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US 6,682,222 B2Granted
Bi-directional oil scoop for bearing lubrication
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorKenneth Lee Fisher
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AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorKenneth Lee Fisher
Estimating the term…
A fluid multiplexer for delivering lubricant to bearings in a gas turbine engine. The bearings are adjacent bearing races on a shaft. Lubricant passages within the shaft extend from the races to scoops on the surface of the shaft. A nozzle ejects a jet of lubricant across open space toward the scoops. As the shaft rotates, the scoops sequentially cross the jet, each scoop collecting a charge of lubricant, which it delivers to its passage.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
The lubricant being conveyed from the reservoir by mechanical means: the oil being carried up by a lifting device
Component parts, details, or accessories, not provided for in, or of interest apart from, other groups: lubricating arrangements
With liquid lubricant: details of supply of the liquid to the bearing, e.g. passages or nozzles
Details of supply of the liquid to the bearing, e.g. passages or nozzles: from radial inside, e.g. via a passage through the shaft and/or inner ring
Term ended 4 Oct 2021 (estimated)
The invention concerns lubrication for bearings and, specifically, a system for delivering liquid lubricant to a pair of bearings in a confined space in a gas turbine engine.
Many gas turbine engines contain dual bearings which must be lubricated. Some of these bearings are located in positions which are crowded by other components. In this situation, lubricant pathways cannot be freely routed, but the pathways must accommodate the other components.
The invention provides a solution to this type of routing problem. A prior-art device which includes one or more of the principles implemented by the invention is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,325,232, “Shaft Sealing and Cooling Means,” issued on Jun. 13, 1967, to R. H. Pabst et al. This patent is hereby incorporated by reference.
FIG. 1 illustrates a vaned apparatus utilized by the invention.
FIGS. 2 and 3 are views of parts of the invention.
FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate fluid paths running through the apparatus of FIGS. 2 and 3.
FIG. 1 illustrates a shaft 3, which contains a large-diameter region 6 and a small diameter region 9. The small-diameter region 9 contains vanes 12. A space 15 exists between the outer circumference 18 of the small-diameter region 9 and the inner surface 21 of each vane 12.
FIG. 2 shows a second large-diameter region 30 attached to the apparatus of FIG. 1. The ends 33 and 36 of two lubricant passages (not shown) are shown. The large-diameter region 6 is drawn as transparent, in order to show two corresponding ends 39 and 42 of two other lubricant passages (not shown).
FIG. 3 shows the lubricant passages not shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 illustrates the two large-diameter regions 6 and 30 as transparent, in order to show internal passages 45, 48, 51, and 54, which are illustrated by sequences of cross-sections. Each passage connects to a respective space 15 located beneath a vane 12. FIG. 1 also shows the spaces 15.