ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,234,733, issued on Feb. 25, was assigned to RTX Corp. (Farmington, Conn.).
"Seal flow bypass" was invented by Pieter Van Lieu (Cheshire, Conn.) and Calvin Jay Winder (Cromwell, Conn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A gas turbine engine is provided and includes a first rotor element defining a groove, a second rotor element disposed to rotate about the first rotor element and a piston seal ring (PSR) disposed in the groove to form a seal between the first rotor element and the second rotor element. The second rotor element is formed to define bypass flow channels about the PSR that extend between opposite axial sides of the PSR."
The pate...