General Electric Company

Santosh Kumar Pattnaik

David Raju Yamarthi

Adam Joseph Wangler

Ravindra Shankar Ganiger

Mohan Kannaiah Raju

Prachi Anand Tappu

David Justin Brady

Shishir Paresh Shah

Brian Gene Brzek

Rodrigo Rodriguez Erdmenger

Sesha Subramanian

Sanjeev Sai Kumar Manepalli

Swaroop Sundaran

Chandrasekaran N

Adam Joesph Wangler

A pump system to pressurize a fluid within a closed loop transport bus is disclosed herein. The example of the pump system disclosed herein includes a pump, including an impeller, to increase kinetic energy of a fluid flowing through the impeller; an electric motor, including a rotor shaft connected to the impeller, to provide torque to the rotor shaft; a first bearing to support the rotor shaft at a first operational speed range, the first bearing coupled to an inner race; a second bearing to support the rotor shaft at a second operational speed range, the rotor shaft coupled to an outer race; and one or more sprag elements configured to: engage the inner race with the outer race at the first operational speed range; and disengage the inner race from the outer race at the second operational speed range.

Integrated bearing systems for dynamically supporting shafts in pump systems

Impeller bearings for pumps are disclosed. An example fluid pump includes a motor, a shaft coupled to a rotor of the motor, an impeller coupled to the shaft forward of the motor, the impeller including blades to pump a fluid, a first radial bearing positioned around the shaft aft of the motor, a second radial bearing positioned around the impeller, and guide vanes extending radially from the second radial bearing upstream of the blades of the impeller.

Impeller bearings for pumps

A pump system for pressurizing a fluid within a closed loop supercritical transport bus is disclosed herein. The examples of the pump system disclosed herein include an impeller coupled to an impeller shaft; an axial flux electric motor including rotors and a stator; a rotor shaft connected to the rotors, wherein the rotor shaft is coupled to the impeller shaft; a seal to prevent the fluid from contacting the axial flux electric motor; a first housing to frame the impeller shaft; and a second housing to frame the axial flux electric motor, wherein the second housing is separate from the first housing.

Axial flux motor driven pump systems for pressurizing fluid in closed loop systems

Example pump systems having dual-function annular heat exchangers are disclosed. An example pump system to pressurize a fluid within a closed loop transport bus includes a pump to move the fluid, a conduit in fluid connection with the pump, a heat exchanger positioned around at least a portion of the conduit, the heat exchanger to receive a first electrical signal transmitted in a first direction at a first time and a second electrical signal transmitted in a second direction at a second time different from the first time, the second direction opposite the first direction.

Pump systems having dual-function heat exchangers and related methods

Oil lubricated supercritical fluid pumps with oil separators are disclosed herein. An example pump system to pressurize a fluid within a closed loop thermal transport bus disclosed herein includes a pump housing, a duct fluidly coupled to the pump housing, a first portion of the duct to include a mixture of an oil and the supercritical fluid, a second portion of the duct to include the supercritical fluid, and a separator positioned in a third portion of the duct between the first portion of the duct and the second portion of the duct, the separator to separate the oil in the mixture from the supercritical fluid.

Oil lubricated fluid pumps with oil separators

Example thrust bearing apparatus includes: a thrust disk extending radially from the shaft, the thrust disk having a first side and a second side opposite the first side; a bearing housing surrounding the thrust disk and the shaft, the bearing housing having a first wall facing the first side of the thrust disk and a second wall facing the second side of the thrust disk; a first thrust pad coupled to the first wall of the bearing housing, the first thrust pad including a first plurality of serrations circumferentially arranged in a first pattern along the first thrust pad; and a second thrust pad coupled to the first side of the thrust disk, the second thrust pad including a second plurality of serrations circumferentially arranged in a second pattern along the second thrust pad.

Dual thrust bearing systems and methods for operating the same

Methods and apparatus to provide vortex cooled secondary flow for a supercritical carbon dioxide pump are disclosed herein. An example thermal management system includes a hot secondary flow extract section fluidly coupled to an outlet of a pump system, a cooled secondary flow section fluidly coupled to the hot secondary flow extract section, the hot secondary flow extract section including a vortex tube to generate cooled secondary air flow from hot secondary flow extract air of the hot secondary flow extract section, and a bearing inlet fluidly coupled to the cooled secondary flow section, the bearing inlet positioned to route the cooled secondary flow to bearings of the pump system.

Vortex cooled secondary flow for a supercritical carbon dioxide pump

Apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to dynamically support axial thrust in pumps. An example apparatus disclosed herein includes a first thrust pad, a second thrust pad, and a thrust disc between the first thrust pad and the second thrust pad, the thrust disc including a first side adjacent to the first thrust pad. a second side adjacent to the second thrust pad, an outer surface, a first channel extending between the outer surface to the first side, and a second channel extending between the outer surface of the thrust disc to the second side.

Thrust bearings to support axial thrust in pumps

Impeller bearings for pumps are disclosed. An example fluid pump includes a motor, a shaft coupled to a rotor of the motor, an impeller coupled to the shaft, a first radial bearing positioned around the shaft of the motor aft of the motor, and a second radial bearing positioned around the impeller.

Apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to dynamically support axial thrust in pumps. Examples disclosed herein include a thrust bearing system including a thrust disc coupled to an impeller shaft; a first thrust pad coupled to a body of the pump, the first thrust pad positioned on a forward side of the thrust disc; a second thrust pad coupled to the body of the pump, the second thrust pad positioned on an aft side of the thrust disc; and a spring-loaded assembly integrated into the first and second thrust pads, the spring-loaded assembly connected to a pump outlet via a first flowline, the first flowline to transmit a working fluid from the pump outlet to the forward side of the thrust disc or the aft side of the thrust disc based on a position of the spring-loaded assembly.

A pump system for pressurizing a fluid within a closed loop thermal transport bus is disclosed herein. The example of the pump system disclosed herein includes an electric motor including a rotor shaft and a stator, wherein the rotor shaft is to generate a first torque; a pump including an impeller coupled to an impeller shaft, wherein the impeller is to increase a kinetic energy of the fluid; a driver wheel attached to the rotor shaft, wherein the driver wheel is radially connected to a follower wheel; and a co-axial magnetic coupling to connect at least one of the follower wheel to the impeller shaft or the driver wheel to the rotor shaft, wherein the co-axial magnetic coupling includes an outer hub, an inner hub, and a barrier can, the barrier can to hermetically seal a portion of the pump system from the fluid.

Radially coupled pump systems for pressurizing fluid in closed loop systems

According to exemplary embodiments, a rotor off-take assembly is provided by positioning an angled hole or aperture in a stator assembly. This angled hole provides improved pressure recovery and utilizes higher dynamic pressure to drive the bleed air flow into the off-take cavity.

Growing community of inventors

Bengaluru, India

Santosh Kumar Pattnaik