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US 10,765,958 B2Granted
System, method, and apparatus for power limited sky diving wind tunnel drive train/fan
AssigneeMaida Engineering, Inc.
InventorsJoseph F. Maida, Arthur Armellini
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A drive train for a wind tunnel having a nacelle housing with a fan and a fan hub assembly. The drive train comprises: a ratio gear box directly connected to the fan; and a motor disposed remote from the nacelle for powering the fan via a jackshaft and the ratio gearbox. In an embodiment, the wind tunnel has a single fan and single hub assembly. The jackshaft operatively connects the motor and gearbox.
Claims21
A system for controlling a wind tunnel having a fan and nacelle, the system comprising:
- a) a drive end right angle thrust bearing ratio gearbox housed within the nacelle of the wind tunnel and directly connected to the fan;
- b) a motor disposed remote from the nacelle for powering the fan, the motor being connected to the drive end right angle thrust bearing ratio gearbox via a jackshaft so as to power the fan to rotate at at least a threshold minimum speed sufficient to enable human flight within the wind tunnel;
- and
- c) a variable frequency drive positioned remote from the wind tunnel that receives a control signal from a programmable logic controller, wherein the variable frequency drive is programmed to regulate the speed of the motor to:
- a) a first nonzero target motor speed which is not sufficient to cause the fan to rotate at at least the threshold minimum speed;
- b) a range of second target motor speeds, all second target motor speeds in the range being greater than the first nonzero target motor speed and sufficiently high to cause the fan to rotate at at least the threshold minimum speed;
- c) a third target motor speed of zero RPM indicative of an off condition;
- wherein the variable frequency drive dcvicc is programmed to operate the motor at nonzero target speeds only equal to or greater than said first nonzero target motor speed.
5 more elements
A system for controlling a wind tunnel having a fan and nacelle, the system comprising:
- a drive end right angle thrust bearing ratio gearbox housed within the nacelle of the wind tunnel and directly connected to the fan;
- a motor disposed remote from the nacelle for powering the fan, the motor being connected to the ratio gearbox via a jackshaft;
- and
- a variable frequency drive positioned remote from the wind tunnel and configured to regulate the speed of the motor within a minimum and maximum operational range of the motor;
- wherein a lubrication system disposed remote from the nacelle is fluidly coupled to the ratio gearbox for controllably dispensing lubricant thereto via a supply conduit, and wherein a programmable logic controller is responsive to one or more of temperature, pressure, leakage, or flow parameters output from the lubrication system for generating a control signal to the variable frequency drive to controllably adjust motor speed.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.