# US 2018/0026504 A1 · Method and assembly of a generator > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2018/0026504 A1 - Document ID: US20180026504A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/215,087 - Filed: 2016-07-20 - Published: 2018-01-25 - Earliest claimed: 2016-07-20 - Assignees: GE Aviation Systems LLC - Applicants: Ge Aviation Systems, LLC - Inventors: Hao Huang; Xiaochuan Jia - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20180026504A1 ## CPC - H02K 15/14: Casings; Enclosures; Supports - H02K 5/203: {specially adapted for liquids, e.g. cooling jackets} - H02K 9/19: for machines with closed casing and closed-circuit cooling using a liquid cooling medium, e.g. oil - H02K 9/20: wherein the cooling medium vaporises within the machine casing - H02K 15/02: of stator or rotor bodies - H02K 5/10: with arrangements for protection from ingress, e.g. water or fingers - H02K 9/24: Protection against failure of cooling arrangements, e.g. due to loss of cooling medium or due to interruption of the circulation of cooling medium - H02K: DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES (dynamo-electric relays H01H53/00; conversion of DC or AC input power into surge output power {H03K3/53}) ## Abstract A generator includes a stator core having a set of stator poles formed by a post and a wire wound about the post to form a stator winding, with the stator winding having end turns, a rotor having a set of rotor poles and configured to rotate relative to the stator and a rotor channel for liquid coolant to flow through the rotor to a set of coolant apertures, and a set of rotor pole coolant channels aligned with and proximate to the set of rotor poles. The liquid coolant flow extracts heat from the generator. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A generator comprising: a stator core having a set of stator poles formed by a post and a wire wound about the post to form a stator winding, with the stator winding having end turns; a rotor having a set of rotor poles and configured to rotate relative to the stator and a rotor channel for liquid coolant to flow through the rotor to a set of coolant apertures; a set of rotor pole coolant channels aligned with and proximate to the set of rotor poles; wherein the generator can be selectively configured to operate as a wet cavity generator by coupling a set of nozzles with at least a subset of the coolant apertures such that liquid coolant traversing the rotor channel is ejected from the set of nozzles to the stator winding end turns to extract heat from the stator windings, or as a dry cavity generator by fluidly coupling at least a subset of the coolant apertures to the rotor pole coolant channels such that liquid coolant traversing the rotor channel flows through the rotor pole coolant channels to extract heat from the set of rotor poles. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The generator of claim 1 wherein the set of nozzles in the wet cavity generator are selectively configured such that liquid coolant traversing the rotor channel is ejected from the set of nozzles to the set of rotor poles. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The generator of claim 1 wherein the set of nozzles of the wet cavity generator are selective configured such that at least a portion of liquid coolant traversing the rotor channel is ejected from the set of nozzles into the rotor pole coolant channels. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The generator of claim 1, further comprising a housing for the stator core and the rotor, and wherein the rotor is at least partially supported by the housing by a set of bearings. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The generator of claim 4 wherein the set of bearings include a sealing element configured to prevent liquid coolant in the wet cavity generator from escaping the housing. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The generator of claim 1 wherein the coolant apertures are configured to selectively receive at least one of the set of nozzles or a set of coolant tubes. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The generator of claim 1 wherein the coolant apertures are disposed on an outward-facing circumferential face of the rotor. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The generator of claim 7 wherein the coolant apertures are disposed such that they are circumferentially-aligned with a respective rotor pole coolant channel. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The generator of claim 1 wherein at least a subset of the coolant apertures are selectively plugged to prevent liquid coolant from traversing through the subset of the coolant apertures. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The generator of claim 1 wherein the set of rotor pole coolant channels in the dry cavity generator are fluidly coupled with a set of coolant apertures by way of a set of coolant tubes. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The generator of claim 10 wherein the set of coolant tubes are selectively removable. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The generator of claim 1 wherein the set of nozzles are selectively removable. ### Claim 13 A method of assembling a generator comprising: determining whether a generator having a stator core with a set of stator winding end turns and a rotor with a rotor channel fluidly connected to a set of coolant apertures and a set of rotor pole coolant channels aligned with and proximate to a set of rotor poles and fluidly connected to the rotor channel is to be configured to operate as a wet cavity generator or a dry cavity generator; if the generator is to operate as a wet cavity generator, selectively coupling a set of nozzles with at least a subset of the coolant apertures such that liquid coolant traversing the rotor channel is ejected from the set of nozzles to the stator winding end turns to extract heat from the stator windings during generator operation; and if the generator is to operate as a dry cavity generator, selectively fluidly coupling at least a subset of the coolant apertures to the set of rotor pole coolant channels aligned with and proximate to the set of rotor poles such that liquid coolant traversing the rotor channel flows through the rotor pole coolant channels to extract heat from the set of rotor poles during generator operation. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising sealing the cavity of the wet cavity generator such that liquid coolant cannot escape the cavity. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13 wherein the selectively coupling the set of nozzles of the wet cavity generator includes aligning the set of nozzles to direct at least a portion of the liquid coolant ejected from the set of nozzles to the set of rotor poles to extract heat from the set of rotor poles during generator operation. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13 wherein the selectively coupling the set of nozzles of the wet cavity generator includes aligning the set of nozzles to direct at least a portion of the liquid coolant ejected from the set of nozzles into the rotor pole coolant channels to extract heat from the set of rotor poles during generator operation. ### Claim 17 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising disposing the at least a subset of the coolant apertures of the dry cavity generator such that they are circumferentially-aligned with a respective rotor pole coolant channel. ### Claim 18 A method of converting a dry cavity generator to a wet cavity generator comprising: removing a liquid coolant fluid coupling between a rotor and a set rotor pole coolant channels aligned with and proximate to a set of rotor poles, leaving a set of rotor coolant apertures fluidly coupled with a rotor channel for liquid coolant; and selectively coupling a set of nozzles with at least a subset of the rotor coolant apertures such that liquid coolant traversing the rotor channel is ejected from the set of nozzles to a set of stator winding end turns to extract heat from the stator windings during generator operation. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18 wherein the selectively coupling the set of nozzles includes aligning the set of nozzles to direct at least a portion of the liquid coolant ejected from the set of nozzles to the rotor to extract heat from the rotor during generator operation. ### Claim 20 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18 wherein the selectively coupling the set of nozzles of the wet cavity generator includes aligning the set of nozzles to direct at least a portion of the liquid coolant ejected from the set of nozzles into the rotor pole coolant channels to extract heat from the set of rotor poles during generator operation.