초록 ▼

A deployable inlet for use with a center boost engine on a jet propelled aircraft having the capability of aerodynamically fairing the air inlet located in the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer at such times as the center boost engine is shut down and non-operative, thus minimizing drag. More

A deployable inlet for use with a center boost engine on a jet propelled aircraft having the capability of aerodynamically fairing the air inlet located in the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer at such times as the center boost engine is shut down and non-operative, thus minimizing drag. More particularly, an inlet construction for use with aircraft of the type commonly employing multiple main power plants and an auxiliary center boost engine of the type which is commonly used only: (i) during take-off; (ii) during air refueling operations; and/or (iii), under certain emergency operating conditions; and, wherein the air inlet for such center boost engine is located at the root leading edge of the aircraft\s vertical stabilizer. The stabilizer\s lower leading edge quarter chord panels define inlet doors for the air inlet, with such doors completely sealing the inlet and lying in the same general plane as the skin surface of the vertical stabilizer when such doors are in the closed position so as to define a smooth continuous airfoil stabilizer surface. In use, the inlet doors defined by the vertical stabilizer lower leading edge quarter chord panels are opened by pivoting outwardly to form the inlet\s highlight and throat geometry; yet, when not in use, the inlet doors define a smooth continuation of the vertical stabilizer aerodynamic surfaces, thereby eliminating the need to dedicate additional structure and/or volumetric storage space for such doors.

대표청구항 ▼

In combination with an aircraft having a fuselage; an empennage including an empennage body structure and an upstanding vertical stabilizer mounted on said fuselage and having a leading edge and spaced port and starboard skin panels defining smooth, aerodynamically streamlined skin surfaces extendin

In combination with an aircraft having a fuselage; an empennage including an empennage body structure and an upstanding vertical stabilizer mounted on said fuselage and having a leading edge and spaced port and starboard skin panels defining smooth, aerodynamically streamlined skin surfaces extending rearwardly from said stabilizer leading edge; and of the type including an auxiliary center boost jet engine having a rearwardly directed exhaust nozzle mounted within said empennage body structure, an air inlet formed in and coincident with said leading edge of said stabilizer, and an air inlet duct extending from said air inlet to said center boost jet engine and being enclosed wholly within said vertical stabilizer and said empennage body structure; a deployable air inlet comprising: (a) port and starboard air inlet closure members respectively formed by lower leading edge quarter chord door panels defining portions of said port and starboard aerodynamically streamlined skin surfaces of said stabilizer; (b) said port and starboard air inlet closure members defining a forwardly presented generally vertical parting line coincident with said stabilizer leading edge with said members respectively lying in the planes of said stabilizer port and starboard skin surfaces when in the closed position so as to form smooth aerodynamically streamlined continuations of said port and starboard stabilizer skin surfaces extending rearwardly from said stabilizer leading edge; (c) said port and starboard closure members having their rearmost generally vertical quarter chord door panel edges pivotally secured to said stabilizer along lines generally parallel to said stabilizer leading edge and lying in the planes of said port and starboard skin surfaces when in the closed position; (d) means for rotating said port and starboard closure members about their pivotal connections to said stabilizer between: (i) a first position wherein the leading edges of said closure members are in abutting sealing relation along said parting line coincident with said stabilizer leading edge so as to close and seal said air inlet when said aircraft is being operated in a cruise operational mode and said center boost jet engine is shut down; and (ii), a second position wherein said port and starboard closure members are pivoted outwardly and in opposite directions from said parting line coincident with said stabilizer leading edge so as to define said air inlet\s highlight and throat geometry during power assist operational modes of the aircraft when said center boost jet engine is operational; (e) said port and starboard closure members being spaced above the juncture between said vertical stabilizer and said fuselage; and, (f) means for precluding entry of fuselage boundary layer air into said air inlet when said port and starboard closure members are in said second position.