Honeywell International Inc.

Garrett Transportation I Inc.

Mike Guidry

Patrick Beresewicz

Glenn F Thompson

John Mason

Andrew C Love

Rick J Johnson

James William Reyenga

Steven Don Arnold

Marshall Patton Saville

William Joseph Smith

Keith Alan Hurley

Ali Mohammadpour

Andrew Love

Vai Man Lei

Will J Smith

Vai-Man Lei

Kelvin Buneirisert

Asit Singhal

Jeff Letterman

John Sontag

Mark Mackey

Louis Pu

Rick Johnson

Jeff Lotterman

Steven D Arnold

Kevin Bunsirisert

Patrick A Beresewicz

Karthik S Nagarjan

Karthik S Nagarajan

A turbine or compressor wheel mounted in a housing. The wheel is carried on two radial bearings both mounted in a wall of the housing. The wall has a venting orifice that is not impeded by moving parts such as bearings. The wall also has a circular seal member extending toward a back-disk of the wheel with only a very small clearance. The seal member is composed of a material significantly softer than the material of the wheel.

Compressor or turbine with back-disk seal and vent

A butterfly bypass valve includes a housing defining a bypass flow passage with a pivotable throttle plate therein. An outer edge of the throttle plate in a closed position is in sealing engagement with a sealing portion of the housing such that the throttle plate restricts fluid flow through the bypass flow passage. The throttle plate is pivotable to an open position to allow fluid flow through the bypass flow passage. A port in the housing allows a portion of fluid passing through the bypass flow passage to be removed when the throttle plate is pivoted to the open position. A predetermined amount of pivoting of the throttle plate toward the open position can occur so as to allow flow through the port, while maintaining the edge of the throttle plate in substantially sealing engagement with the sealing portion so as to substantially prevent flow through the bypass passage.

Butterfly bypass valve, and throttle loss recovery system incorporating same

Electrical systems and devices with substrate interconnections having reduced parasitic inductance are provided. A first substrate includes one or more capacitors and plurality of connection interfaces, wherein a first subset of connection interfaces electrically connected to a first reference voltage are interleaved with a second subset of connection interfaces electrically connected to a different reference voltage. A second substrate includes a third subset of connection interfaces are electrically connected to a first terminal of a first switching element and the first subset of connection interfaces and a fourth subset of connection interfaces electrically connected to a second terminal of a second switching element and the second subset of connection interfaces, and the third subset and the fourth subset are also interleaved.

Electrical systems having interleaved DC interconnects

Systems and methods are provided for regulating fuel cell backpressure or humidity in conjunction with a flow control assembly that recovers energy resulting from the regulation. An exemplary vehicle system includes a fuel cell stack, a flow control valve to regulate a fluid flow exiting the fuel cell stack, and a flow control assembly parallel to the flow control valve to generate electrical energy in response to a bypass portion of the fluid flow that bypasses the flow control valve based on an orientation of the flow control valve with respect to the fluid flow.

Fuel cell regulation using loss recovery systems

Systems and methods are provided for managing temperatures associated with a throttle loss recovery system. One exemplary system includes a flow control assembly for recovering energy from a fluid bypassing a flow control valve based on an orientation of the flow control valve, a conduit providing fluid communication with the flow control assembly for the portion of the fluid flow bypassing the flow control valve, and an electronics assembly including an electronics module coupled to the flow control assembly. At least a portion of the electronics assembly is in fluid communication with the portion of the fluid flow bypassing the flow control valve, thereby allowing for heat transfer between the electronics assembly and the fluid bypassing the flow control valve.

Temperature management for throttle loss recovery systems

Turbine assemblies, loss recovery systems, and related fabrication methods are provided for managing temperatures associated with an electrical generator. One exemplary turbine assembly suitable for use in a loss recovery system includes a wheel configured to rotate in response to a portion of a fluid flow bypassing a flow control valve, a generator including a stator assembly disposed about a rotor coupled to the wheel to rotate in response to rotation of the wheel, a conductive structure in contact with the stator assembly, and an insulating structure radially encompassing the conductive structure and the generator. The conductive structure accesses at least a portion of the fluid flow bypassing the flow control valve and impacting the wheel, thereby providing thermal coupling between the stator assembly and the bypass fluid flow to transfer heat from the stator assembly to the bypass fluid flow via the conductive structure.

Generator temperature management for throttle loss recovery systems

Systems and methods are provided for managing temperatures associated with a flow control assembly, such as a throttle loss recovery assembly. One exemplary method of operating a flow control assembly generating electrical energy in response to a bypass fluid flow influenced by an orientation of a flow control valve involves operating the flow control assembly to deliver the electrical energy to a vehicle electrical system and automatically adjusting operation to increase heat generation at the flow control assembly in response to a temperature condition, such as a potential icing condition or a cold start condition.

An electric motor-driven compressor includes a housing assembly comprising a motor housing and a compressor housing mounted thereto. The compressor housing contains a centrifugal compressor wheel that is mounted on a shaft of the motor rotor and also defines an air inlet that leads air into the compressor wheel, and a volute that collects the compressed air. Air bearings rotatably support the shaft. Cooling air passages are defined in the housing assembly for supplying cooling air to the air bearings. A diffuser between the exit of the compressor wheel and the volute serves to diffuse the compressed air. The compressor includes a heat shield formed separately from the compressor housing and the motor housing and disposed between them. The heat shield defines one wall of the diffuser and also cooperates with the housing assembly to define part of the cooling air passages for the cooling air supplied to the bearings.

Electric motor-driven compressor having a heat shield forming a wall of a diffuser

A mechanism for differential pressure sealing for use in a compressor, such as for fuel cell applications, is described. In a dual-stage compressor, a low pressure side and/or a high pressure side of the dual-stage compressor may include a compressor wheel supported by a shaft that can rotate about an axis of the shaft. A seal carrier may be provided that rotates with the compressor wheel and includes a groove for receiving a sealing ring, which may be a split expansion ring. A static seal plate may be positioned around a periphery of a portion of the seal carrier, such that the sealing ring can seal against a contact surface of the static seal plate when received in the groove in order to create a pressure differential seal. The low pressure side may include one sealing ring, whereas the high pressure side may include two sealing rings positioned in series.

Sealing arrangement for fuel cell compressor

Systems and methods are provided for managing excess electrical energy generated by a throttle loss recovery system. One exemplary system includes a flow control assembly to generate electrical energy in response to a portion of a fluid flow bypassing a flow control valve, an electrical system coupled to the flow control assembly to receive the electrical energy, and a control module coupled to the electrical system. The electrical system includes an energy storage element and an electrical load. The control module detects an excess energy condition based at least in part on a characteristic of the electrical system, and in response, operates the electrical system to dissipate at least a portion of the electrical energy generated by the flow control assembly using the electrical load.

Excess power dissipation for throttle loss recovery systems

A flow-control assembly may include a fluid conduit and a flow-control valve in the fluid conduit. The flow-control assembly may further include a fluid expansion conduit with an inlet defined at least in part by the fluid conduit and configured to selectively receive flow of a fluid from the fluid conduit. The fluid expansion conduit may further include an outlet in fluid communication with the fluid conduit downstream of the flow-control valve. A rotating fluid expander in the fluid expansion conduit may be configured to expand the fluid and thereby rotate and in some embodiments generate electricity. In a first position flow is substantially blocked. In a second position flow is allowed through the fluid expansion conduit. In a third position flow through the fluid conduit is allowed without necessarily passing through the fluid expansion conduit.

Flow-control assembly comprising a turbine-generator cartridge

An electric motor-driven compressor having an electrical terminal block assembly and corresponding method of assembly are provided. The electrical terminal block assembly includes a base plate that has a staging feature for receiving a lug end of a motor stator cable prior to connection of the motor stator cable with a terminal bar of the terminal block assembly. In this way, once the terminal block assembly is lowered into the enclosure and the motor stator cable is no longer visible to the user, a stator cable fastener may be passed through a stator cable mounting hole in the terminal bar to engage the stator cable lug that is being held in the proper position by the staging feature of the base plate. Upon rotation of the stator cable fastener, the stator cable lug may be drawn into conductive engagement with the terminal bar.

Electric motor-driven compressor having an electrical terminal block assembly

An air bearing assembly is provided that includes a bearing sleeve that has two slots side-by-side having rectangular profiles for engaging the ends of first and second bearing foils for supporting a shaft of a dual-stage compressor. The first rectangular-profile slot, which may be made using a broaching process, is designed to receive first ends of the first bearing foil and the second bearing foil. The second rectangular-profile slot, which may also be made using a broaching process, is designed to receive a second end of the second bearing foil. This dual-slot design replaces the complex 'L' shaped single slot design of conventional bearing sleeves, allowing for high-volume, low-cost manufacturing of the bearing sleeves. The dual-slot design also provides for robust engagement of the bearing foils with the bearing sleeves, while allowing easy assembly and installation of the air bearing assemblies.

Bearing sleeve for air bearing

A turbomachinery device operable in either a compressor mode or a turbine mode. The device includes an impeller that rotates in the same direction in both modes, and the general flow direction remains the same in both modes. An inlet flow-guiding device may be included to direct fluid into the impeller. The impeller is coupled to a motor/generator, which operates as a motor to add power to the impeller in the compressor mode, and as a generator in the turbine mode to extract mechanical power from the impeller and convert it into electrical power. An outlet flow-guiding device may also be included. The inlet and outlet flow-guiding devices can be inlet and outlet guide vanes that are variable in setting angle or are extendable and retractable into and out of the flow path, or can be other types of flow-guiding devices.

Turbomachinery device for both compression and expansion

A single-shaft exhaust gas-driven turbocharger includes two parallel-flow first-stage centrifugal compressors in series with a single second-stage centrifugal compressor, and a one-stage turbine arranged to drive both the first- and second-stage centrifugal compressors via a single shaft on which the compressors and turbine are fixedly mounted. The compressor housing defines from one to a plurality of circumferentially spaced inlet ducts for the second wheel of the first stage, and from one to a plurality of circumferentially spaced interstage ducts leading from a vaneless diffuser of the first stage into the inlet of the second stage.

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Redondo Beach, CA, United States of America

Mike Guidry