Wing-mounted Turbine Extracts Vortex Energy for Thrust and Power
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current aircraft rely on traditional power sources like auxiliary power units (APUs) and engine-driven generators, which increase fuel consumption and carbon footprint, and do not efficiently address the growing demand for onboard electrical power.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a wing-mounted turbine that extracts energy from the trailing vortices behind an aircraft, reducing induced drag and generating electrical power while providing additional thrust.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If traditional power sources (APUs or engine-driven generators) are used to meet increasing demand for onboard electrical power, then electrical power availability is improved, but fuel consumption and carbon footprint increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful wingtip vortices, which are waste energy products reducing aircraft efficiency, into a beneficial power source. The turbine mounted at the wingtip extracts energy from these vortices to generate electrical power, transforming an aerodynamic penalty into a useful resource that offsets the need for additional fuel-consuming power sources.
Solution Approach 2:
The aircraft's own wake, specifically the wingtip vortices, serves as the energy source for generating electrical power. The system uses the aircraft's inherent aerodynamic byproduct to power onboard systems, eliminating the need for external or additional fuel-burning power sources.
2Adaptability or versatility
If more electrical systems are added to aircraft, then functionality and amenities are improved, but the demand for onboard electrical power increases requiring additional power sources
Solution Approach 1:
The turbine converts the harmful wingtip vortices into useful electrical energy, providing a sustainable power source that can support increased electrical systems and amenities without requiring additional fuel-consuming generators or APUs.
3Loss of energy
If wingtip vortices are allowed to dissipate naturally, then aircraft design is simple, but energy is wasted and induced drag is not reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of allowing vortex energy to dissipate wasted into the atmosphere, the turbine captures this energy and converts it into useful electrical power. The device transforms the aerodynamic loss into a beneficial resource while simultaneously reducing the strength of the vortices, which reduces induced drag.
Solution Approach 2:
The turbine extracts energy from the wingtip vortices, removing the harmful kinetic energy from the wake and converting it into useful electrical power. This extraction both generates energy and reduces the detrimental effects of the vortices on aircraft performance.
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 solution reduces fuel consumption and carbon emissions by converting the energy in wingtip vortices into thrust and electrical power, thereby enhancing aircraft efficiency and reducing operating costs.
Implementation Method 1
a turbine mounted to a wingtip of the aircraft behind the trailing edge of the wing to generate electricity by extracting energy from the vortex trailing behind the wingtip
Implementation Method 2
The vortices depicted schematically in FIG. 1 are known to form in reality... the possibility of using a small turbine near the tip of a wing to generate electricity by extracting energy from its trailing vortices
Data Source
AI summary
A turbine mounted behind an aircraft wing provides a specified proportion of a propulsive force in the aircraft flight direction to an amount of power generated by the turbine when driven by the airflow trailing the wing. The turbine converts a portion of the otherwise wasted energy in the rotational vortices trailing the aircraft wing into thrust that reduces aircraft drag while also providing electricity to power electrical systems on the aircraft. In one embodiment, the method used to construct the turbine saves computation time by using an optimization routine to define a preliminary turbine configuration based on an idealized vortex model and then matches it to the flow trailing an actual aircraft wing. The turbine can also use the energy in the wake solely to generate electricity without increasing drag on the aircraft or solely to reduce drag without generating electricity.