General Electric Company

Martin Marietta Corporation

William L Bird

Steven L Adams

Paul C Rasmussen

Kirk G O'Brien

Humphrey W Chow

Paul C Daiber

Manoj Ramprasad Shah

Henry G Lenz

In a seal oil system utilized to supply oil to shaft seals of a generator for preventing pressurized gas inside the generator from escaping through an interface of the generator shaft and the generator frame, wherein seal oil is supplied to said seals via a main supply line at a predetermined pressure, the improvement comprising at least one differential pressure accumulator including a barrel having an upper inlet end and a lower outlet end, and a piston slidably mounted in said barrel and movable between said inlet end and said outlet end; a first chamber above said piston having liquid supplied thereto at a pressure equal to internal gas pressure of the generator; a second chamber below said piston charged with generator seal oil; and means for enabling said at least one accumulator to discharge generator seal oil to said main supply line upon temporary decrease in pressure in said main supply line.

Differential pressure accumulator

A superconducting single phase alternator is connected by a circuit breaker across the breech ends of a pair of conductive launching rails. At a predetermined point on the alternator voltage wave a projectile establishes a current path between the rails to initiate a transient, sinusoidal current pulse effective in accelerating the projectile along the rails. A switch is actuated in response to the projectile exiting the muzzle ends of the rails to impose a short circuit across the rails. The circuit breaker disconnects the alternator from the rails as the current pulse goes to zero. The system provides higher launcher efficiency and reduced muzzle flash with minimum barrel length penalty.

Alternator driven electromagnetic launching system

Seal oil supply system using differential pressure accumulator

A high start/stop cyclic capability connector to interconnect the field coil poles in a rotating electric machine. The connector includes a U-shaped intermediate portion with parallel jaws which include extensions perpendicular to the faces of the jaws a distance significantly greater than the width of the jaws, and with connecting pads configured for matching connection to the field coils and orienting the connector such that start/stop inertial forces are applied in the radial direction which causes circumferential flexure of the connector, and flexure due to thermal cycling is in the circumferential direction.

Field coil pole to pole connector with high cyclic duty capability

An improved connector for the main field coil of a rotating electric machine having high start/stop cyclic duty capability. The connector is generally L-shaped with the field coil connection portion being parallel to the axis of the machine and the centrifugal forces of the start/stop cycles being applied perpendicular to the field coil connection portion. Enlarged connection portions integral with the L-shaped central region are configured for connection to the field coil and a terminal including a cylindrical post.

Main field coil connector with high cyclic duty capability

Active compensation in the form of a pair of trim coils and passive compensation in the form of a solenoidal-shaped magnetic shunt are disclosed for shaping the magnetic field existing in the liquid metal current collector region of an acyclic generator such as to minimize the field component normal to the stator and rotor collector surfaces and thereby substantially eliminate the generation of circulating currents in the liquid metal medium.

Growing community of inventors

Scotia, NY, United States of America

William L Bird