General Electric Company

Edward Atwood Rainous

Lee Alan Blanton

William Clarke Brooks

Barry Lynn Allmon

Courtney James Tudor

Vicky Showalter Budinger

Jeffre Gerry Loewe

Nicholas Joseph Kray

Christopher Charles Glynn

Kevin Weston McMahan

Nitesh Jain

Apostolos Pavlos Karafillis

Scott Roger Finn

Stephen Craig Mitchell

Michael Edward Eriksen

Donald George LaChapelle

Stephen Mark Whiteker

Donald Lee Gardner

Joel Francis Kirk

Kishore Budumuru

Edward Charles Vickers

Deepak Ghiya

Curt Brian Curtis

Thomas Chadwick Waldman

Mullahalli Venkataramaniah Srinivas

Theodore Anderson

Sreekanth Kumar Dorbala

Qi Zhu

Mojibur Rahman

Charles L Williams

David Lance Pennekamp

Deepali Bhate

James Harold Joy

Janice Ilene Pirtle

Michael Peter Murphy

William E Cody

Gregory P Maue

Daniel J Barber

Sharon L Yee

Veeraraju V

Donald George Lachapelle

Light weight fan casing configurations for energy absorption are disclosed herein. An apparatus includes a first set of metal bands positioned within a containment casing of a turbofan engine, and a second set of metal bands traversing the first set of metal bands, the first set of metal bands and the second set of metal bands to surround at least a portion of the turbofan engine.

Light weight fan casing configurations for energy absorption

An assembly includes a unitary nacelle structure and an integrated fan housing for a gas turbine engine assembly. The unitary nacelle structure includes an inlet region and a fan cowl region, and is configured to at least partially circumscribe the integrated fan housing. The integrated fan housing comprises an integral composite structure and includes a fan case sized and configured for encircling a fan blade assembly of an associated gas turbine engine, a fan hub, and a plurality of fan outlet guide vanes. The unitary nacelle structure cooperates with the integrated fan housing to transfer static and dynamic loads directly to a support structure, rather than through the engine core, to minimize backbone bending.

Integrated nacelle assembly

A containment case comprises a composite core, with an inner surface, and at least one ceramic layer integrated with the composite core. The at least one ceramic layer is bonded to the inner surface of the composite core with a resin. In another embodiment, a containment case comprises a composite core, with an inner surface, and a hybrid material comprising at least one ceramic material and at least one non-ceramic material. The hybrid material is disposed on the inner surface of the composite core. The hybrid material is bonded to the inner surface of the composite core with a resin. A method of fabricating a containment case includes the steps of disposing one or more layers of ceramic fabric on an inner surface of a composite core, infusing the composite core and the one or more layers of ceramic fabric with resin, and curing the resin.

Containment cases and method of manufacture

A leading edge structure for use in an aerospace vehicle includes a body having a flowpath surface which defines a leading edge adapted to face an air flow during operation, and an opposed inner surface. The body is segmented into a plurality of portions having varying thermal properties and/or mechanical discontinuities, so as to promote stress concentrations in ice attached to the flowpath surface.

Ice shed reduction for leading edge structures

A leading edge structure for use in an aerospace vehicle includes a body having a flowpath surface which defines a leading edge adapted to face an air flow during operation; and a metallic icephobic plating comprising nickel applied to at least a portion of the flowpath surface.

A method enables a gas turbine engine nozzle to be secured within an engine casing that includes an exterior surface. The method comprises the steps of forming a first opening to extend through the engine casing, inserting a nozzle lock through the first opening from the casing exterior surface, coupling the nozzle lock to a portion of the nozzle, and securing the nozzle lock to the engine casing.

Methods and apparatus for turbine nozzle locks

A retainer which, in an exemplary embodiment of the invention, is used in a gas turbine engine inter-stage seal assembly to retain an annular seal ring flange of a seal ring against an annular platform flange extending radially inwardly from an inner platform of an annular nozzle stage having nozzle vanes. The retainer includes a body having a central portion through which a bore is formed around a bore axis and a central tab extends radially outwardly from the central portion with respect to the bore axis. First and second arms, respectively, extend in opposite respective first and second tangential directions, with respect to the bore axis, away from the central portion and each other. Axial spacers extend aftwardly from first and second free ends of the first and second arms, respectively and anti-rotation feet with rounded ends depend from the first and second free ends in an opposite direction from which the central tab extends. A pedestal assembly extends aft from the central portion and is located aft of the central tab. In the exemplary embodiment, the pedestal assembly has a semi-annular cylindrical inner surface circumscribed around the bore axis and a semi-annular cylindrical outer surface wherein the semi-annular cylindrical outer surface extends between generally parallel spaced apart radially inner and outer flats, respectively with respect to the bore axis, and the radially inner flats are coplanar and the radially outer flats are coplanar. Chamfers are formed along the radially inner and outer flats, respectively. The retainer is an integrally cast unit including the body, the central portion, the central tab, the first and second arms, the axial spacers, the anti-rotation feet, and the pedestal assembly.

Inter-stage seal retainer and assembly

Growing community of inventors

Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

Edward Atwood Rainous