A power plant for an aircraft such as a UAV with a gas turbine engine that drives an electric generator to produce electrical power. The electric generator is rotatably supported by two foil bearings. A centrifugal compressor is secured to a forward side of the generator rotor shaft. The centrifugal compressor draws in cooling air that flows through the two foil bearings and between a space formed between the rotor coil and the stator coil of the electric generator to provide for cooling of both foil bearings and the coils of the generator.

The present invention relates to an underwater drone which is an unmanned mobile which can move in the water, and more particularly to a communication system for the underwater drone which performs communication between the underwater drone and a land-based controller (or maneuvering device). The present invention also relates to an airlock apparatus for the drone which transfers the drone into or from facilities or containers, or equipment sealed (or closed) against surrounding environment.

The communication system for an underwater drone includes an underwater drone (1) configured to move in the water, at least one transmitting and receiving antenna (2) provided in an area where the transmitting and receiving antenna (2) can communicate with the underwater drone (1) by wireless communication, and a controller or a maneuvering device (5) connected to the at least one transmitting and receiving antenna (2) by a wired cable (4) and configured to control the underwater drone (1).

A microscale energy cogeneration system comprising at least one micro/nano-turbine for converting fuel into mechanical energy and a generator for converting mechanical energy produced by the micro/nano-turbine into electrical energy in the range of 1 to 5 kWh. Compressed air passes through a cold side of a heat exchanger. The compressed cold air and fuel delivered to a combustion chamber drives the turbine. At least one heat exchanger receives high temperature exhaust gas from an exhaust passage downstream from the micro/nano-turbine for heat transfer. The heat exchanger can be used to heat water and/or air of a house. A water heating system can be coupled to the heat exchanger for converting tap water into potable hot water and/or converting cool air into hot air. The portable micro/nano-turbine set can be scaled up by interconnecting several units to a network for balancing out the energy demand of multiple users.

An aero gas turbine engine with a fan stage and a bearing rotatably supporting the fan stage, where the bearing is cooled by passing cooling air through the bearing, and the spent bearing cooling air is re-injected into the air flow path at a location where the effect is minimalized. The location is just downstream from a leading edge of a stator vane and along a pressure side surface of the vane. A fine mist of oil can be discharged into the bearing cooling air to also lubricate the bearing, where both the oil and the spent cooling air is reintroduced into the air flow path.

A turbomachinery engine comprises a ducted fan, a high-pressure compressor, a low-pressure turbine, a gearbox, and a ducted engine correlation parameter (DECP). The DECP is within a range of 0.10-0.25 and is defined as 10*D/GR/N.sub.LPT/N.sub.HPC, where D is a fan blade tip diameter at a leading edge of the ducted fan measured in feet, GR is a gear ratio of the gearbox, N.sub.LPT is a stage count of the low-pressure turbine, and N.sub.HPC is a stage count of the high-pressure compressor.

A system and a method for producing hydrogen and electrical power from an aqueous ammonia solution are provided. An exemplary system includes a distillation unit to produce ammonia gas from the aqueous ammonia solution, a compression unit to boost the pressure of the ammonia gas, a membrane separator to catalytically convert the ammonia gas to nitrogen and hydrogen and remove the hydrogen as a permeate, and a micro turbine to combust a retentate to generate energy.

A power module includes a turbine arranged along a rotation axis, an interconnect shaft fixed in rotation relative to the turbine, and a compressor with a regenerative compressor wheel. The regenerative compressor wheel is fixed in rotation relative to the interconnect shaft supported for rotation with the turbine about the rotation axis. Generator arrangements, unmanned aerial vehicles, and methods of generating electrical power are also described.

A gas turbine engine includes an inlet duct, a compressor section, a combustor section, and a turbine section connected to drive the compressor section. The compressor section includes circumferentially-spaced blades having abrasive blade tips. A seal is disposed radially outwards of the blades. The seal includes a substrate that has a substrate hardness, an abradable layer that has an abradable layer hardness, and a hard interlayer between the substrate and the abradable layer. The hard interlayer has an interlayer hardness that is higher than the abradable layer hardness and higher than the substrate hardness.

The present disclosure is directed to a gas turbine engine including a turbine section including a first rotating component interdigitated along a longitudinal direction with a second rotating component. The first rotating component and the second rotating component are each coupled to a speed reduction assembly in counter-rotating arrangement. The first rotating component comprising an outer shroud and a plurality of outer shroud airfoils extended inward along a radial direction from the outer shroud. A connecting member couples the outer shroud to a radially extended first rotor. The second rotating component comprising an inner shroud and a plurality of inner shroud airfoils extended outward along the radial direction from the inner shroud, the plurality of inner shroud airfoils in alternating arrangement along the longitudinal direction with the plurality of outer shroud airfoils. The gas turbine engine defines a radius per unit thrust defined by a maximum radius at the turbine section over a maximum thrust output between approximately 0.0004 to approximately 0.0010 inches per pound thrust.

A gas turbine engine that includes a compressor, a turbine, a heat exchanger, and a combustor. The compressor is mounted on a rotating shaft with at least one rotor with an inlet and an outlet, and at least one diffuser downstream from each rotor. The turbine includes at least one stator, and at least one rotor with an inlet and outlet located downstream of each stator, and mounted on the rotating shaft as the at least one of the compressor rotors. The inlet of the compressor rotor faces toward the outlet of the turbine rotor. The heat exchanger is configured to preheat the compressed air leaving the compressor by transferring heat from the turbine exhaust. The combustor can be configured for mixing fuel with the compressed air, either upstream or downstream from the heat exchanger, and further configured for igniting the preheated fuel/air mixture located downstream from the heat exchanger.