Offset BLI Intake Layout for Higher Aircraft Propulsion Efficiency
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a demand for improving propulsion efficiency in Boundary Layer Ingestion (BLI) propulsion technology.
Innovation Solution
The aircraft design includes a fuselage section with a cylindrical shape and a BLI propulsion section, where the intake port's center position is offset from the rear end portion's center, allowing for efficient intake of slow airflow, and features a BLI propulsion section with rotatable impellers and a specific alignment of impeller rotation directions to enhance propulsion efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the intake port is positioned at the center of the rear end portion, then the structure is simple and symmetric, but the propulsion efficiency is reduced due to inability to efficiently ingest slow airflow
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by offsetting the intake port from the center of the rear end portion in the vertical direction. This asymmetric positioning allows the intake port to specifically target and ingest slow airflow located in the lower region behind the fuselage, thereby improving propulsion efficiency while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure
2Force
If fast airflow is accelerated to generate thrust, then the thrust magnitude increases, but the energy efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of airflow velocity selection by specifically targeting slow airflow rather than fast airflow for ingestion. The offset intake port positioning enables the system to capture low-velocity airflow in the boundary layer region behind the fuselage, and by accelerating this slow airflow, the system achieves higher energy efficiency while still generating effective thrust
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 design improves propulsion efficiency by reducing the average speed of airflow intake, leading to higher energy efficiency and lower fuel consumption.
Implementation Method 1
The BLI propulsion device takes in slow airflow near the surface of the aircraft, and accelerates and discharges the taken-in airflow backwards, thereby generating thrust in the travelling direction of the aircraft. The BLI technology is a technology based on the viewpoint that it is more efficient to accelerate slow airflow to obtain thrust than to further accelerate fast airflow to obtain thrust.
Data Source
AI summary
An aircraft according to the present technology includes: a fuselage section; and a BLI propulsion section. The fuselage section has a cylindrical shape that is long in an axial direction and short in a width direction and a vertical direction, and includes a rear end portion on a rear side in the axial direction. The BLI propulsion section is a BLI propulsion section that is provided on a rear side of the fuselage section and includes an intake port, a center position of the intake port being offset from a center position of the rear end portion in at least one of the vertical direction or the width direction.