1. An air turbine starter, comprising:
a starter housing adapted to couple to a gearbox assembly, the starter housing including a supply opening and an exhaust opening, each configured to provide fluid communication between the gearbox assembly and the starter housing;
a receptacle coupled to the starter housing proximate the supply opening to thereby define a reservoir;
a first valve disposed within the reservoir and configured to open or close the supply opening in response to a pressure differential between the starter housing and the gearbox assembly; and
a second valve coupled to the starter housing proximate the exhaust opening and configured to open or close the exhaust opening in response to the pressure differential between the starter housing and the gearbox assembly.
2. The air turbine starter of claim 1, wherein the first and second valves each comprise:
a valve flexure, at least a portion of which is coupled to the starter housing, the valve flexure configured to selectively move between a valve open and valve close position in response to the pressure differential between the starter housing and the gearbox.
3. The air turbine starter of claim 2, wherein the valve flexure has a curve, wherein the curve curves away from the starter housing.
4. The air turbine starter of claim 3, further comprising:
a stop coupled to the starter housing and configured to provide a biasing force on the valve flexure to bias the valve flexure in an open position.
5. The air turbine starter of claim 3, further comprising:
a stop coupled to the receptacle and configured to provide a biasing force on the valve flexure to bias the valve flexure in an open position.
6. The air turbine starter of claim 2, wherein the valve flexure comprises a leaf spring.
7. The air turbine starter of claim 2, wherein the valve flexure comprises spring steel.
8. The air turbine starter of claim 2, further comprising:
a first and a second valve seat each coupled to the starter housing concentric to the supply and exhaust openings and configured to selectively contact each of the valve flexures to provide a leak tight seal when the valve flexures are in the valve close position.
9. The air turbine starter of claim 8, wherein at least a portion of the valve seat configured to contact the valve flexure includes sharp edges.
10. The air turbine starter of claim 1 wherein the receptacle comprises a standpipe.
11. The air turbine starter of claim 1, further comprising:
a supply line in fluid communication with the reservoir, the supply line configured to supply fluid from the gearbox to the starter housing.
12. The air turbine starter of claim 11, wherein the fluid supply line is further configured to supply a continuous flow of fluid from the gearbox to the starter housing.
13. A check valve assembly for placement proximate an opening in a wall separating a first environment and a second environment, the check valve assembly comprising:
a valve flexure, at least a portion of which is coupled to the wall proximate the opening and configured to be biased to a valve open position and to selectively move between the valve open position and a valve close position in response to the pressure differential between the first and second environments;
a valve seat coupled to the wall concentric to the opening and configured to selectively contact the valve flexure to provide a leak tight seal when the valve flexure is in the valve close position; and
a stop disposed proximate the valve flexure and configured to contact the valve flexure when the valve flexure is in the valve open position.
14. The check valve assembly of claim 13, wherein the valve flexure comprises a leaf spring.
15. The check valve assembly of claim 13, wherein the valve flexure comprises spring steel.
16. The check valve assembly of claim 13, wherein the valve flexure comprises rubber.
17. The check valve assembly at claim 13, wherein the
stop is coupled to the receptacle.
18. The check valve assembly of claim 13, wherein the
stop is coupled to the wall.
19. The check valve assembly of claim 13, wherein at least a portion of the valve seat configured to contact the valve flexure includes sharp edges.
20. A system for providing fluid between a gearbox and an air turbine starter, the system comprising:
a starter housing positioned between and adapted to couple to a gearbox assembly and air turbine starter, the plate including a supply opening and an exhaust opening, each configured to provide fluid communication between the gearbox assembly and the air turbine starter;
a receptacle coupled to the starter housing proximate the supply opening to thereby define a reservoir;
a supply line in fluid communication with the reservoir, the supply line configured to supply fluid from the gearbox to the starter housing;
a first valve disposed within the reservoir and configured to open or close the supply opening in response to a pressure differential between the starter housing and the gearbox assembly; and
a second valve coupled to the starter housing proximate to the exhaust opening and configured to open or close the exhaust opening in response to the pressure differential between the starter housing and the gearbox assembly.
21. The system of claim 20, wherein the fluid supply line is further configured to supply a continuous flow of fluid from the gearbox to the starter housing.
22. The system of claim 20, wherein the first and second valves each further comprise:
a valve flexure having first and second sides, wherein the first side is coupled to the starter housing and the second side is configured to selectively move between a valve open and valve close position in response to the pressure differential between the starter housing and the gearbox.
23. The system of claim 22, wherein the valve flexure comprises a leaf spring.
24. The system of claim 22, wherein the valve flexure comprises spring steel.
25. The system of claim 22, wherein the valve flexure comprises rubber.
26. The system of claim 22, further comprising:
a valve seat coupled to the starter housing concentric to the opening and configured to selectively contact the valve flexure to provide a leak tight seal when the valve flexure is in a close position.
27. The system of claim 26, wherein at least a portion of the valve seat configured to contact the valve flexure includes sharp edges.
28. The system of claim 22, further comprising:
a stop coupled to the receptacle and configured to provide a biasing force on the valve flexure to bias the valve flexure to the valve open position.
29. The system of claim 22, further comprising:
a stop coupled to the starter housing and configured to provide a biasing force on the valve flexure to bias the valve flexure in an open position.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An apparatus comprising:
a laser source configured to generate as output a light beam at a carrier frequency; and
a multicarrier generator coupled to the laser source and comprising one or more dual carrier generators each configured to modulate the light beam at the same modulation frequency or at different modulation frequencies so as to output on individual outputs, without an optical demultiplexing filter, a plurality of light beams each at a different subcarrier frequency that is offset from the carrier frequency.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the multicarrier generator comprises a plurality of dual carrier generators connected in a cascaded manner.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the multicarrier generator comprises a first dual carrier generator coupled to receive as input the light beam at the carrier frequency output by the laser source and to modulate the light beam at a first modulation frequency so as to output a first light beam at a first subcarrier frequency that is less than the carrier frequency by an amount corresponding to the first modulation frequency and a second light beam at a second subcarrier frequency that is greater than the carrier frequency by an amount corresponding to the first modulation frequency, and second and third dual carrier generators coupled to the first dual carrier generator, wherein the second dual carrier generator is configured to receive as input the first light beam at the first subcarrier frequency and the third dual carrier generator is configured to receive as input the second light beam at the second subcarrier frequency.
4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the second dual carrier generator is configured to modulate the first light beam at a second modulation frequency to output a third light beam at a third subcarrier frequency that is less than the carrier frequency by an amount equal to a sum of the first modulation frequency and the second modulation frequency and to output a fourth light beam at a fourth subcarrier frequency that is less than the carrier frequency by an amount corresponding to the difference of the first modulation frequency and the second modulation frequency.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the third dual carrier generator is configured to modulate the second light beam at the second modulation frequency to output a fifth light beam at a fifth subcarrier frequency that is greater than the carrier frequency by an amount corresponding to the first modulation frequency minus the second modulation frequency, and to output a sixth light beam at a sixth subcarrier frequency that is greater than the carrier frequency by an amount corresponding to a sum of the first modulation frequency and the second modulation frequency.
6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first modulation frequency is twice the second modulation frequency.
7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the multicarrier generator comprises a plurality of push-pull electrode pair stages, each stage comprising multiple push-pull electrode pairs, a plurality of optical splitters coupled between the respective stages to direct light through multiple stages of pull-pull electrode pairs to further increase induced rotation of an optical field vector associated with the light beam of the laser source, and a plurality of optical combiners to combine outputs of push-pull electrode pairs in a final stage of the plurality of push-pull electrode stages so as to output the plurality of light beams.
8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the push-pull electrode pairs in each stage is driven by a common modulation frequency.
9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the multicarrier generator comprises a first dual carrier generator and a second dual carrier generator, the first dual carrier generator configured to receive the light beam at the carrier frequency and to modulate the light beam at a first modulation frequency to output first and second light beams, the first light beam at a first subcarrier frequency less than the carrier frequency by an amount corresponding to the first modulation frequency and the second light beam at a second subcarrier frequency corresponding to a sum of than the carrier frequency and the first modulation frequency, further including a polarization rotator configured to rotate the polarization of the second beam 90 degrees relative to the first beam, and the second dual carrier generator configured to receive as input the first light beam and the second light beam and to modulate each of the first and second light beams with a second modulation frequency.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the second dual carrier generator is configured to modulate the first and second light beams at the second modulation frequency which is half the first modulation frequency.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, and further comprising first and second polarizing beam splitters coupled to first and second outputs of the second dual carrier generator, the first polarizing beam splitter configured to output a third light beam at a third subcarrier frequency, a fourth light beam at a fourth subcarrier frequency and having a polarization 90 degrees relative to the third light beam, and the second polarizing beam splitter configured to output a fifth light beam at a fifth subcarrier frequency and a sixth light beam at a sixth subcarrier frequency and having a polarization 90 degrees relative to the fifth light beam.
12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the multicarrier generator comprises a number of cascaded stages of dual carrier generators so as to generate a desired number of light beams at corresponding subcarrier frequencies.
13. A method comprising:
receiving a coherent light beam at a carrier frequency from a laser source; and
modulating the light beam with one modulation frequency or a plurality of different modulation frequencies so as to output on individual outputs, without the use of an optical demultiplexing filter, a plurality of light beams each at a different subcarrier frequency that is offset from the carrier frequency.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein modulating comprises modulating the light beam at the carrier frequency at a first modulation frequency and modulating light beams resulting therefrom at a second modulation frequency that is half the first modulation frequency.
15. The method of claim 13, wherein modulating comprises modulating with a plurality of dual carrier generators connected in a cascaded manner such that a first stage dual carrier generator modulates the light beam at the carrier frequency at the first modulation frequency and second and third dual carrier generators modulate light beams output by the first dual carrier generator at the second modulation frequency.
16. The method of claim 13, wherein modulating comprises modulating with a plurality of push-pull electrode pair stages to generate the plurality of light beams at the different subcarriers by letting light travel through multiple push-pull electrode pair stages such that each stage further increases an induced rotation of an optical field vector of the light beam at the carrier frequency.
17. An apparatus comprising:
means for generating a coherent light beam at a carrier frequency; and
means for modulating the light beam each at the same modulation frequency or a different modulation frequency so as to output on individual outputs, without an optical demultiplexing filter, a plurality of light beams each at a different subcarrier frequency that is offset from the carrier frequency.
18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for modulating comprise a plurality of dual carrier generators connected in a cascaded manner.
19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for modulating comprises a plurality of push-pull electrode pair stages, each stage comprising multiple push-pull electrode pairs, a plurality of optical splitters coupled between the respective stages to direct light through multiple stages of pull-pull electrode pairs to further increase induced rotation of an optical field vector associated with the light beam of the laser source, and a plurality of optical combiners to combine outputs of push-pull electrode pairs in a final stage of the plurality of push-pull electrode stages so as to output the plurality of light beams.
20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the plurality of means for modulating comprises a number of cascaded stages of dual carrier generators so as to generate a desired number of light beams at corresponding subcarrier frequencies.