Solar Turbines Inc.

David Howard Moulton

Jess Lee Freeman

William Courtney Krehbiel

Michael James Cave

Wolfgang Faller

Balaji Venkataraman

A magnetic bearing assembly for a rotary machine may lose power and fail to support the rotating assembly resulting in damage to magnetic bearing assembly and/or other components. An auxiliary bearing assembly may be used to support the rotating assembly during such a failure. The auxiliary bearing assembly is located radially inwards of the magnetic bearing assembly and may reduce resonance and/or whirl of the rotating assembly during failure of the magnetic bearing assembly.

Support assembly for a rotary machine

A device and method for reducing swirl in a gas compressor is provided. The device can include a tubular or annular seal body having an abradable interior surface for use in forming a seal. The tubular body can further have a plurality of swirl teeth arranged on a high pressure side of the seal body. The swirl teeth are disposed so as to form swirl slots between the adjacent swirl teeth. The swirl teeth can have a brake chord and a brake pitch describing the length and separation of each adjacent swirl tooth. The ratio of the brake pitch to the brake chord can be optimized in order to maximize creation of free vortices between the swirl teeth as the compressor rotates for swirl reduction.

Swirl brakes for compressors with teeth-on-rotor seals

A bearing assembly for a rotary machine is disclosed herein. The bearing assembly includes a bearing housing, a squeeze film cylinder, a damper spring, and a journal bearing. The squeeze film cylinder is located within the bearing housing. The damper spring includes a first portion, a second portion, and a spring portion. The first portion is located proximal the first end. The second portion is located proximal the second end. The spring portion extends axially between the first portion and the second portion and is located within the bearing housing.

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Poway, CA, United States of America

David Howard Moulton