Continuum Dynamics, Inc.

Other

Schering Corporation

General Electric Company

Continum Dynamics, Inc.

Alan J. Bilanin

Alan J Bilanin

Andrew E Kaufman

Alexander H Boschitsch

Glen R Whitehouse

Daniel A Wachspress

Tsong-Toh Yang

Thomas J Ambrosio

Todd R Quackenbush

Srinivas Manthena

David J Kenyon

Charles R Ashley

Charles M Huck

Henry R Sochon

Robert K McCullough

Robert M McKillip, Jr

Thomas Green

Ken Wilkinson

Pavel V Danilov

William J Usab, Jr

Raymond Tiberge

Marc Sibilia

Milton E Teske

Glen D Whitehouse

A wind-driven power generating system with a hybrid wind turbine mounted on a floating platform that heels relative to horizontal in the presence of a prevailing wind. The hybrid turbine has a turbine rotor with at least two rotor blades, each mounted to a turbine shaft by at least one strut, and the system is configured so that the shaft forms a predetermined non-zero operating heel angle relative to vertical in the presence of a prevailing wind at a predetermined velocity. The blades and struts are airfoils with predetermined aerodynamic characteristics that generate lift forces with components in the direction of rotation around the shaft of the blades and struts at the operating heel angle to drive an electrical generator carried by the platform. The system can be designed to generate maximum power at the predetermined heel angle or essentially constant power over a range of heel angles.

Hybrid vertical/horizontal axis wind turbine for deep-water offshore installations

Controlled-debris elements inhibit the formation of a fibrous/particulate debris bed that unduly increases the pressure head loss through the perforated plates of strainers in a nuclear power plant emergency core cooling system. In a loss of cooling accident, pumps draw cooling water through the plates, which retain on their surfaces fibrous material in the circulating water to prevent it from reaching the pumps while permitting entrained particulate matter to pass through the perforations. The controlled-debris elements have a specific gravity substantially the same as the circulating water so they are entrained in the cooling water that is drawn toward the strainers and intimately intermix with the fibrous and particulate matter in the cooling water. The elements are configured to provide open structures in the bed formed on the plate surfaces to distribute fibers in the flow away from the surface and maintain cavities between the elements for the particulates.

Nuclear reactor using controlled debris to mitigate ECCS strainer pressure head loss

A lift-driven wind turbine has a turbine rotor with blades mounted to the turbine shaft by two struts hinged to the shaft and each blade to form a four-bar linkage. The blades' airfoil cross section generates lift that rotates the blades around the axis in the presence of a prevailing wind. The airfoil chord forms a geometric angle of attack &#x3b1;relative to the tangent of the blade path and the struts orient the blades with an outward tilt angle &#x3b3;. The turbine is designed with values of &#x3b1;and &#x3b3; that cause the lift generated by each blade to have an upward component that supports the blade against the force of gravity and a mean radially inward component that substantially balances centrifugal forces on the blade. Wind turbines designed according to the principles disclosed herein facilitate the construction of free-floating utility scale wind turbines for deep water installations.

Lift-driven wind turbine with force canceling blade configuration

Flow induced vibration (FIV) at the slip joint between a nuclear reactor jet pump mixer and diffuser is suppressed without installing additional parts or altering the jet pump construction. The disclosed method determines a relationship between reactor operating conditions that trigger FIV and the magnitude of a mixer/diffuser transverse contact load. A mathematical analysis on a representative jet pump configuration determines the quantitative relationship between mixer/diffuser cold positions and their positions when the reactor is operating. Thus, a prediction can be made as to whether an installed jet pump will experience FIV, and the mixer and diffuser can be positioned by a mixer adjustment tool when the reactor is cold to provide the necessary operational transverse contact load. Alternatively, a contact load measuring tool directly measures the magnitude and direction of the cold mixer/diffuser transverse contact load to determine if FIV will be suppressed when the reactor is operating.

Method and apparatus for suppressing flow-induced jet pump vibration in a boiling water reactor

A strainer for an emergency core cooling system (ECCS) in a nuclear power plant comprises a perforated strainer element that is immersed in a reservoir of cooling water, which is drawn through the strainer element into the emergency core cooling system. The side of the strainer element in contact with the cooling water has a contoured configuration for disrupting the formation of a flat bed of fibrous material that can trap small particulate material intended to pass through the strainer element. Incorporating this strainer element into an ECCS strainer enables the strainer to be made more compact, because the debris bed need not be spread over an unduly large area to prevent excessive head loss from the debris load in the event of a reactor loss of coolant accident. The strainer also incorporates a modular construction that uses individual strainer disc modules. Each disc module includes a perforated first disc part having a central opening and a perforated second disc part also having a central opening. The first and second disc parts fit together to form an interior space with facing perforated major surfaces and an axial opening, and connecting tubes between the discs place the axial openings in fluid communication. The entire assembly is secured together by tie rods that hold the discs together with the connecting tubes compressed between them.

Low head loss modular suction strainer with contoured surfaces

An apparatus for attenuating acoustic resonance generated by flow over a cavity in a surface comprises a plurality of flat flaps proximate to an upstream edge of the cavity. The flaps are disposed in an array spaced in a width direction of the cavity edge, and are oscillated by the flow in two degrees of freedom solely by the flow, independent of an actuation mechanism. Each flap includes a first hinge generally coextensive with the surface for enabling oscillation in a first degree of freedom and a second hinge orthogonal to the first hinge and forming a tab for enabling oscillation in a second degree of freedom. The hinges are constructed with torsional spring constants that provide predetermined oscillation frequencies and magnitudes. The apparatus can include a deployment mechanism for moving each flap between a stowed position wherein it is generally flush with the surface and a deployed position wherein the flap can be oscillated by the flow.

Flow-driven oscillating acoustic attenuator

A system and method for accurately estimating the fluctuating pressure loads on components, such as steam dryers, within a BWR steam dome using pressure time history measurements made on components of the BWR facility external to the steam dome. The method uses existing sensors to obtain the pressure time histories. An accurate determination of the fluctuating pressure loads within the steam dome may be obtained by modeling and analyzing the steam delivery system external to the steam dome, including all possible acoustic sources, using acoustic circuit methodology and pressure time histories, and then coupling these results, essentially as part of the boundary conditions, to the solutions for Helmholtz equation within the steam dome.

System and method for determining fluctuating pressure loading on a component in a reactor steam dome

A compressor or pump employs principles of unsteady delayed stall to enhance the head increase produced by the compressor or pump. Plural airfoil-shaped lifting elements are spaced from each other in a cascade and the fluid is directed into the cascade by a device that varies a parameter of the flow relative to each lifting element in repeating cycles to cause the flow relative to each lifting element to begin to separate from the lifting element and then reattach thereto during each cycle. The cascade can comprise an axial flow impeller with plural impeller blades arranged around a hub capable of rotating on an axis. The device for varying the flow parameter can be a stator with a plurality of stator blades upstream of the impeller, or a second, counter-rotating axial flow impeller. In either case, the parameter is a flow angle at which the flow is directed to the downstream impeller. The disclosed approach is applicable to any method, and any apparatus that incorporates structure, in which flow is directed to a cascade of lifting elements in a manner whereby the flow relative to each lifting element periodically begins to separate from the lifting element and then reattaches thereto.

Apparatus and method for enhancing lift produced by an airfoil

A method and apparatus for light curing of composite materials in which the radiation required to initiate the curing is delivered via one or more lossy fiber optics. The fiber optics are made lossy by methods such as bending the fiber, weaving the fiber into a mat to create periodic micro-bends, tailoring the thickness of the fiber cladding to allow evanescent wave transmission, or simply removing the cladding at intervals along the fiber. Distribution of the light through out the composite material results in dramatic power and time reductions over traditional light curing methods. Unlike thermal curing of composite materials, there is no need for an auto-clave and hence no limit on the size of the part that may be created. Additional benefits include the possibility of curing at operational temperature and so avoiding thermal stresses.

Lossy fiber UV curing method and apparatus

A mechanical actuating device for moving an aerodynamic or hydrodynamic surface includes plural flexure members confined in an elastically deformed condition. The flexure members are movable against the force generated by their elastic deformation to move the device into one of at least three stable positions, in which the device, and therefore the aerodynamic or hydrodynamic surface, are held by the force generated by elastic deformation of the flexure members. Since the flexure members are always elastically deformed, the device &ldquo;snaps&rdquo; between discrete, stable positions and is held firmly in each. In another embodiment more flexure members can be used to provide additional stable positions. In one application, the actuating device is used as a trailing edge tab for a helicopter or tiltrotor blade to reduce 1/rev vibrations. The device can be actuated manually or electrically using shape-memory alloy wires to snap the flexure members into their various stable positions.

Actuating device with at least three stable positions

This invention relates to a system and method for reducing the primary vortex wake structure generated by a lifting body mounted on an object moving through a fluid. This is achieved by first, altering the generated initial vortex wake to make it vulnerable to rapid breakup; and, second, producing disturbances to this wake with secondary vortices from auxiliary lifting surfaces, called vortex leveraging tabs, to instigate this breakup. This invention relates to various fields of uses to include vortices generated by any type of lifting body moving through a fluid to include aircraft and watercraft, such as surface vessels and submarines.

Growing community of inventors

Princeton, NJ, United States of America

Alan J Bilanin