United States Patent [19] 1111 Patent Number: 5,074,118 Kepler [45] Date of Patent: Dec
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United States Patent [19] 1111 Patent Number: 5,074,118 Kepler [45] Date of Patent: Dec. 24, 1991 [54] AIR TURBO-RAMJETENGINE throughout a range of speeds from subsonic to high supersonic includes a housing which bounds an internal [75] Inventor: Charles E. Kepler, Manchester, Conn. passage having in succession a fixed-area inlet section, a diverging passage section, a mixing section, a combus- [73] Assignee: United Technologies Corporation, tion section, and an outlet section. A fan rotor rotates in Hartford, ann. the inlet section and includes a plurality of rotor blade [21] AppI. No.: 295,167 members. The housing includes a main body and at least one flap which is movable between one end position in [22] Filed: JM. 9,1989 which it externally bounds a portion of the diverging [51] Int. Cl.5 ................................................ F02K 3/00 passage section and another end position in which it [52] US. Cl. ..................................... 60/224; 60/226.1; externally delimits a diverging discharge passage con- 6W226.3; 60/246; 60/262; 60/269 necting the diverging passage section with the exteriqr [58] Field of Search .................... 60/224, 226.1, 226.3, of the housing. The cross-sectional area of the outlet 60/246, 262, 269 section is adjustable. The rotor is driven in rotation by ~561 References Cited a fuel/oxygen powered turbine the outlet of which communicates with the mixing section, but the driving U.S.PATENT DOCUMENTS action of the turbine is discontinued at actual supersonic 3,946,554 3/1976 Neumann ........................... 60/226.2 velocities exceeding a predetermined supersonic veloc- 4,224,790 9/1980 Chrutensen ........................... 60/224 ity. The pitch of at least one element of each of the rotor 4,598,544 7/1986 Williams ............................. 60/226.2 blade members is adjustable. Primary Examiner-Donald P. Walsh Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Peter R. Ruzek 1571 ABSTRACT A jet engine designed to power a supersonic airplane 12 Claims, 11 Drawing Sheets 13 .. I C U.S. Patent Dec. 24, 1991 Sheet 1 of 11 5,074,118 Q- Q- U.S. Patent Dec. 24, 1991 Sheet 2 of 11 5,074,118 U.S. Patent Dec. 24, 1991 Sheet 3 of 11 5,074,118 FIG.3 0 VPRS-1 A VPRS-2 1 2 3 4 5 MO U.S. Patent Dec. 24, 1991 Sheet 4 of 11 5,074,118 FIG.4 0 VPRS-2 A VPRS.1 0 0 0 0 0 T d 0 f 0 0 WINDMILLING 0 0 0 0 / - I INLET I 1 1 1 1 2 3 4 i MO U.S. Patent Dec. 24, 1991 Sheet 5 of 11 5,074,118 Y v) a az 0> n> s s 9 9 LL LL W w 0: 0 0 0 0 <o s 0 0- 0 U.S. Patent Dec. 24, 1991 Sheet 6 of 11 5,074,118 m 0 U m S F II 8 U.S. Patent Dec. 24, 1991 Sheet 7 of 11 5,074,118 8 '2. I 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Q .4 cu r US. Patent Dec. 24, 1991 Sheet 8 of 11 5,074,118 FIG.8 100 }-- }-- q-1500 75 50 25 - 'THRUST-ADDITIVE DRAG 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 MO U.S. Patent Dec. 24, 1991 Sheet 9 of 11 5,074,118 FIG.9 VPRS-2 WINDMILLING M, = 5.0, q = 1500 A,=25, qb=1 TO 0.9 5000 60 IMPULSE 50 4000 40 3000 30 Y 2000 BW a 20 cn .I w.I lo00 10 i: 0 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.o 9 U.S. Patent Dec. 24, 1991 Sheet 10 of 11 5,074,118 in9 NET THRUST, Ibs U.S. Patent Dec. 24, 1991 Sheet 11 of 11 5,074,118 THRUST SPECIFIC FUEL CONSUMPTION, Iblhr-lb 74,118 1 2 Still another object of the present invention is to AIR TURBO-RAMJETENGINE develop the jet engine of the type here under consider- ation in such a manner as to be able to power the super- The invention disclosed herein was made in the per- sonic airplane throughout its flight regime from sub- formance of work under NASA Contract No. NAS3- 5 sonic to high supersonic speeds. 24843, and is subject to the provision of Section 305 of It is yet another oblect of the present invention to the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 as devise an engine of the above type the operation of amended (42 USC 2457). which can be easily adapted to various flight conditions TECHNICAL FIELD and particularly velocities and amounts of the incoming 10 air that enters the engine. The present invention relates to jet engines in gen- A concomitant object of the present invention is de- eral, and more particularly to jet engines capable of sign the jet engine of the above type in such a manner as powering a supersonic aircraft. to be relatively simple in construction, inexpensive to BACKGROUND ART manufacture, easy to use, and yet reliable in operation. IS There are already known various constructions of jet DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION engines, among them such capable of powering super- In keeping with these objects and others which will sonic airplanes. Renewed interest in high-speed flight become apparent hereafter, one feature of the present ahs revivied interest in advanced high-speed propulsion invention resides in a jet engine which is to be used to systems. Studies made by Franciscus, L. C. in Super- 2o power an aircraft throughout a range of speeds from sonic Through-Flow Fan Engines for Supersonic Cruise subsonic to high supersonic. This jet engine includes Aircrafr, NASA TM-78889, 1978 and in The Supersonic means for bounding an internal passage centered on an 73mugh-frow Turbofan for High Mach Propulsion, axis and including, in succession considered in the AIAA-87-2050 at AIAA/SAE/ASME Joint Propul- as direction of axial flow of incoming air into and through sion Conference, June 1987; by Trucco, H. in Study of Variable Cycle Engines Equipped With Supersonic Fans, ’ 25 the passage, a fixed-area air inlet section, a diverging Final Report, (ATL TR 201 Advanced Technology passage section, a mixing section, a combustion section, Laboratories, Inc., NAS3-17559), NASA CR-134777, and an outlet section; fan means situated in the air inlet 1975; and by Tavares, T. S. in A Supersonic Fan section and including a rotor mounted in the bounding Equipped Variable Cycle Engine for a Mach 2.7 Super- 3o means for rotation about the axis and including a plural- sonic Transport, Final Report for NASA Grant NAG3- ity of circumferentially spaced rotor blade members; 697, 1986 have indicated that substantial improvements means for selectively rotating the rotor about the axis can be obtained by using a fan that is capable of accept- with attendant impelling action of the rotor blade mem- ing supersonic flow. The engines investigated in these bers on the air flowing therebetween; and means for studies were turbofans in which the supersonic fan re- 35 selectively discharging air from the diverging passage placed the conventional fan, and a supersonic diffuser section to the exterior of the bounding means when the was located downstream of the fan to provide subsonic amount of incoming air passing through the fixed-area flow into the high-pressure compressor. The advantage inlet section exceeds that required in the combustion of this engine is attributed to the improvement in the section. installed thrust specific fuel consumption and the re- 40 The propulsion system of the present invention pref- duced inlet and nacelle weight. However, this type of erably includes an air turbo-rocket engine which is powerplant, like the conventional turbofan, is probably equipped with a supersonic flow-through fan. This en- limited to flight speeds below approximately Mach 3.5. gine uses a gas generator (rocket) to drive the turbine There is current interest in cruising at flight speeds in which powers the supersonic fan. The turbine drive is the Mach 5-6 range. At these speeds, a ramjet is an 45 not limited by flight speed, and the supersonic fan is attractive powerplant; however, it cannot take off and capable of operating in this speed range. accelerate through the low supersonic speed regime. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING light-weight engine is needed to accelerate to the cruise condition. Current proposals dealing with this problem The Present invention will be described in more detail involve the use of two types ofjet engines, usually in an 50 below with reference to the accompanying drawing in overhnder arrangement, one of them being operated which: only at subsonic, transonic and low supersonic speeds FIG. 1 is a simplified diagrammatic axial sectional and the other being a ramjet engine which is activated view of a jet engine of the present invention; only at higher supersonic speeds. It will be appreciated FIG. 2 is a view similar to that of FIG. 1 but showing that the use of such alternative separate engines each of 55 only a fragment of the jet engine of the present inven- which is being used to power the airplane only during a tion in more detail than that presented in FIG. 1; certain phase of the flight regime and is idle and thus FIG. 3 is a graphic representation of the dependence constitutes excess weight during the respective remain- of the total pressure ratio on the airplane Mach number ing phase greatly increases the take-off gross weight of for the engine of FIG. 1 but using two different fan the &plan> and thus either reduces thepayload of the 60 configurations; airplane or increases its fuel consumption, or both.