General Electric Company

Shuvajyoti Ghosh

Ravindra Shankar Ganiger

Praveen Sharma

Akash Joshi

Shivaram Ac

Narayanan Payyoor

Vidyashankar Ramasastry Buravalla

Satish Kumar Yadav

Tod Robert Steen

Shivam Mittal

Prashant Bhujabal

Vidya Lokammanahalli Shivashankar

Ishita Sehgal

Richard Ludwig Schmidt

Surender Reddy Bhavanam

Carl Lawrence MacMahon

Amit Zutshi

Rangasai Madoor Comandore

Manoj Nayani

Raghavendra Muralidhar

Esuff Khan

Shivaram A C

A gas turbine engine includes a compressor section and a turbine section arranged in serial flow order. A shaft is provided rotatable with at least a portion of the compressor section and with at least a portion of the turbine section. A bearing is also provided supporting rotation of the shaft, with a support element in turn supporting the bearing. The gas turbine engine also includes a superelastic member formed of a shape memory alloy supporting at least one of the support element or the bearing. The superelastic member is installed in a pre-stressed condition to enhance a dampening function of the superelastic member.

Turbine bearing support

A gas turbine engine including a lubricant system defining a lubricant circuit through which a lubricant flows in fluid communication with a bearing assembly of the engine. The lubricant system selectively bypasses thermal communication of the lubricant and a heat sink based at least on a temperature of the lubricant within the lubricant circuit.

Method and structure for operating engine with bowed rotor condition

A method of starting a gas turbine engine is generally provided. The engine includes a rotor assembly including a compressor rotor and a turbine rotor each coupled to a shaft. The rotor assembly is coupled to a bearing assembly within a casing enabling rotation of the rotor assembly. The method includes determining, based on a lubricant parameter, a period of time within which a rotational speed of the rotor assembly is maintained within a bowed rotor mitigation speed range; rotating the rotor assembly for the period of time within the bowed rotor mitigation speed range; and accelerating the rotor assembly to the combustion speed to ignite a fuel-oxidizer mixture for combustion.

Method of starting a gas turbine engine

A controllable magneto-rheological device includes an annular cylinder formed by inner and outer walls connected at first and second opposing ends and forming an inner shaft configured to receive an operational component of an engine, generator or other device including one or more rotating structures. A magneto-rheological fluid is provided to fill a volume between the inner and outer walls of the annular cylinder. A plurality of electro-magnetic coils are positioned around the outer wall of the annular cylinder. One or more current controllers are coupled to the plurality of electro-magnetic coils for introducing a current through each of the electro-magnetic coils and corresponding magnetic flux through the magneto-rheological fluid. A level of current provided to each of the plurality of electro-magnetic coils directly affects the viscosity of the magneto-rheological fluid and thus the stiffness and damping levels of the controllable magneto-rheological device.

Controllable magneto-rheological device for gas turbine engine

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 hybrid bearing support system includes a shaft extension fixedly coupled to a rotatable member at a radial inner end of the shaft extension, a radial outer end of the shaft extension fixedly coupled to a rotatable race of a bearing supporting the rotatable member, and a recoupler device formed of a shape memory alloy (SMA) material coupled in parallel with at least a portion of the shaft extension between the radial inner end and the radial outer end.

Method and system for elastic bearing support

A turbine engine including a first static structure comprising a first material defining a first thermal expansion coefficient and a second static structure comprising a second material defining a second thermal expansion coefficient different from the first thermal expansion coefficient. The first static structure and the second static structure are together disposed in adjacent arrangement along a load direction. The first static structure and the second static structure together selectively define a gap therebetween along the load direction based at least on a load difference between the first static structure and the second static structure.

Variable stiffness static structure

A damper assembly includes a bearing assembly including a bearing outer race. A damper inner race is spaced from the bearing outer race and includes a plurality of circumferentially-spaced first openings. The damper assembly also includes a damper outer race spaced from damper inner race and a plurality of damper segments extending between the damper inner race and the damper outer race. Each damper segment includes a plurality of second openings.

Squeeze film damper assemblies

A support assembly for a load-bearing unit, a gas turbine engine including the support assembly, and a method of operation of the support assembly are provided. The support assembly includes a support element, a damper, and a variable stiffness member. The support element supports the load-bearing unit. The damper supports the support element and is configured to provide dampening of the load-bearing unit. The variable stiffness member is positioned between the damper and the load-bearing unit. The variable stiffness member is configured to provide a serial dampening of the load-bearing unit with the damper. The variable stiffness member includes a shape memory alloy.

Support assembly having variable stiffness member

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.

Rotor support system having a shape memory alloy

A load reduction assembly includes an annular bearing cone configured to extend between a bearing assembly and a frame assembly and form a first load path therebetween. The load reduction assembly further includes an annular recoupler member configured to extend between the bearing assembly and the frame assembly and form a second load path therebetween. The second load path is parallel to the first load path. The recoupler member includes a shape memory alloy configured to change stiffness in response to a change in a stress condition, thereby regulating an imbalance condition of a rotor shaft coupled to the bearing assembly.

Load reduction assemblies for a gas turbine engine

Squeeze film damping systems and methods therefore are provided that include features for optimizing the damping response to vibrational loads experienced by a rotary component of a gas turbine engine. In one exemplary aspect, a damping system actively controls a dynamic sleeve to adjust the damping response. In particular, the dynamic sleeve is disposed within a chamber defined by a damper housing. The damping system controls the damper gap by translating the dynamic sleeve. When the dynamic sleeve is translated, a variable damper gap is varied, allowing for fluid to squeeze into or out of the damper gap, thereby adjusting the damping response to the vibration of the rotary component.

Squeeze film damper for a gas turbine engine

A method of reducing loads in a rotor assembly during an imbalance condition, a shape memory alloy recoupler device, and a hybrid bearing support system are provided. The hybrid bearing support system includes a shaft extension fixedly coupled to a rotatable member at a radially inner end of the shaft extension, a radially outer end of the shaft extension fixedly coupled to a rotatable race of a bearing supporting the rotatable member, and a recoupler device formed of a shape memory alloy (SMA) material coupled in parallel with at least a portion of the shaft extension between the radially inner end and the radially outer end.

A rotor support system for a gas turbine engine may generally include a bearing assembly and a load reduction member configured to be coupled between the bearing assembly and a support frame of the engine. The load reduction member may include a fuse portion configured to fail when a load transmitted through the load reduction member exceeds a predetermined load threshold. The system may also include a load recoupling member provided between the bearing assembly and the support frame. The load recoupling member may be formed from a super-elastic shape memory alloy that allows the load recoupling member to undergo recoverable deformation without failing when the fuse portion fails such that the load recoupling member maintains a mechanical connection between the bearing assembly and the support frame.

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Bengaluru, India

Shuvajyoti Ghosh