Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation

General Electric Company

United Technologies Corporation

Richard L Elgin

Behzad Hagshenas

Eric J Alexander

Said Izadi

David J Harris

Donald G Eastman

Beilene Hao

J Alexander Eric

A catcher for a gas turbine engine includes a central hub, a plurality of struts, and a first ring. The plurality of struts are connected to and extend outward from the central hub. The first ring is connected to a mid-section of the plurality of struts and extends therebetween.

Turbine wheel catcher

High inertia and large bearing loads encountered in monorotors for gas turbine engines are reduced in a monorotor having a compressor wheel section (,) made of a relatively low density material while the turbine wheel section (,) maintains resistance to heat by being made of a relatively higher density, heat resistant material. The two are joined into a monorotor through the use of two bodies (,) which are inertia welded to the respective wheels (,) and then welded together by any one of a variety of welding processes.

Monorotor for a gas turbine engine

A method is provided for maintaining components subject to fatigue failure during in service use. The method uses statistical distributions (,) in a simulation of in service use (,) of a fleet of components to predict the failure rate (,) of the fleet over a fixed time increment (,) for an assumed inspection program. These predictions are used to determine an operating plan (,), including an inspection program, that will maintain an acceptable failure rate by detecting components with fatigue indications and removing the components prior to failure (,). The inspection program provides actual fatigue data resulting from in service use (,). As the inspection data base grows, the simulation is revised (,) to incorporate the data. The predicted failure rates and the operating plan (,) are then updated based on the revised simulation.

Method of maintaining components subject to fatigue failure

An improved nut fastener is utilize with a back-up plate to perfect a bolted flange joint. The fastener includes a cage having a planar body affixed to the back-up plate in bearing engagement with a surface thereof. Opposed sides upstanding from the cage body are configured to loosely capture a spherical faced washer, a spherical faced nut, and a nut anti-torque collar in self-aligning relation with a joint bolt hole. An extension of either the cage body or the collar is configured to engage the back-up plate in a manner to inhibit rotation of the cage.

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Richard L Elgin