United Technologies Corporation

Trane International Inc.

Justin D Piggush

William Abdel-Messeh

Tracy A Propheter-Hinckley

Matthew A Devore

Anthony P Cherolis

Amarnath Ramlogan

Eric P Letizia

Yongxiang D Xue

Atul Kohli

Ricardo Trindade

Raymond C Surace

Edward F Pietraszkiewicz

Jeffrey S Beattie

Jon Phillip Hartfield

Jeffrey Michael Jacques

Michael F Blair

Richard H Page

Jesse R Christophel

Scott W Gayman

Karl A Mentz

William A Agli, Iii

Erica L Gallant

James M Bartley

William A Iii Agli

An evaporator includes a housing having a first end longitudinally opposing a second end. The evaporator includes an inlet disposed on the housing and configured to receive a fluid. The evaporator also includes a tube bundle disposed in the housing and configured to evaporate the fluid to provide a vapor stream arranged to exit through an outlet on the housing. Additionally, the evaporator has a flow balancer provided between the tube bundle and the outlet on the housing, and the flow balancer is configured to balance refrigerant quality between the first end and the second end of the evaporator by controlling the vapor stream.

Evaporator charge management and method for controlling the same

A liquid-vapor separator includes a housing, an inlet disposed on the housing and configured to receive a working fluid into the housing, a vapor stream outlet disposed on the housing and configured to release a vapor stream of the working fluid, and a demister disposed in the housing and configured to transfer thermal energy between the working fluid and the vapor stream. In some embodiments, the working fluid absorbs thermal energy and evaporates to provide the vapor stream that includes entrained droplets. At least a portion of the entrained droplets absorbs thermal energy from the working fluid to evaporate when the vapor stream flows through the demister. In some embodiments, the liquid-vapor separator includes a passive demisting portion that demists by obstructing at least a portion of the entrained droplets.

Suction heat exchanger de-misting function

An apparatus, system, and method of separating and directing process fluid flow via the use of both low pressure drop pipes and high performance tubes within a refrigerant evaporator are disclosed. The evaporator includes a shell; the shell includes a process fluid inlet and a process fluid outlet. The evaporator also includes a plurality of tubes disposed within the shell and carrying a process fluid; the plurality of tubes includes a first plurality of tubes and a second plurality of tubes. The evaporator further includes a plurality of redirect pipes disposed within the shell and carrying the process fluid; the plurality of redirect pipes includes a first redirect pipe and a second redirect pipe. The evaporator functions by separating and directing process fluid flow into two portions via the use of both tubes and redirect pipes.

Evaporator with redirected process fluid flow

The pattern has a pattern material and a casting core combination. The pattern material has an airfoil. The casting core combination is at least partially embedded in the pattern material. The casting core combination comprises a metallic casting core and at least one additional casting core. The metallic casting core has opposite first and second faces. The metallic core and at least one additional casting core extend spanwise into the airfoil of the pattern material. In at least a portion of the pattern material outside the airfoil of the pattern material, the metallic casting core is bent transverse to the spanwise direction so as to at least partially surround an adjacent portion of the at least one additional casting core.

Castings, casting cores, and methods

A method of fabricating an airfoil includes the steps of fabricating a first core including a first plurality of ribs defining a first plurality of passages of a completed airfoil, and fabricating as second core including a second plurality of ribs defining a second plurality of passages of the completed airfoil. The second plurality of ribs includes a plurality of standoffs. The plurality of standoffs set a spacing between the first plurality of ribs and the second plurality of ribs to define a spacing between the first plurality of channels and the second plurality of channels of the completed airfoil. The airfoil is then molded about the core assembly. Once completed, the core assembly is removed to provide a completed airfoil incorporating multiple microcircuits with a desired stability and structural integrity.

Turbine blade root with microcircuit cooling passages

An airfoil has a wall, a cooling channel, a trench, and a plurality of cooling holes. The wall has a leading edge, a trailing edge, a pressure side, a suction side, an outer diameter end, and an inner diameter end to define an interior. The cooling channel extends radially through the interior of the wall between the pressure side and the suction side and along the leading edge. The trench extends radially along an exterior of the wall at the leading edge and is recessed axially into the leading edge to form a back wall. The back wall is contoured to include at least one undulation. The plurality of cooling holes extends through the back wall of the trench to connect the interior of the wall at the cooling channel to the exterior.

Airfoil including trench with contoured surface

A gas turbine engine component comprises a plurality of walls, a cooling channel, a plurality of ribs and a plurality of pedestals. The plurality of walls has a pair of major surfaces opposed to define an interior chamber. The cooling channel extends through the interior chamber of the plurality of walls between the major surfaces. The plurality of ribs extends through the cooling channel to form a plurality of wavy passages having bowed-out sections. The plurality of pedestals is positioned between adjacent ribs, each pedestal being positioned in a bowed-out section.

Gas turbine engine component having wavy cooling channels with pedestals

A turbine engine airfoil includes an airfoil structure having an exterior surface that provides a leading edge. A first cooling passage includes radially spaced legs extending laterally from one side of the leading edge toward another side of the leading edge and interconnecting to form a loop with one another. A trench extends radially in the exterior surface along the leading edge. The trench intersects one of the first and second legs to provide at least one first cooling hole in the trench.

Airfoil with leading edge cooling passage

An airfoil suitable for use in a gas turbine engine having at least one feed passage at least in part defined along a feed axis which is at least perpendicular to a cavity axis to reduce dirt ingestion into a trailing edge passage.

Coolable airfoil trailing edge passage

A method involves forming a core assembly. The forming includes deforming a wire, the deforming including increasing a transverse linear dimension along at least one portion of the wire. The wire is assembled to a ceramic core.

Investment casting cores and methods

A turbine engine airfoil includes an airfoil structure having an exterior surface providing a leading edge. A radially extending first cooling passage is arranged near the leading edge and includes first and second portions. The first portion extends to the exterior surface and forms a radially extending trench in the leading edge. The second portion is in fluid communication with a second cooling passage. In one example, the second cooling passage extends radially, and the first cooling passage wraps around a portion of the second cooling passage from a pressure side to a suction side between the second cooling passage and the exterior surface. In the example, the first portion is arranged between the pressure and suction sides. In one example, the first cooling passage is formed by arranging a core in an airfoil mold. The trench is formed by the core in one example.

Airfoil with wrapped leading edge cooling passage

A turbine engine airfoil includes an airfoil structure having a side with an exterior surface. The structure includes a cooling passage extending a length within the structure and providing a convection surface facing the side. The convection surface is twisted along the length, which varies a heat transfer rate between the exterior surface and the convection surface along the length. In one example, the cooling passage is provided by a refractory metal core that is used during the airfoil casting process. The core includes multiple legs joined by a connecting portion. At least one of the legs is twisted along its length. The legs are deformed toward one another opposite the connecting portion to provide a desired core shape that corresponds to the shape of the cooling passage. Accordingly, the cooling passage provides desired cooling of the airfoil.

Airfoil with cooling passage providing variable heat transfer rate

A turbine engine airfoil includes an airfoil structure having an exterior surface and an end portion. A cooling passage extends a length radially within the structure in a direction toward the end portion. The cooling passage provides a convection surface along the length adjacent to the exterior surface. The convection surface includes a generally uniform width along the length. The cooling passage has generally decreasing cross-sectional areas along the length in the direction.

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Hartford, CT, United States of America

Justin D Piggush