Aircraft Engine Structural Cover Mounting System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aircraft engine attachment systems experience aerodynamic disturbances and efficiency losses due to the bulk of rear engine mounts, which are required to handle high torque loads, leading to flexural deformations and wear on turbine blades, and result in overdimensioned aerodynamic fairings causing drag.
Innovation Solution
The proposed aircraft engine assembly features a primary structure with a central box section and a structural cover that distributes loads hyperstatically around the longitudinal axis, reducing the bulk of secondary mounts and incorporating an inner skin to eliminate the need for lateral connecting rods, thereby minimizing flexural deformations and aerodynamic disturbances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the rear engine mount is designed with significant bulk to handle high torque loads, then the load-bearing capacity is improved, but aerodynamic disturbances in the secondary jet increase and drag increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the rear engine mount with the aerodynamic fairing into a single integrated structure. The fairing serves dual purposes: it streamlines the aerodynamic flow around the engine assembly while simultaneously providing structural support for mounting the engine to the pylon. This eliminates the need for a separate bulky rear engine mount, thereby reducing aerodynamic disturbances while maintaining load-bearing capacity.
2Strength
If the rear engine mount is designed with significant bulk to handle high torque loads, then the load-bearing capacity is improved, but the width of aerodynamic fairings must be increased causing overdimensioning
Solution Approach 1:
The fairing and rear engine mount are combined into a single integrated component. The fairing's structural elements directly serve as the mounting structure for the engine, eliminating the need for additional bulk in the fairing width that would be required if a separate rear engine mount were used.
3Strength
If loads are taken up at two points off-center from the longitudinal axis by front and rear engine mounts, then the engine is attached to the structure, but flexural deformation of the engine occurs causing wear on turbine blades
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a two-point mounting system (front and rear mounts at off-center locations) to a distributed multi-point mounting system using multiple bolts arranged circumferentially around the engine's longitudinal axis. This dimensional redistribution of mounting points from a linear arrangement to a circumferential arrangement allows for more uniform load distribution, reducing flexural deformations while maintaining attachment stability.
4Volume of moving object
If the structural cover is designed to distribute loads hyperstatically around the longitudinal axis, then the bulk of secondary mounts is reduced, but the complexity of the attachment system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The structural cover is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: it serves as the mounting structure for the engine, distributes loads hyperstatically around the longitudinal axis through its multi-point bolt connections, and provides aerodynamic streamlining. By making the structural cover a multi-functional component, the patent reduces the need for separate secondary mounts while the modular bolt connection system manages the complexity through standardized, repeatable attachment points.
Data Source
AI summary
In order to reduce congestion of attachments between an aircraft engine and its attachments, an engine assembly is provided, the primary structure of the device of which includes a structural cover surrounding the engine and connected on a central box, the cover including an outer skin interiorly delimiting a secondary flow. A group of main mounts is provided as a group of secondary mounts laid out at the rear of the group of main mounts, the group of main mounts including a plurality of bolts distributed around the longitudinal axis of the engine and ensuring the attachment of a front end of the cover to the hub of the intermediate case, and a group of secondary mounts including a plurality of secondary mounts distributed around the axis and ensuring attachment of a rear portion of the engine to a rear end of the cover.