Rolls-royce Corporation

Rolls-royce North American Technologies Inc.

Other

John Joseph Costello

Richard Joseph Skertic

Geoffrey L Gatton

Robert C Dalley

Dawn Kay Andrus

Kenneth L Graham

Andrew Charles Pickard

Glen Steven Bishop

Wayne Thomas Padgett, Sr

Robert T Duge

Eric E Wilson

John Gebhard

Michael T Elliott

Jeremy Gallagher

Todd E Clapp

Trevor C Pfeil

Roy F Mills

Joshua J Gear

Anthony Fulford

Wayne Padgett

Glen Bishop

Joshua Gear

Kenneth Graham

A turbine engine may include a compressor section of the turbine engine. The turbine engine may include a combustion section of the turbine engine. The combustion section may be downstream of the compressor section. The turbine engine may include a turbine section of the turbine engine. The turbine section may be downstream of the combustion section. The turbine engine may include a sensor for speed detection. The sensor may be disposed at an upstream segment of the turbine section. The sensor may include a cooling jacket. The cooling jacket may encase at least a portion of the sensor. A cooling fluid may be in fluid communication with the cooling jacket and an outer surface of the sensor. The cooling jacket may be shaped to direct cooling fluid around the sensor.

Ultra high temperature speed sensor system in a gas turbine engine

An integrated circuit thermal management system includes an enclosure, a heat exchanger, an integrated circuit, a slide having a moveable slide body, an electromagnetic coil, a magneto caloric material and controller circuitry. The heat exchanger is positioned on a first side of the enclosure, and the integrated circuit is positioned on a second side of the enclosure with a temperature sensor configured to generate a temperature signal indicative of a temperature of the integrated circuit. The slide is disposed in the enclosure extending between the heat exchanger and the integrated circuit. The electromagnetic coil and the magnetocaloric material are included on the slide body. The controller is configured to control energization of the magnetic coil and movement of the magnetocaloric material on the slide body between the heat exchanger and the integrated circuit based on the temperature signal.

Integrated circuit thermal management system

A temperature drift compensation method includes pre-aging a thermocouple, during which the thermocouple is subjected to temperatures and/or pressures that cause or facilitate an oxidation growth on the conductor elements of the thermocouple. During the pre-aging, temperature readings of the thermocouple are recorded, and a model including a time-based exponential expression is derived from the temperature readings. In addition, a temperature sensor system includes a pre-aged thermocouple, and a temperature compensation circuit that modifies initial temperature readings from the pre-aged thermocouple according to a model including a time-based exponential expression.

Thermocouple pre-aging and temperature drift compensation

A vehicle control method of starting and shutting down an engine, in which a processor receives a blockchain update comprising a first transaction with instructions to perform an engine startup or shutdown; the blockchain update is validated; an engine startup or shutdown is performed based on the validated blockchain update; where the engine startup or shutdown is delayed based on validating a predetermined number of subsequent blockchain updates, including a second transaction with instructions to perform the engine startup or shutdown.

Blockchain based vehicle control

Control systems and methods for securely authenticating and validating a control system. The control system may include a plurality of dependent control nodes and master control nodes. Each dependent control node is communicatively coupled to one or more peripheral devices. Each control node maintains a unit level distributed ledger, where each unit level distributed ledger includes information from corresponding peripheral devices. Each control node may transmit a portion of the unit level distributed ledger to a master control node. Each master control node may maintain a system level distributed ledger that includes information from the corresponding unit level distributed ledgers. Each master node may transmit a portion of the system level distributed ledger to a central node that maintains a separate secure distributed ledger. The master node may authenticate the control system based on the received portion of the system level distributed ledgers and the secure distributed ledgers.

Apparatus and methods for authenticating cyber secure control system configurations using distributed ledgers

A coaxial cable system includes an electric conductor to conduct electric power in a gas turbine engine. The system also includes a dielectric tape helically wound to contiguously surround the electric conductor and a flexible conduit disposed to surround and contiguously contact the dielectric tape. A dielectric liquid may be impregnated within the dielectric tape, and a flexible protective cover may concentrically disposed to surround the flexible conduit.

Coaxial cable system for gas turbine engine

A receiver in a communication system may include a buffer and hardware. The buffer may be configured to store a communication signal comprising one or more pulses representative of data. The hardware may be configured to determine whether a data authentication pulse has been superimposed over at least one of the one or more pulses, and authenticate, based on the determination of whether the data authentication pulse has been superimposed over at least one of the one or more pulses, the one or more pulses as a valid representation of the data.

Frequency encryption for communication signals

Control systems and methods for securing software images to be executed by the control system. In some examples the control system includes a control node, a concentrator node, and a security module. The security module may include a secured memory area that can hold software images. The security module may load a first executable image from the secured memory area to the control node. The security module may also load a second executable image from the secured memory area to the concentrator node. In some examples, rather than having a security module load the software images, the control node and concentrator node each include a secured area of memory where their respective software images reside. Each of the control node and concentrator node may load the software images from their respective secured areas of memory.

Method and process of cyber security via software imaging

A method of communication, within a processing system of a gas turbine engine, between a first electronic component and a second electronic component, comprising: generating by the first electronic component, a request, comprising a digital certificate, intern comprising a first host public key and a first client public key, signed with a first host private key, to initiate a trusted communication session with a second electronic component; encrypting at the first electronic component, at least a portion of the request with a first client private key; transmitting the request to the second electronic component; the first host private key and the first host public key defining a first asymmetric keypair and the first client private key and the first client public key defining a second asymmetric keypair.

Secure engine communication

Systems and methods are provided that use a tip clearance control apparatus comprising a mechanical iris, where the tip clearance control apparatus controls a distance between a tip of a blade and a ring of abradable material positioned in an adjustable opening of the mechanical iris.

Mechanical iris tip clearance control

Methods and systems are provided for controlling a component of an aircraft engine by communicating data over an inner control loop portion of a distributed engine control network for an aircraft; and controlling an operation of the aircraft engine by communicating encrypted data over an outer control loop portion of the distributed engine control network, wherein the data communicated over the inner control loop portion is unencrypted or encrypted with weaker encryption than the data communicated over the outer control loop portion.

Encryption and security in a distributed control network

A blade tip sensor may be provided that includes a bridge-network circuit embedded in a composite body such as a ceramic matrix composite body. The bridge-network circuit may include a first resistor-capacitor circuit on a first branch and a second resistor-capacitor circuit on a second branch. Each of the first resistor-capacitor circuit and the second resistor-capacitor circuit includes a corresponding capacitor having a capacitance that depends on a distance between the corresponding capacitor and a blade of a rotor.

Tip clearance radio frequency sensor

A patch antenna array sensor is provided. The patch antenna array sensor includes a ceramic matrix composite body in which a patch antenna array is embedded, wherein the patch antenna array sensor is configured to detect blade tip clearance or some other aspect of one or more blades in a gas turbine engine.

Tip clearance sensor system with an integral patch antenna array

Control systems and methods for securely loading software in a power control system. In some examples, the control system includes a computing device and a plurality of security modules. The computing device may obtain and divide an executable image into a plurality of images. The computing device may generate a control hash as a function of the plurality of images, and record the control hash. The computing device may store each of the plurality of images in a plurality of security modules. At boot up, the computing device may load, from each security module, the stored image, and store each image to a memory device. The computing device may generate a hash based on the stored images, and compare the generated hash to the recorded control hash. Based on the comparison, the computing device may allow execution of the executable image.

Method and process for securing an executable image

A gas turbine engine fuel additive control system includes a sensor positioned to sense an operational parameter of a gas turbine engine that includes a compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section. The system also includes a control valve positioned to supply a fuel additive to a fuel line. The fuel line contains fuel for supply to the combustion section of the gas turbine engine to which the fuel additive is selectively added by injection into the fuel line. The system also includes a controller configured to monitor the operational parameter in real time during operation of the gas turbine engine and adjust the control valve to dynamically modulate an amount of the fuel additive being supplied in the fuel in accordance with operation of the gas turbine engine.

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Indianapolis, IN, United States of America

John Joseph Costello