General Electric Company

Prashant Bhujabal

Ravindra Shankar Ganiger

Narayanan Payyoor

Praveen Sharma

Weize Kang

Shuvajyoti Ghosh

Shivam Mittal

Mohankumar Banakar

Ishita Sehgal

Milind Chandrakant Dhabade

A bearing support assembly to support one or more bearings on a shaft. The bearing support assembly includes a bearing support frame configured to be coupled to a static frame, a plurality of ribs connected to the bearing support frame, and a bearing support connected to the plurality of ribs and configured to support a bearing of the one or more bearings. The bearing support assembly has a non-axisymmetric stiffness around a circumference of the bearing support assembly.

Bearing support assembly

A support system for a gas turbine engine is provided. The support system includes a load-bearing unit that includes a first flange, a support element supporting the load-bearing unit and having a second flange, a fastener connecting the first flange and the second flange, a first super-elastic shape memory alloy component in contact with the first flange, and a second super-elastic shape memory alloy component in contact with the second flange. The first and the second super-elastic shape memory alloy components are configured to deform when a load exerted by the fastener exceeds a threshold load value of the fastener.

Support system having shape memory alloys

A turbine engine including a bearing element coupled to a rotor assembly and a bearing housing disposed substantially concentric to the axial centerline of the turbine engine. The bearing housing includes a first member coupled to the bearing element. The first member defines a groove at which a variable stiffness element is coupled to the first member and disposed within the groove. The bearing housing defines a first portion and a second portion adjacent to the first portion along a load direction. The first portion and the second portion together selectively define a gap therebetween based at least on a change in load along the load direction.

Variable stiffness bearing housing

A rotor support system for a gas turbine engine is disclosed. The rotor support system includes a bearing support flange, a frame support flange proximate to the bearing support flange, a fastener between the bearing support flange and the frame support flange, a damping component, and an axial retainer. The damping component includes a super-elastic shape memory alloy. The fastener is configured to fail when a load on the fastener exceeds a threshold value and the damping component is configured to deform from a normal state to a deformed state after the fastener fails. The axial retainer is configured to retain the bearing support flange and the frame support flange within an axial displacement from each other after the fastener fails. A radial gap exists between the bearing support flange and the frame support flange when the damping component is in the normal state.

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Bengaluru, India

Prashant Bhujabal