Aircraft Engine Air Filter Self-Cleaning via Reverse Flow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Air filtration systems in aircraft engines face challenges with filter medium clogging due to environmental pollutants, leading to reduced service life and increased maintenance needs, especially in extreme conditions.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize a dynamic air intake vent to implement an unfiltered operating mode during flight, where excess air is used to clean the filter medium by reversing airflow through it, preventing clogging and extending its service life without manual intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a barrier filter medium is used to filter air, then filtration effectiveness is improved, but the filter medium clogs more quickly and service life is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic reverse airflow cycles to clean the filter medium. During normal operation, air flows through the filter in the forward direction for filtration. Periodically, the airflow direction is reversed to blow accumulated pollutants off the filter surface, restoring filtration efficiency and extending service life between maintenance operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system recovers the filtration capacity of the filter medium by removing accumulated pollutants through reverse airflow. Instead of allowing the filter to remain clogged and lose effectiveness, the system actively removes the harmful accumulation, restoring the filter's performance without requiring immediate replacement.
2Duration of action of stationary object
If the filter medium is cleaned by reversing airflow, then service life is extended, but additional system complexity is required
Solution Approach 1:
The air supply system serves dual functions: it provides filtered air to the engine during normal operation and simultaneously acts as a cleaning mechanism through reverse airflow. The same air intake and delivery infrastructure is used for both filtration and self-cleaning, eliminating the need for separate cleaning equipment and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The filter medium cleans itself using the existing airflow system without requiring external cleaning equipment or manual intervention. The system uses its own operational airflow, reversed periodically, to remove pollutants from the filter surface, making the cleaning function self-contained and integrated into normal system operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach effectively prolongs the service life of the filter medium by regularly cleaning it in flight, reducing maintenance requirements and protecting the engine from pollutants until the filter medium is fully clogged.
Implementation Method 1
dynamic intake of a flow of air as a result of the forward travel of the aircraft via the dynamic air intake vent
Implementation Method 2
a filter medium comprises a porous barrier. Small passages run all the way through the thickness of the porous barrier. These passages prevent objects larger than the dimensions of the passages from passing through the barrier
Data Source
AI summary
A method for supplying air to an engine of an aircraft via an air supply system of the aircraft. A dynamic air intake vent of the system can be closed by a closure member that is movable between a closed position and an open position. A static air intake vent is equipped with a filter medium. During flight, the method comprises an unfiltered operating mode that comprises the following steps: positioning of the closure member in the open position, and, during a phase of forward travel of the aircraft, dynamic intake of a flow of air, then transfer of a first portion of the flow of air to the engine and a second portion of the flow of air to the filter medium in order to clean the filter medium.