Ceramic radial turbine
AssigneeFlorida Turbine Technologies, Inc.
InventorsRussell B Jones, Edwin L Kite
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A small gas turbine engine with a ceramic turbine to allow for higher turbine inlet temperatures, where a metallic compressor is secured to a ceramic shaft extending from a ceramic turbine to form a single piece ceramic shaft and turbine, where a threaded nut secures a split ring retainer on the compressor end of the ceramic shaft. A hollow thrust runner is compressed between the compressor disk and the turbine disk by the threaded nut to secure rotor together. A centering spring forms a tight fit between the metallic thrust runner and the ceramic shaft on the turbine side.
Claims6
A rotor for a small gas turbine engine comprising:
- a metallic compressor;
- a ceramic turbine with a ceramic shaft forming a single piece ceramic shaft and ceramic turbine;
- a metallic thrust runner secured between the metallic compressor and the ceramic turbine with the ceramic shaft extending within the metallic thrust runner and forming a cooling air passage;
- a split ring retainer and a threaded nut secured over the ceramic shaft to secure the metallic compressor to the ceramic shaft;
- and
- a centering spring secured between an inner surface of the metallic thrust runner and an outer surface of the ceramic shaft near to the ceramic turbine, the centering spring includes a plurality of radial outward projections and a plurality of radial inward projections offset to produce a spring effect between the metallic thrust runner and the ceramic shaft.
A rotor for a small gas turbine engine comprising:
- a metallic compressor;
- a ceramic turbine with a ceramic shaft forming a single piece ceramic shaft and ceramic turbine;
- a metallic thrust runner secured between the metallic compressor and the ceramic turbine with the ceramic shaft extending within the metallic thrust runner and forming a cooling air passage;
- a split ring retainer and a threaded nut secured over the ceramic shaft to secure the metallic compressor to the ceramic shaft;
- and
- a plurality of torque keys between an inner surface of a compressor disk of the metallic compressor and an outer surface of the ceramic shaft provide a torque transfer from the ceramic shaft to the compressor disk.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.