  • Patent number: 10443506
    Abstract: An air turbine starter for starting an engine, comprising a housing defining an inlet, an outlet, and a flow path extending between the inlet and the outlet for communicating a flow of gas there through. A turbine member is journaled within the housing and disposed within the flow path for rotatably extracting mechanical power from the flow of gas. A secondary supply port is fluidly coupled to the flow of the pressurized gas in the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Unison Industries, LLC
    Inventors: Luis Angel Martinez, Rick L. Fiste, David Rawlins
  • Patent number: 10415834
    Abstract: The present application provides a selective catalyst reduction system for use with a combustion gas stream. The selective catalyst reduction system may include a tempering air system with a finger mixer and a number of mixing boxes positioned downstream of the finger mixer and a catalyst positioned downstream of the tempering air system. The tempering air system cools the combustion gas stream and evens out the temperature profile before the combustion gas stream reaches the catalyst.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Technology GmbH
    Inventors: Alimustapha Tabikh, Francesca Piaggi, Lars-Erik Johansson, Peter Lars Nilsson
  • Patent number: 10408879
    Abstract: A method for diagnosing a fault condition in an electric machine includes measuring at least one physical parameter generated during operation of the electric machine; analyzing the or each measured parameter in a frequency domain; and determining whether the electric machine has a stator or rotor winding fault based on a comparison of an amplitude of the or each analyzed parameter at a first predetermined frequency and a first threshold amplitude for the first frequency. The at least one physical parameter includes a sound generated by the electric machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Sivakumar Nadarajan, Amit K. Gupta, Vaiyapuri Viswanathan
  • Patent number: 10408135
    Abstract: A method for operating a gas turbine below the nominal power includes: determining a lower power threshold value of the gas turbine which causes the gas turbine to leave a CO-emission-compliant partial load range of the gas turbine; providing a specified threshold value for output gas turbine power, wherein the specified threshold value is less than the nominal power of the gas turbine; and operating the gas turbine at an output gas turbine power above the specified threshold value at a constant exhaust gas temperature, wherein the inlet guide blades of a compressor of the gas turbine are closed further in order to reduce the output gas turbine power. A sufficiently large valve is selected for the specified threshold value so that increases of the primary zone temperature, combustion temperature, and exhaust temperature extend over a CO-emission-compliant partial load range of the gas turbine that is as large as possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Thorsten Engler, Markus Gorynski, Manuel Gutermuth, Philipp Kreutzer, Marco Link, Nicolas Savilius, Kai Suselbeck, Marc Tertilt
  • Patent number: 10393067
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine includes a spool configured to rotate about an axial centerline. The spool includes a fan rotor and a cold turbine rotor. The fan rotor is rotatably driven by the cold turbine rotor. A cold turbine inlet passage is configured to direct an airflow along a radial inward trajectory to the cold turbine rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel Bernard Kupratis, Francis R. Moon, Arthur W. Utay
  • Patent number: 10371063
    Abstract: A turbine engine including a core engine cowl including a compartment, a cooling airflow source positioned within the compartment, and a full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system coupled in communication with the cooling airflow source. The FADEC system is configured to determine a flight status of the turbine engine, and actuate the cooling airflow source when the turbine engine is not in flight, and before the turbine engine has been shut down, such that heat is exhausted from the compartment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Thomas Ory Moniz, Jeff Glover, Joseph Rose, Jeffrey Donald Clements
  • Patent number: 10364831
    Abstract: A method and system for an air management system (AMS) is provided. The AMS includes a jet pump assembly including a motive air inlet, a plurality of suction inlets, and a single outlet. The AMS also includes a supply piping arrangement including a conduit configured to channel relatively higher pressure air from a compressor to the motive air inlet, a conduit configured to channel relatively higher pressure air from the compressor to at least one of the plurality of suction inlets through a shutoff valve, and a conduit configured to channel relatively lower pressure air from the compressor to at least one of the plurality of suction inlets. The AMS further includes an outlet piping arrangement configured to channel outlet air from said jet pump assembly to a distribution system. A pressure regulation strategy of the motive jet pump flow allows optimization of engine fuel burn and/or thrust, depending on which is most important to the aircraft during any flight phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Jeffrey Lee Mason, Ronald Bruce Schofield, Seth Michael Ray, Benjamin James Schumacher, James Fitzgerald Bonar, George Elliott Moore
  • Patent number: 10364744
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine may include a deep heat recovery system, such as a deep heat recovery super critical carbon dioxide (sCO2) system. The deep heat recovery system may include two-stage cooling of the working fluid (such as carbon dioxide—CO2) where at least one of cooling stages is recuperative by transferring heat from the working fluid to a flow of compressed air being supplied to a combustor included in the gas turbine engine. The deep heat recovery system may operate in a supercritical cycle, or in a transcritical cycle depending on the temperature to which the working fluid is cooled during a second stage of the two-stage cooling. The second stage of the two-stage cooling includes working fluid-to-air heat rejection where the air is ambient air.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignees: Rolls-Royce Corporation, Rolls-Royce North American Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Igor Vaisman, Michael James Armstrong, Thomas E. Bastnagel
  • Patent number: 10344575
    Abstract: A process for producing carbon dioxide for use in hydrocarbon recovery includes the steps of transporting a combustion turbine generator to an oilfield, operating the combustion turbine generator in combined cycle so as to produce steam, power and carbon dioxide, injecting the carbon dioxide into a reservoir located within the oilfield so as to produce hydrocarbons from the reservoir, and transmitting the power to a utility or for use by equipment at the oilfield. The combustion turbine generator has a size of no more than 175 megawatts. The combustion turbine generator operating in combined cycle has a heat rate of between 7,500 to 12,000 BTUs per hour. The carbon dioxide is compressed prior to be injected into the reservoir.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: INTEGRATIVE ENGINEERING, LLC
    Inventor: Michael J. Lewis
  • Patent number: 10302020
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for controlling a fuel flow to a gas turbine engine of an aircraft includes determining a control initiated fuel flow demand that is based, at least in part, on an operator command. In addition, the method includes determining a first rate of change of fuel flow demand based, at least in part, on a tracking error of the gas turbine engine that indicates a difference between a desired rotational speed and an actual rotational speed. The method also includes integrating the first rate of change of fuel flow demand to determine a tracking error fuel flow demand. In addition, the method includes summing the control initiated fuel flow demand and tracking error fuel flow demand to determine a composite fuel flow demand. The method also includes controlling a fuel flow to the gas turbine engine based, at least in part, on the composite fuel flow demand.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: David Allen Gutz, Robert Edward Goeller
  • Patent number: 10287921
    Abstract: A first steam turbine and a second steam turbine of a combined cycle plant are connected by a reheat steam line via a reheat section of an exhaust heat recovery boiler. The reheat steam line and a condenser are connected by a second bypass line. A control device includes: a determination unit that determines whether or not the flow rate of first steam flowing into the first steam turbine has reached a stipulated flow rate; a command output unit that, upon determining that the flow rate of the first steam flowing into the first steam turbine has reached the stipulated flow rate, outputs a close command to close a ventilator valve that is provided in the second bypass line and is open; and a threshold alteration unit that alters the threshold with which the determination unit determines whether or not the stipulated flow rate has been reached, the threshold being positively correlated with a temperature of the first steam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventor: Masayuki Murakami