Aircraft Engine Pylon Twin-Bundle Counterflow Exchanger for Compact Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aircraft heat exchangers face challenges in maximizing heat exchange surfaces while minimizing size and optimizing integration within the aircraft pylon, particularly in air conditioning systems.
Innovation Solution
A suspension pylon for an aircraft engine equipped with a counter-current cooling exchanger comprising two juxtaposed plate exchanger blocks, with a common hot air inlet and outlet and separate lateral cold air inlets and outlets, allowing for increased exchange surfaces and optimized integration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the heat exchanger size is increased to maximize heat exchange surfaces, then the cooling capacity is improved, but the integration volume within the aircraft pylon increases
Solution Approach 1:
The heat exchanger is divided into two separate bundles (first bundle and second bundle) that are juxtaposed side by side. Each bundle independently processes hot air through its own set of plates and channels, allowing the system to achieve high cooling capacity while maintaining a compact footprint by distributing the heat exchange function across multiple smaller units rather than one large unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The two bundles are arranged in a side-by-side configuration along the transverse direction rather than stacking them vertically or extending them in the longitudinal direction. This dimensional arrangement optimizes the use of available space within the pylon structure, achieving high heat exchange surface area without excessive volume occupation.
2Volume of stationary object
If the heat exchanger is made more compact to reduce integration volume, then the space utilization is improved, but the heat exchange surfaces are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the heat exchanger into two compact bundles with shared inlet/outlet structures, the design achieves high heat exchange surface area within a reduced overall volume. The segmentation allows for efficient space utilization while maintaining sufficient heat transfer area through the distributed plate structures in each bundle.
Solution Approach 2:
The two bundles share common inlet and outlet structures for hot air, as well as coordinated cold air inlet/outlet arrangements. This merging of common functions reduces redundant structures and minimizes the overall integration volume while preserving the total heat exchange surface area through the combined plates of both bundles.
3Productivity
If the exchanger uses a complex circuit configuration to optimize cooling efficiency, then the cooling performance is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The complex cooling circuit is segmented into two independent but coordinated bundles, each with its own hot and cold air channels. This segmentation simplifies the overall circuit design by breaking down the complex heat exchange process into manageable units while maintaining high cooling efficiency through the counter-current flow arrangement in each bundle.
Solution Approach 2:
Both bundles perform identical heat exchange functions with the same structural configuration, allowing for standardized design and assembly. The universal design of the bundles simplifies the overall system complexity while achieving optimized cooling performance through their coordinated operation and shared inlet/outlet structures.
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
The solution enhances cooling capacity by providing a large cold supply surface and central hot supply, optimizing the exchanger's integration volume within the engine environment, and efficiently utilizing ambient air for cooling.
Implementation Method 1
a counter-current cooling exchanger of a hot primary air flow by a cold secondary air flow circulating in opposite directions to each other along a direction, called the longitudinal direction
Implementation Method 2
hot passes of the two bundles being in fluid communication with a central inlet common to the two bundles forming said hot air inlets of the two bundles and with a central outlet common to the two bundles forming said hot air outlet of said bundles, and said cold passes of the two bundles being in fluid communication with separate lateral inlets and lateral outlets
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to an aircraft pylon comprising a counterflow cooling exchanger (10) for cooling a stream of hot primary air (22) by a stream of cold secondary air (24) flowing in opposite directions to one another in a longitudinal direction (L), characterised in that it comprises two bundles (10a, 10b) juxtaposed on either side of a central axis (12) and each comprising a plurality of longitudinal parallel plates (15) which form a hot pass and a cold pass of the bundle, and in that one of the hot or cold passes of each bundle is fed by a central inlet (14a) common to the two bundles (10a, 10b) and one of the hot or cold passes of each bundle opens into a central outlet (16) common to the two bundles, said inlets (14b, 14c) and outlets (16b, 16c) of the combined passes, referred to as lateral inlets and outlets, being separated and diverging laterally from said central axis (12).