Sundstrand Corporation

William D Sherman

John F Scanlon

Timothy Scott Konicek

David W Okey

Anthony Blakeley

Gregory E Horihan

Thomas A Bolgert

Joel E Oman

The difficulty and expense of fabricating a support strut for a ram air driven turbine are reduced by providing an axially opening channel in a central portion of the strut. Blockage of a portion of the airstream flowing through the ram air turbine and past the strut is reduced by extending the axially opening channel through the entire axial length of the strut. Apparatus for converting or transferring power generated by the ram air turbine to a point of use, such as an aircraft, is routed through the axially opening channel, thereby allowing convenient access to such apparatus. A strut design is provided which may be readily manufactured as a single unitary structure from a variety of metallic and non-metallic materials including fiber reinforced composites.

Support strut for ram air driven turbine

A misalignment compensating fastener insert for adjusting the location of a fastener to compensate for misalignment in attachment holes of articles to be assembled. The misalignment compensating fastener insert includes a truncated cone shaped outer body member having an eccentric tapered inner bore and a truncated cone shaped inner body member having an eccentric inner bore. The truncated cone shaped inner body member is rotatably positioned within the tapered inner bore of the truncated cone shaped outer body member which is rotatably positioned in a tapered attachment hole of a first article to be assembled. A second article to be assembled includes a cylindrical attachment hole corresponding to the tapered attachment hole. Adjusting the eccentricity of the inner bore of the truncated cone shaped inner body member relative to the truncated cone shaped outer body member compensates for misalignments between the attachment holes. The eccentricity is adjusted by rotating the truncated cone shaped inner body member and the truncated cone shaped outer body member relative to each other thereby aligning the inner bore with the cylindrical attachment hole.

Misalignment compensating fastener insert

A method is provided for improving the adhesion of a substrate material which does not form stable bonds to a bondable material by applying high energy bondable ions to the surface of the substrate to create an interface alloy layer and then adhering a bondable material to the surface of the substrate material. The high energy ions used may be meal ions. Before adhering, the thickness of the interface layer may be increased to form a layer utilizing conventional processes such as flame spray, plasma spray or D-gun spray. Additionally, the method may be used to join similar or dissimilar first and second substrate materials.

Enhanced adhesion of substrate materials using ion-beam implantation

In order to accommodate post-manufacturing, or secondary operations in precision assemblies using composite materials, where the secondary operations consist of drilling, machining, grinding, lapping, or other material-removing processing, without the need to resort to expensive diamond tooling and while maintaining needed structural integrity, a composite formed of a base material, a matrix, and a machineable material is provided. The matrix is bonded to the base material and the machineable material is rendered integral with the matrix and sufficiently thick to accommodate subsequent material-removing processing to a precision dimension. By utilizing the composite, method of forming the composite, and article of manufacture, it is possible to take advantage of the characteristics of high strength and light weight even in precision assemblies due to the fact that the machineable surface is not required for structural integrity, and the machineable surface can be applied for initial machining or other material-removing processing and reapplied for subsequent machining or other material-removing processing to restore worn or damaged surfaces.

Composite, method of forming a composite, and article of manufacture

To transfer a fluid at high service temperature and pressure without the limitations of rigid tubing, a flexible tube is provided with a plurality of generally concentric tubular layers for transferring fluids. The innermost layers define a fluid flow path and provide insulation without pressure containment whereas the outermost layers provide fluid containment and resist pressure exerted by the fluid flowing through the tube. By utilizing a plurality of layers of different materials selected to have specific characteristics, the flexible tube operates at a service temperature and pressure providing a high level of energy transfer.

Growing community of inventors

Genoa, IL, United States of America

William D Sherman