Abstract:
An electrical power generation system (10) for generating a controlled AC output including a generator (14) for converting mechanical input into variable frequency AC, a rectifier (16) for rectifying the AC into DC having a variable magnitude, an inverter (24) for inverting the DC into a controlled AC output, a feedforward sensor (22a and 22b) for sensing the rate of change of the DC, a feedback AC sensor (58a, 58b and 58c) for sensing the controlled output AC, and an inverter controller (52) responsive to the rate of change of the DC and to the controlled AC output for regulating the magnitude of the controlled AC output.
Abstract:
A permanent magnet generator (10) having a plurality of permanent magnet generator units which produce a controlled output potential for driving variable electrical loads (20) by vectorially adding an output potential of the permanent magnet generator units to produce the controlled output potential in accordance with the invention which includes a plurality of permanent magnet rotors (12 and 14) mounted on a drive shaft (16) with at least one of the rotors being rotatable with respect to the drive shaft to vary an angular position of the at least one of the rotors relative to the shaft to produce a variable magnitude permanent magnetic field; at least one stator (24) magnetically coupled to the variable magnetic field for producing the controlled output potential; and a torsion spring (30), coupled to the drive shaft and to the at least one rotor, for angularly positioning the rotors relative to each other so that the permanent magnetic field coupled to the at least one stator is zero in response to a stator fault.
Abstract:
Apparatus and method for counting frequency of a signal with improved resolution. Frequency counters (10, 60, and 100) accumulated clock cycles from a reference oscillator (20) during a sample interval. In the simplest form of the frequency counter, the reference clock signal is inverted and both the noninverted and inverted clock cycles are accumulated in separate counters (40 and 44). The accumulated counts are totaled in a summing circuit (48) and divided by two to determine their average, thereby doubling the resolution of the frequency counter. A more complex embodiment of the invention corrects a raw count of cycles of an input signal (12) that are accumulated during an extended sample interval defined by successive rising edges of a sample signal (114). The fractional portion of a cycle of the input waveform that occurred prior to the beginning of the extended sample interval is added to the raw count and the fractional portion of the input waveform that occurred after the end of the extended sample interval is subtracted. These fractional portions are defined as ratios of a partial count of clock cycles to a full count of clock cycles. The partial count is the number of clock cycles occurring between a rising edge of the sample signal and the next rising edge of the input signal, while the full count is the number of clock cycles occurring between successive rising edges of the input signal. One-half clock logic circuits (126 and 136) double the resolution of the counts accumulated by a partial counter (122) and a full counter (142), thereby doubling the resolution with which the ratios of the two counts are determined.
Abstract:
In order to avoid penetration of the housing (38) of a gas turbine (10) in the event of burst failure, the gas turbine (10) includes a containment ring system (32). The gas turbine (10) is of the type which includes a rotor (12) having a turbine wheel (14) with blades (16) and a nozzle (18) outwardly of the turbine blades (16). The nozzle (18) is adapted to direct hot gases at the turbine blades (16) to cause rotation of the rotor (12). The gas turbine (10) is also of the type having an annular combustor (20) about the rotor (12) along with an outlet (22) to the nozzle (18). The annular combustor (20) is defined by spaced inner and outer walls (24 and 26) connected by a generally radially extending wall (28). With this arrangement, the gas turbine (10) utilizes a radial turbine containment ring system (32) which has a first containment ring (34) outwardly of the rotor (12) and the nozzle (18) and a second containment ring (36) at least partially about the rotor (12) outwardly of the turbine blades (16) to deflect fragments toward the first containment ring (34) while dissipating fragment energy in the event of burst failure.
Abstract:
Combustors of gas turbine engines in which components are brazed to the combustor are not easily repairable by conventional welding because the brazed joint includes a melting point depressant which may not only cause the joint to be brittle but also the melting point of the joint to be near or below the temperatures required for welding. These problems are solved by a relatively simple and inexpensive process for producing a weld repairable combustor which includes using (20) a brazing powder mix comprising a metal powder compatible with the metals of the combustor and the article to be brazed to the combustor, and suitable melting point depressant in powder form, heating (60) the brazing powder mix to a first temperature sufficient to cause the brazing powder mix to become molten, and finally heating (70) the brazing powder mix at a second temperature for a sufficient time to cause the melting point depressant to substantially diffuse away from the brazed area. The resulting combustor formed by this process can be repaired by welding (100) when cracks or other discontinuities requiring a weld repair are situated near or at the brazed joint, and this process avoids the expensive requirement of redesign of the combustor to a welded combustor configuration which would require major tooling, equipment and processing changes.
Abstract:
A summing transformer (68) includes first and second sets of primary windings (61a-61c, 62a-62c), first and second sets of secondary windings (71a-71c, 72a-72c) inductively linked with the first and second sets of primary windings and a set of tertiary windings (81a-81c) inductively linked with one of the first and second sets of secondary windings wherein the tertiary windings are connected together and permit zero sequence currents to flow during a period of unbalanced load currents in the sets of secondary windings whereby the output voltages produced thereby are maintained in a substantially balanced condition during such period.
Abstract:
Previous electronic circuit assemblies have exhibited unnecessarily high parasitic inductance. In order to overcome this problem, an apparatus in accordance with this invention is provided with a transistor (24) having power terminals, and first and second diodes (28, 29). The apparatus comprises a first bus (20a) connected to the first diode (28) and one of the power terminals, and a second bus (16a) connected to the second diode (29), the first and second buses (20a, 16a) comprising parallel plates having substantially the same configuration.
Abstract:
Previously, while stepped-waveform inverters approximate a sine wave to reduce the size of the filters needed at the output of such inverters, efficient and effective methods of controlling such inverters have heretofore been lacking. In order to overcome these drawbacks, an inverter (24) for use in a variable-speed, constant-frequency power conversion system (10) of the type used in an aircraft, for example, is provided with four subinverter pairs (30, 32, 34, 36), each of which generates a respective set of waveforms. The four subinverter pairs (30, 32, 34, 46) are connected to a summing transformer (31, 33, 35, 37) having eight sets pairs of primary windings (80, 92) and eight sets of secondary windings (90, 98) coupled to the primary windings (80, 92). A regulator (50, 52) is coupled to the output of the summing transformer (31, 33, 35, 37) and varies the phase angles between the waveforms generated by the four subinverter pairs (30, 32, 34, 36) based upon the voltage and current at the output of the summing transformer (31, 33, 35, 37) in order to regulate the voltage at the output of the summing transformer (31, 33, 35, 37).
Abstract:
A disassemblable capacitor mount (10) for ceramic capacitors (20A) which allows capacitors (20A) to be mechanically secured to a printed circuit board (30) and allows for good electrical contact to be made with the capacitors (20A) to handle high power. The capacitor mount comprises a pair of parallel, spaced-apart conductors (11, 13) provided with a plurality of corresponding spaced-apart lateral slots (12A, 14A) on facing planar sides (16). A plurality of compressible contractors (23A, 25A) are disposed within the slots (12A, 14A). A plurality of capacitors having opposed electrode ends (22A, 24A) are disposed (20A) between the conductors (11, 13) with the ends (22A, 24A) positioned within the slots (12A, 14A) and contacting the contactors (23A, 25A). A rigid mechanism (28, 30) removably fixes the conductors (11, 13) to a planar surface (30). The conductors (11, 13) compressingly urge against the capacitors (20A).
Abstract:
A regenerative pump (1) and method of introducing fluid in the pump wherein direct flow of fluid from inlet ports (14, 15) of the pump into side channels (10, 11) of the pump is blocked by walls (18, 19) of the pump casing (2) thereby requiring the fluid to flow into the space between the blades (4) of the impeller (3) of the pump and radially outward before entering the side channels to provide a more ordered flow at the inlet ports which takes full advantage of the centrifugal forces within the pump. The cross-sectional area of each of the side channels (10, 11) is progressively increased in the vicinity of the inlet ports (14, 15) by tapering outwardly the radially outer walls (26, 27) of the casing defining the side channels from the upstream end of the side channels for smoothly guiding fluid into the impeller in a controlled manner.