Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc.

The Boeing Company

United Technologies Corporation

James R Lobitz

Christopher M Erickson

William R Bissell

Kenneth Michael Sprouse

David R Matthews

Mark David Horn

David E Hanks

Corey D Brown

Allan Von Arx

Luis A Rosales

An expander heat exchanger cycle system provides a fuel or oxidizer routed through a heat exchanger to cool and condense a coolant/turbine drive fluid.

Rocket engine power cycle

A system for providing an oxidizer and a fuel to a rocket engine is provided. The system includes a fuel supply system. The fuel supply system includes a fuel pump that pumps fuel to the rocket engine. The system includes a coolant supply system that supplies a coolant to the rocket engine, and a power plant that powers at least one of the fuel supply system and the coolant supply system. The power plant is powered by energy received from the coolant system.

Method and apparatus for a rocket engine power cycle

A system for cooling a portion of a rocket engine with an inert compound and transferring the thermal energy from the inert compound to the propellants. The energy absorbed by the coolant is used also to power the turbines which powers the pumps that pump the fuel, the oxidizer, and the coolant. Additionally, the coolant, which is an inert compound, is used to separate the oxidizer and the fuel before the oxidizer and the fuel enter the combustion chamber eliminating the need for a complex inert turbo pump seal package. The systems which pump or comprise the coolant physically separate the propellants before the propellants enter the rocket engine. The coolant remains substantially unconsumed in this cycle.

A cooled turbine blade (either a rotor blade or a stationary vane) comprises a blade structural member whose primary function is to withstand the various loads exerted on the blade and maintain structural integrity of the blade, and a heat-transfer sheath that surrounds the outer surface of the structural member. A plurality of coolant passages are formed between the structural member and the heat-transfer sheath. Thus, when coolant is passed through the coolant passages, the heat transferred to the sheath from the hot gases passing through the turbine is in turn transferred to the coolant, which is then removed from the blade, thereby cooling the blade.

Fluid-cooled turbine blades

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Oak Park, CA, United States of America

James R Lobitz