U.S. patent application number 14/203735 was filed with the patent office on 2016-05-05 for embedded engines in hybrid blended wing body.
This patent application is currently assigned to UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION. The applicant listed for this patent is UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION. Invention is credited to David J. Arend, William T. Cousins, Razvan Virgil Florea, Thomas G. Tillman, John D. Wolter.
Application Number | 20160122005 14/203735 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 55851789 |
Filed Date | 2016-05-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160122005 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Florea; Razvan Virgil ; et
al. |
May 5, 2016 |
EMBEDDED ENGINES IN HYBRID BLENDED WING BODY
Abstract
A hybrid wing aircraft has an engine embedded into a body of the
hybrid wing aircraft. The embedded engine has a fan that is
received within a nacelle. The body of the aircraft provides a
boundary layer over a circumferential portion of a fan. A system
delivers additional air to correct fan stability issues raised by
the boundary layer.
Inventors: |
Florea; Razvan Virgil;
(Manchester, CT) ; Cousins; William T.;
(Glastonbury, CT) ; Tillman; Thomas G.; (West
Hartford, CT) ; Arend; David J.; (Cleveland, OH)
; Wolter; John D.; (Cleveland, OH) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION |
Hartford |
CT |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES
CORPORATION
Hartford
CT
|
Family ID: |
55851789 |
Appl. No.: |
14/203735 |
Filed: |
March 11, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61775980 |
Mar 11, 2013 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
244/53B |
Current CPC
Class: |
B64D 2033/0226 20130101;
B64D 2033/0253 20130101; B64C 2039/105 20130101; B64C 21/04
20130101; B64D 29/04 20130101; B64D 27/18 20130101; Y02T 50/166
20130101; B64C 39/10 20130101; Y02T 50/10 20130101; B64C 2230/04
20130101; B64D 27/20 20130101; B64C 1/16 20130101; B64D 33/02
20130101 |
International
Class: |
B64C 21/04 20060101
B64C021/04; B64C 1/16 20060101 B64C001/16; B64D 29/04 20060101
B64D029/04; B64C 39/10 20060101 B64C039/10 |
Goverment Interests
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] This invention was made with government support under
contract number NNC07CB59C awarded by NASA. The government has
certain rights in the invention.
Claims
1. A hybrid wing aircraft comprising: an engine embedded into a
body of said hybrid wing aircraft, such that said embedded engine
has a fan received within a nacelle, and wherein said body
providing a boundary layer over a circumferential portion of a
circumference of said fan; and a system to deliver additional air
to correct fan stability issues raised by said boundary layer.
2. The hybrid wing aircraft as set forth in claim 1, wherein said
system includes a tap for providing additional airflow into a
location of said boundary layer upstream of said fan.
3. The hybrid wing aircraft as set forth in claim 2, wherein said
tap includes a tap from a compressor which is downstream of said
fan.
4. The hybrid wing aircraft as set forth in claim 2, wherein said
tap includes a tap in said body and further upstream of said fan
than an outlet of said tap, such that said tap provides additional
airflow into said boundary layer.
5. The hybrid wing aircraft as set forth in claim 4, further
comprising a plurality of axially spaced taps delivering air to a
plurality of axially spaced outlets.
6. The hybrid wing aircraft as set forth in claim 2, wherein there
are a plurality of circumferentially spaced outlets.
7. The hybrid wing aircraft as set forth in claim 1, wherein said
system provides additional air to a location downstream of said
fan.
8. The hybrid wing aircraft as set forth in claim 7, wherein said
system delivering air into a position downstream of said fan at a
location spaced from said circumferential portion of said boundary
layer, such that the delivered air drives additional air to said
location of said boundary layer.
9. The hybrid wing aircraft as set forth in claim 1, further
comprising a valve controlled to control the amount of additional
air delivered.
10. The hybrid wing aircraft as set forth in claim 1, further
comprising a nozzle on said nacelle downstream of said fan, and
said nozzle being moveable to address fan conditions when an
approaching stall condition may be detected.
11. The hybrid wing aircraft as set forth in claim 10, wherein said
variable area nozzle is moved to a more open position when stall is
detected.
12. The hybrid wing aircraft as set forth in claim 1, further
comprising a moveable portion of said body positioned upstream of
said fan and which may be moved away from a rotational envelope of
said fan to minimize said boundary layer under certain
conditions.
13. The hybrid wing aircraft as set forth in claim 1, wherein an
estimate of said boundary layer conditions under any number of
flight conditions is initially made, and stored with a controller
and said controller being operable to control said system to
address fan stability issues under various flight conditions.
14. A method of operating a hybrid wing aircraft comprising:
operating an embedded engine embedded into a body of a hybrid wing
aircraft, such that said embedded engine has a fan received within
a nacelle, and wherein said body providing a boundary layer over a
circumferential portion of a circumference of said fan; and
delivering additional air to correct fan stability issues raised by
said boundary layer.
15. The method as set forth in claim 14, further comprising
delivering additional airflow into a location of said boundary
layer upstream of said fan.
16. The method as set forth in claim 15, wherein said additional
air is tapped from a location in said body further upstream of said
fan than an outlet of said tap, such that said tap provides
additional airflow into said boundary layer.
17. The method as set forth in claim 14, further comprising
supplying said additional air to a location downstream of said
fan.
18. The method as set forth in claim 17, further comprising
delivering said additional air into a position downstream of said
fan at a location spaced from the circumferential location of said
boundary layer, such that the additional air drives air to the
location of said boundary layer.
19. The method as set forth in claim 14, further comprising
positioning a nozzle on said nacelle downstream of said fan, and
said nozzle moved to a more open position when stall is
detected.
20. The method as set forth in claim 14, further comprising
positioning a moveable portion of said body upstream of said fan
and moved away from a rotational envelope of said fan to minimize
said boundary layer under certain conditions.
21. The method as set forth in claim 14, further comprising
estimating said boundary layer conditions under any number of
flight conditions initially, and storing within a controller and
controlling the system with a controller to address potential stall
under various flight conditions.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional
Application No. 61,775,980, filed Mar. 11, 2013.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] This application relates to a method of controlling airflow
to a fan for an embedded gas turbine engine in a hybrid wing
aircraft body.
[0004] Gas turbine engines are known and, typically, include a fan
delivering air into a compressor. The air is compressed and
delivered into a combustion section where it is mixed with fuel and
ignited. Products of this combustion pass downstream over turbine
rotors driving them to rotate.
[0005] Much effort is required to ensure the airflow reaching the
fan is generally uniform across a circumference of the fan.
Historically, engines have been mounted on a tail of the aircraft
or, even more typically, beneath the wings of an aircraft.
[0006] However, the next generation of air vehicles seeks to
provide dramatic reduction in noise, emissions and fuel burn. One
path to achieve this is to design an aircraft to have a hybrid wing
body in which there is little distinction between the location of
where a wing begins and the fuselage or body ends.
[0007] Engines are embedded within this hybrid body. Thus, the
engine will typically have a portion of the body at one side of a
nacelle, or housing surrounding the fan, but aircraft body at an
opposed side of the nacelle. This can result in a non-uniform flow
approaching the fan, as there is distortion or boundary layer
challenges at a vertical portion of the fan which is in contact
with the aircraft's body.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] In a featured embodiment, a hybrid wing aircraft has an
engine embedded into a body of the aircraft, such that the embedded
engine has a fan received within a nacelle. The body provides a
boundary layer over a circumferential portion of a circumference of
the fan. There is a system to deliver additional air to correct fan
stability issues raised by the boundary layer.
[0009] These and other features may be best understood from the
following drawings and specification.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 shows a hybrid wing aircraft and proposed locations
for embedded engines.
[0011] FIG. 2A schematically shows features of this
application.
[0012] FIG. 2B shows an alternative embodiment.
[0013] FIG. 3 shows other alternatives.
[0014] FIG. 4 shows yet another alternative.
[0015] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the method of this application.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0016] A hybrid wing aircraft 20 is illustrated in FIG. 1, having a
hybrid body 22. Engines 24 are shown embedded into the body 22. As
can be appreciated from FIG. 2A, the airflow reaching a vertically
upper location 28 of a fan 32 of the engine 24 has less resistance
to flow than does the air at a location directly downstream of the
body 22. As shown, a boundary layer effect 26 will occur at that
location.
[0017] As known, the fan 32 will deliver air into a bypass duct 33
where it becomes propulsion for the aircraft 20, and some air will
be delivered to a compressor rotor 36. A nacelle 30 is positioned
outwardly of a core engine housing 34. This air will pass into a
combustor 40, and the products of combustion will pass downstream
over a turbine rotor 38 driving it to rotate. The turbine rotor 38
drives the compressor rotor 36 and fan 32. As can be appreciated by
a worker in this art, this is a very simplified description of the
gas turbine engine and there may be several separate rotors in the
compressor and turbine section, and there may be a gear reduction
driving the fan 32, such that the fan can rotate at slower speeds.
The teachings of this application will apply to any such gas
turbine engine associated with an aircraft.
[0018] The boundary layer 26 causes challenges at the fan and, in
particular, raises stability issues.
[0019] The present invention utilizes modern engine modeling
technology to model the boundary layer that will occur under any
number of flight conditions that the aircraft 20 will face.
Generally, the boundary layer will result in the injection of low
momentum air, compared to the air outside of the boundary layer. As
a first step, the amount of boundary layer injected low momentum
air is estimated. This can be based on predictions of aircraft
maneuvering flow conditions, or direct flow measurements in a test
facility once the aircraft and gas turbine engine have been
designed. A simple inlet total pressure sensor may be mounted
upstream of an inlet to the fan 32, and can be calibrated and
mapped to aircraft distortion conditions. The map may be used to
detect stability threats during various conditions of aircraft
operation, and may also be developed during wind tunnel testing.
These estimates may be provided to a control 200, and may be stored
as a table within the control 200. Control 200 may be a full
authority digital electronic control, such as are typically
utilized to control gas turbine engines today.
[0020] Once the amount of boundary layer injected low momentum flow
is known, corrective steps can be taken.
[0021] As an example, a tap 46 is shown in FIG. 2A tapping air from
the compressor rotor 36 to an outlet 48 in the body 22 immediately
upstream of the fan 32. By tapping air to outlet 48 and delivering
it into the boundary layer 26, the problematic effects of the low
momentum flow can be overcome by injecting higher momentum
flow.
[0022] On the other hand, stability can also be addressed by
tapping air 50 from the compressor rotor 36 to a valve 52 and to an
outlet 54 downstream of the fan 32. By injecting air at the opposed
side of the fan 32 from the boundary layer 26, the injection will
drive air downwardly to the location of the boundary layer 26. This
may also diminish the problems associated with the boundary
layer.
[0023] Control 200 may control the valve 52 based upon the mapping.
Further, a sensor, such as sensor 56, may sense conditions
downstream of the fan 32 and communicate with the control 200 to
provide information when there are challenges to fan stability.
[0024] In addition, a variable area fan nozzle 42 may be moveable
to restrict flow at position 44. The variable area fan nozzle 42
may be provided as a high-band rapidly moveable nozzle to move a
fan operating line away from a stall when a reduced stability
margin is detected. When stall is a concern, the variable area fan
nozzle 42 may be moved to a more open position, such as away from
the phantom line position 44 to move the fan 32 away from a stall
condition.
[0025] As shown in FIG. 2B, injection upstream of the fan 32 may
occur at circumferentially locations 60 and 62. Of course, more
than two injection points may be utilized.
[0026] FIG. 3 shows an alternative wherein there are taps 64 and
66, which are formed on the body 22 and which act as inlets to
deliver additional air to outlet 68 and 70 in the boundary layer
26. All of these solutions can be utilized in combination or can be
used separately.
[0027] FIG. 4 shows another alternative 100, which would only be
utilized under extreme conditions. As shown, the aircraft body 102
has a pivoting door 104 which can pivot about pivot point 108 to a
removed position 106. At removed position 106 the effect of the
boundary layer approaching the fan 32 will be dramatically reduced.
Of course, the aerodynamic flow along the aircraft body 102 will
also be dramatically reduced and, thus, the movement to the
position 106 may only be desired during extreme conditions.
[0028] As shown in FIG. 5, a basic flow chart for this application
includes the initial step of estimating a boundary layer at 99.
This will include estimating the amount of injected low momentum
flow during any number of flight conditions and storing
findings.
[0029] At 101, the method monitors flight conditions for the hybrid
wing aircraft 20. At step 103, corrective actions are actuated in
response to the monitored flight condition along with the estimated
boundary layers that will exist during those flight conditions.
[0030] The control can also be passive, such as the taps 46 or 64
and 66, which do not include valves. On the other hand, any of the
disclosed taps can be provided with the valve which are controlled
by the control 200.
[0031] Listing of Potential Embodiments. The following are
non-exclusive descriptions of possible embodiments of the present
invention.
[0032] In a featured embodiment, a hybrid wing aircraft has an
engine embedded into a body of the aircraft, such that the embedded
engine has a fan received within a nacelle. The body provides a
boundary layer over a circumferential portion of a circumference of
the fan. There is a system to deliver additional air to correct fan
stability issues raised by the boundary layer.
[0033] In another embodiment according to the previous embodiment,
the system includes a tap providing additional airflow into the
location of the boundary layer upstream of the fan.
[0034] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, the tap includes a tap from a compressor which is
downstream of the fan.
[0035] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, the tap includes a tap in the body and further
upstream of the fan than an outlet of the tap, such that the tap
provides additional airflow into the boundary layer.
[0036] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, there are a plurality of axially spaced taps
delivering air to a plurality of axially spaced outlets.
[0037] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, there are a plurality of circumferentially spaced
outlets.
[0038] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, the system provides additional air to a location
downstream of the fan.
[0039] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, the system delivers air into a position downstream of
the fan at a location spaced from the circumferential portion of
the boundary layer, such that the delivered air drives additional
air to the location of the boundary layer.
[0040] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, a valve is controlled to control the amount of
additional air delivered.
[0041] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, there is a nozzle on the nacelle downstream of the
fan. The nozzle is moveable to address fan conditions when an
approaching stall condition may be detected.
[0042] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, the variable area nozzle is moved to a more open
position when stall is detected.
[0043] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, a moveable portion of the body is positioned upstream
of the fan and may be moved away from a rotational envelope of the
fan to minimize the boundary layer under certain conditions.
[0044] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, an estimate of the boundary layer conditions under any
number of flight conditions is initially made, and stored with a
controller. The controller is operable to control the system to
address fan stability issues under various flight conditions.
[0045] In another featured embodiment, a method of operating a
hybrid wing aircraft including the steps of operating an embedded
engine embedded into a body of a hybrid wing aircraft, such that
the embedded engine has a fan received within a nacelle. The body
provides a boundary layer over a circumferential portion of a
circumference of the fan and delivers additional air to correct fan
stability issues raised by the boundary layer.
[0046] In another embodiment according to the previous embodiment,
additional airflow is delivered into the location of the boundary
layer upstream of the fan.
[0047] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, the additional air is tapped from a location in the
body further upstream of the fan than an outlet of the tap, such
that the tap provides additional airflow into the boundary
layer.
[0048] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, the additional air is supplied to a location
downstream of the fan.
[0049] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, the additional air is delivered into a position
downstream of the fan at a location spaced from the circumferential
location of the boundary layer, such that the additional air drives
air to the location of the boundary layer.
[0050] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, there is a nozzle on the nacelle downstream of the
fan. The nozzle is moved to a more open position when stall is
detected.
[0051] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, a moveable portion of the body is positioned upstream
of the fan and moved away from a rotational envelope of the fan to
minimize the boundary layer under certain conditions.
[0052] In another embodiment according to any of the previous
embodiments, an estimate of the boundary layer conditions under any
number of flight conditions is initially made, and stored with a
controller. The controller is operable to control the system to
address potential stall under various flight conditions.
[0053] Although embodiments of this invention have been disclosed,
a worker of ordinary skill in this art would recognize that certain
modifications would come within the scope of this invention. For
that reason, the following claims should be studied to determine
the true scope and content of this invention.
* * * * *