Avco Corporation

Donald Blake

Clive Waddington

Charles Kuintzle, Jr

Normand L Lagasse

Apparatus is disclosed for automatically purging oil from the jets supplying lubricant to bearings and seals in a turbine engine after shutdown. To accomplish this task, pressurized air is tapped from the air plenum just downstream of the engine compressor stage. The pressurized air is stored in a small tank using an air check valve in the incoming line so that the air tank is charged to the highest pressure achieved by the engine compressor during its operation. The outlet of the air tank is connected to the oil jets used for lubricating the engine bearings and seals. A snap action valve is inserted in the air supply line to activate and deactivate airflow out of the tank. The snap action valve is designed to be switched 'off' whenever there is positive oil pressure in the lubricating supply line of the turbine engine. After engine shutdown, lubricant flow drops, reducing oil pressure to zero. This event initiates the start of a delay interval after which the snap action valve is activated to its 'on' state allowing the contents of the air tank to be blown through the oil jets, effectively clearing them of oil.

Growing community of inventors

Trumbull, CT, United States of America

Donald Blake