United Technologies Corporation

Jorge A Alcorta

Robert J Kildea

Robert B Richardson

A plurality of circumferentially spaced apart oil scoops are designed to capture oil being slung from an inner shaft across an annulus to an outer shaft which rotates in a direction opposite to the inner shaft. The scoops rotate with and are a part of the outer shaft assembly. The scoops, in one embodiment, are defined by opposed spaced apart wall surfaces oriented substantially parallel to the relative velocity vector of the jets of oil as they travel outwardly from the inner shaft across the annulus. Splashing of the oil as it is picked up by the scoops is minimized by this invention.

Oil capture scoop

Concentric, counterrotating shafts include means for bringing oil from within the inner shaft across an annular gap between the two shafts into oil scoops which rotate with the outer shaft. To minimize the splashing of oil as it travels across the annular gap between the two shafts a plurality of separate, circumferentially spaced apart oil compartments are disposed around the outer circumference of the inner shaft and rotate therewith. Oil from within the inner shaft travels radially outwardly through passageways in the shaft into the oil compartments whereupon the radial velocity of the oil is reduced to zero. The oil leaves the compartment through outlets and is slung across the gap between the shafts whereupon it is captured by oil scoops and is fed to its final destination, such as to a bearing race disposed radially outwardly of the outer shaft. By reducing the radial velocity of the oil to zero after it is passed through the inner shaft and prior to its being slung across the annular gap between the shafts, the amount of splashing of the oil is reduced.

Growing community of inventors

Hobe Sound, FL, United States of America

Jorge A Alcorta