Air turbine starter with seal assembly
AssigneeAlliedSignal Inc.
InventorsWilliam Lee Giesler, Jack Moy, Kellan Geck, Charles Jon Alten
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air turbine starter with an improved seal assembly disposed between the turbine and the housing is provided. The seal assembly comprises a face seal, a non-contacting seal axially spaced therefrom to define an air filled annular chamber therebetween and a flow passage having an exit fluidly communicating with said chamber and an inlet fluidly communicating with a source of air.
Claims23
An air turbine starter comprising:
- a housing defining an inlet, an outlet, and a flow path communicating said inlet with said outlet for conveying a flow of pressurized air therebetween;
- a turbine disposed in said flow path and having a turbine shaft extending therefrom journaled for rotation to said housing by at least one lubricated bearing, said turbine converting the pressure energy of said pressurized air to shaft power;
- an output shaft journaled by said housing for transmitting said shaft power externally of said starter;
- a gear train coupling said turbine with said output shaft, said gear train including a one-way overrunning clutch transmitting torque to said output shaft and preventing back driving from said output shaft to said geartrain;
- and
- a seal assembly disposed between said lubricated bearing and said turbine wheel, said assembly comprising a face seal and a labyrinth seal axially spaced therefrom to define an air filled annular chamber therebetween;
- said labyrinth seal extending radially inward from said housing to a radially inner tip having at least one knife edge that seals against a radially outward facing surface of said turbine shaft.
An air turbine starter comprising:
- a housing defining an inlet, an outlet, and a flow path communicating said inlet with said outlet for conveying a flow of pressurized air therebetween;
- a turbine disposed in said flow path and having a turbine shaft extending therefrom journaled for rotation to said housing by at least one lubricated bearing, said turbine converting the pressure energy of said pressurized air to shaft power;
- an output shaft journaled by said housing for transmitting said shaft power externally of said starter;
- a gear train coupling said turbine with said output shaft, said gear train including a one-way overrunning clutch transmitting torque to said output shaft and preventing back driving from said output shaft to said geartrain;
- a seal assembly disposed between said lubricated bearing and said turbine wheel, said assembly comprising a face seal and a non-contacting seal axially spaced therefrom to define an air filled annular chamber therebetween;
- and
- a flow passage having an exit fluidly communicating with said chamber and an inlet fluidly communicating with a source of air.
An air turbine starter comprising:
- a housing defining an inlet, an outlet, and a flow path communicating said inlet with said outlet for conveying a flow of pressurized air therebetween;
- a turbine disposed in said flow path and having a turbine shaft extending therefrom journaled for rotation to said housing by at least one lubricated bearing, said turbine converting the pressure energy of said pressurized air to shaft power;
- an output shaft journaled by said housing for transmitting said shaft power externally of said starter;
- a gear train coupling said turbine with said output shaft, said gear train including a one-way overrunning clutch transmitting torque to said output shaft and preventing back driving from said output shaft to said geartrain;
- and
- a seal assembly disposed between said lubricated bearing and said turbine wheel, said assembly comprising a face seal, a non-contacting seal axially spaced therefrom to define an air filled annular chamber therebetween and a flow passage having an exit fluidly communicating with said chamber and an inlet fluidly communicating with a source of air.
A seal assembly for sealing between a rotating member and a stationary housing comprising:
- a face seal having a rotor mounted to said rotating member and a stator mounted to said housing;
- and
- a labyrinth seal extending radially inwardly from said housing to a radially inner tip having at least one knife edge that seals against a radially outward facing surface of said rotating member, said labyrinth seal axially spaced from said face seal to define an annular chamber therebetween.
The air turbine starter of claim of 12 wherein the non-contacting seal is one of a knife labyrinth, a lip seal, a floating ring seal, a short static bushing, a long static bushing, a contacting piston ring, a brush seal, or a face seal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.