1419results about "Aircraft power plant components" patented technology

A vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft is superior in maneuverability, safety, and mobility. The aircraft has turbofan engines with separate core engines having fan engines used commonly for cruising and lifting up. The thrust from the fan engines can be directed to all directions by supporting the fan engines of the turbofan engines with separate core engines with biaxial support so that the fan engines are rotatable in the direction of pitching and rolling. The fan engines are mounted on both sides of each of front and rear sings. With this construction, the VTOL aircraft can cruise and hover by tilting the fan engines about the two axes while using the fan engines commonly for cruising and hovering.

A hybrid power plant (5) for an aircraft (1) comprises at least: a hybrid drive system (37) having a main on-board electricity network (16) and an auxiliary electricity network (34); and a selective adaptation interface (38) arranged to enable electrical energy to be exchanged selectively between the main and auxiliary electricity networks (16; 34). At least one engine and a hybrid drive auxiliary electrical machine (7, 31) are mechanically connected to a transmission (8); said machine (7) being electrically connected to at least one auxiliary electrical bus (36) in parallel with at least one auxiliary device for delivering electric charge.

A tilt-rotor aircraft (1) comprising a pair of contra-rotating co-axial tiltable rotors (11) on the longitudinal centre line of the aircraft. The rotors (11) may be tiltable sequentially and independently. They may be moveable between a lift position and a flight position in front of or behind the fuselage (19).

A vertical takeoff and landing aircraft having a fuselage with three wings and six synchronously tilt-able propulsion units, each one mounted above, below, or on each half of the aforementioned three wings. The propulsion units are vertical for vertical flight, and horizontal for forward flight. The aircraft wings are placed such that the rear wing is above the middle wing which is placed above the front wing. The placement of each of the propulsion units relative to the center of gravity of the aircraft about the vertical axis inherently assures continued stability in vertical flight mode, following the loss of thrust from any one propulsion unit. The placement of the propulsion units, viewing the aircraft from the front, is such that each propulsion units' thrust wake does not materially disturb the propulsion unit to its rear. When engine driven propellers or rotors are utilized, flapped wing panels are attached outboard of the forward and/or rearward propulsion units to provide yaw control during vertical flight.

A system and method are provided for ashort take-off and landing/vertical take-off and landing aircraft that stores required take-off power in the form of primarily an electric fan engine, and secondarily in the form of an internal combustion engine, wherein the combined power of the electric fan and internal combustion engines can cause the STOL/VTOL A/C to take-off in substantially less amount of time and space than other STOL/VTOL A/C, and further wherein the transition from vertical to horizontal thrust is carefully executed to rapidly rise from the take-off position to a forward flight position, thereby minimizing the necessity for a larger electric fan engine.

In an air intake structure (14) of an aircraft engine pod, the link or connection between the air intake lip (15), the front reinforcing frame (16) and the acoustic panel (17) is implemented in such a way that the lip (15) can be dismantled without breaking the link between the frame (16) and the panel (17). Moreover, the internal, rear part (15a) of the lip (15) normally covers the front part (17a) of the panel (17), as well as the members (22, 24) ensuring the link between the latter and the frame (16).

A vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) rotary-wing air-craft is sized and configured to match a payload container such as a standardized Joint Modular Intermodal Container (JMIC). The aircraft may be an Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) that is capable of autonomously engaging and disengaging the container so that the aircraft can pick up and drop off the JMIC with minimum human intervention.

A hybrid propulsion aircraft is described having a distributed electric propulsion system. The distributed electric propulsion system includes a turbo shaft engine that drives one or more generators through a gearbox. The generator provides AC power to a plurality of ducted fans (each being driven by an electric motor). The ducted fans may be integrated with the hybrid propulsion aircraft's wings. The wings can be pivotally attached to the fuselage, thereby allowing for vertical take-off and landing. The design of the hybrid propulsion aircraft mitigates undesirable transient behavior traditionally encountered during a transition from vertical flight to horizontal flight. Moreover, the hybrid propulsion aircraft offers a fast, constant-altitude transition, without requiring a climb or dive to transition. It also offers increased efficiency in both hover and forward flight versus other VTOL aircraft and a higher forward max speed than traditional rotorcraft.

An active effective flow-through area control system includes an upstream wall-flow perturber and a downstream wall-flow perturber situated in an inlet region of an aircraft engine. The downstream wall-flow perturber is positioned downstream from the upstream wall-flow perturber. The upstream and downstream wall-flow perturbers are configured to generate and trap at least one region of separated, vortical flow in the airflow through the inlet region. A method, for actively changing an effective flow-through area of an inlet region of an aircraft engine, includes creating at least one region of separated, vortical flow in an airflow passage defined by the inlet region. The method further includes trapping the region of separated, vortical flow in the airflow passage. The region of separated, vortical flow partially obstructs a main inlet airflow.

Electric aircraft, including in-flight rechargeable electric aircraft, and methods of operating electric aircraft, including methods for recharging electric aircraft in-flight, through the use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) packs flying independent of and in proximity to the electric aircraft.

The bay (12) of a turbofan engine (10) comprises a front structural element (30), whose external surface is continuous and extends over at least 50% of the geometrical chord of the bay. Said element (30) is installed on maintaining and guiding members (44), such as slides, which prevent a significant deformation in flight and allow a sliding to the front of the element (30) for maintenance purposes. A laminar air flow around the front half of the bay (12) is consequently ensured.

A VTOL aircraft (or other vehicle such as a sea vehicle) includes a pair of elongated ducts on opposite sides of the vehicle body, and a plurality of powered propellers (or other propulsion units such as jet engines) mounted within and enclosed by each of the elongated ducts, such as to produce an upward lift force to the vehicle. Each of the elongated ducts has a short transverse dimension slightly larger than the diameter of the blades of each propeller enclosed thereby, and a large transverse dimension slightly larger than the sum of the diameters of the blades of all the propellers enclosed thereby.

The invention relates to a system and a method for supplying power to an aircraft comprising several generators supplying alternating current to several different primary electrical master boxes (10, 11, 12 and 13), the various aircraft loads being connected to each of these master boxes. This system comprises conventional master boxes (10, 11, 12 and 13) which supply power loads and at least one master box (40, 41) devoted to actuator loads, this at least one devoted master box being connected to conventional master boxes.

A battery-structure that may be located at least partially in the wings of an aircraft. The battery-structure forms a portion of the structural support of the wings and includes a plurality of battery receiving compartments; and a plurality of batteries located in the battery-structure. The batteries are configured to fit snugly within the battery receiving compartments, thereby increasing the rigidity of the battery-structure and the wings. The structural constituent of the battery-structure may be made from a carbon or graphite reinforced composite material or from a fiberglass composite material. The battery-structure may include a top panel, a bottom panel, a pair of side panels, and a plurality of web members. The panels and the web members may define the battery receiving compartments. The batteries can be received snugly between the web members to reinforce the rigidity and/or strength of the battery-structure.

A tail sitter aircraft is capable of forward flight and hover operations. The tail sitter aircraft includes a wing and first and second prop-nacelles supportively disposed on the wing. Each of the first and second prop-nacelles includes an articulable rotor, which is rotatable about variable rotational axes and which includes blades that are collectively and cyclically controllable in both forward flight and hover regimes.