Air turbine starter
AssigneeUnison Industries, LLC
InventorsLuis Angel Martinez, Kenneth W. Magee, David Rawlins
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air turbine starter for starting an engine, comprising a housing defining an inlet, an outlet, and a flow path extending between the inlet and the outlet for communicating a flow of gas there through. A turbine member is journaled within the housing and disposed within the flow path for rotatably extracting mechanical power from the flow of gas. A gear train is drivingly coupled with the turbine member, a drive shaft is operably coupled with the gear train, and an output shaft is selectively operably coupled to rotate with the engine.
Claims20
An air turbine starter for starting an engine, comprising:
- a housing defining a flow path extending there through;
- a turbine member journaled within the housing and disposed within the flow path for rotatably extracting mechanical power from a flow of gas there through;
- and
- a drive shaft operably coupled with the turbine member and having an output end adapted to provide rotational output to the engine and wherein the drive shaft is larger than 19.05 millimeters.
An air turbine starter for starting an engine, comprising:
- a housing defining a flow path extending there through;
- a turbine member journaled within the housing and disposed within the flow path for rotatably extracting mechanical power from a flow of gas there through;
- a gear box at least partially housing a gear train drivingly coupled with the turbine member;
- and
- a drive shaft operably coupled with the gear train and having an output end driven thereby and where the drive shaft is larger than 19.05 millimeters.
A method for retrofitting a legacy pinion gear for an air turbine starter, comprising:
- enlarging a central opening in a pinion gear adapted to receive a 19.05 millimeter (¾ inch) shaft to define a larger size opening;
- and
- inserting a shaft that is larger than 19.05 millimeters through the larger size opening.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.