Nacelle for a turbofan engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11149637-B2
Application number	US-201815923212-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2018
Priority date	Mar 31, 2017
Publication date	Oct 19, 2021
Grant date	Oct 19, 2021

Abstract

An engine nacelle for a turbofan engine, having a nacelle wall and an engine inlet, wherein the nacelle wall has a stationary downstream section and an upstream section that is displaceable in the axial direction, and the displaceable upstream section is displaceable between a first upstream position and a second downstream position. A ring-shaped seal is provided, formed between the stationary section and the displaceable section of the nacelle wall, wherein, in the first position of the displaceable section, the engine nacelle forms a ring-shaped additional flow channel that extends from the outer side of the nacelle wall to the engine inlet and via which ambient air can flow into the engine inlet, and the ring-shaped additional flow channel is closed in the second position of the displaceable section, wherein the stationary section, the ring-shaped seal and the displaceable section adjoin each other.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An engine nacelle for a turbofan engine, comprising:
a nacelle wall comprising an inner side and an outer side, wherein the nacelle wall comprises an inlet lip that is formed at an upstream end of the engine nacelle,
an engine inlet that takes in air that is required for an associated engine and is delimited by the inner side of the nacelle wall,
wherein the nacelle wall includes a stationary downstream section and a displaceable upstream section that is displaceable in an axial direction, the displaceable upstream section being displaceable between a first upstream position and a second downstream position, and
a ring-shaped seal formed between the stationary downstream section and the displaceable upstream section, wherein
in the first upstream position, the engine nacelle forms a ring-shaped additional flow channel with an opening to the outer side positioned in the nacelle wall axially between an upstream portion of the stationary downstream section and a downstream portion of the displaceable upstream section, the ring-shaped additional flow channel extending from the outer side of the nacelle wall, through the opening, to the engine inlet and via which the air flows into the engine inlet, and
in the second downstream position, the ring-shaped additional flow channel is closed, wherein the upstream portion of the stationary downstream section directly abuts a downstream portion of the ring-shaped seal and the downstream portion of the displaceable upstream section directly abuts an upstream portion of the ring-shaped seal such that the ring-shaped seal is positioned axially between the upstream portion of the stationary downstream section and the downstream portion of the displaceable upstream section;
wherein the ring-shaped seal forms the downstream boundary of the additional flow channel.

2. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , wherein the ring-shaped seal is connected to an upstream end of the stationary downstream section.

3. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , wherein the ring-shaped seal is connected to a downstream end of the displaceable upstream section.

4. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , wherein the ring-shaped seal is made of an elastic material.

5. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , wherein the ring-shaped seal is embodied in one piece and forms a sealing ring.

6. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , wherein the ring-shaped seal includes at least one hollow chamber.

7. The engine nacelle according to claim 6 , wherein the at least one hollow chamber is modifiable with respect to a shape during operation by setting a filling degree thereof.

8. The engine nacelle according to claim 7 , wherein the shape of the at least one hollow chamber and thus the shape of the ring-shaped seal is adjustable depending on an axial position of the displaceable upstream section.

9. The engine nacelle according to claim 8 , wherein the at least one hollow chamber has a larger volume when the displaceable upstream section is located in the first upstream position, and has a smaller volume when the displaceable upstream section is placed in the second downstream position.

10. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , wherein the ring-shaped seal forms a smooth and edge-free boundary of the additional flow channel.

11. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , wherein, at an inner side, the displaceable upstream section forms a downstream-projecting wall area that is positioned radially inside the ring-shaped seal and that delimits the engine inlet in the closed state of the additional flow channel.

12. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , wherein the additional flow channel and the ring-shaped seal are configured such that the air exiting the additional flow channel enters the engine inlet substantially in the axial direction.

13. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , and further comprising a linear displacement device for displacing the stationary downstream section and the displaceable upstream section with respect to each other.

14. The engine nacelle according to claim 13 , wherein the linear displacement device includes multiple actuators each comprising at least one linearly movable arm, wherein the multiple actuators are distributed along a circumference of the nacelle wall.

15. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , wherein the displaceable upstream section of the nacelle wall is additionally arranged so as to be tiltable with respect to the stationary downstream section.

16. The engine nacelle according to claim 15 , wherein the linear displacement device includes multiple actuators each comprising at least one linearly movable arm, wherein the multiple actuators are distributed along a circumference of the nacelle wall, and wherein the linearly movable arms are extended to different extents in the first upstream position of the displaceable upstream section.

17. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , wherein the stationary downstream section includes a sound-absorbing cladding adjacent to the engine inlet.

18. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , wherein the displaceable upstream section of the engine nacelle is formed by the inlet lip.

19. The engine nacelle according to claim 1 , wherein the engine inlet is a supersonic inlet.

20. An engine nacelle for a turbofan engine of a supersonic aircraft, comprising:
a nacelle wall that has an inner side and an outer side, wherein the nacelle wall comprises an inlet lip that is formed at an upstream end of the engine nacelle,
an engine inlet that is formed as a supersonic inlet and takes in air required for an associated engine, and is delimited by the inner side of the nacelle wall, wherein
the nacelle wall has a stationary downstream section and a displaceable upstream section that is displaceable in an axial direction, the displaceable upstream section being displaceable between a first upstream position and a second downstream position,
a ring-shaped seal that is formed between the stationary downstream section and the displaceable upstream section, wherein
in the first upstream position of the displaceable upstream section, the engine nacelle forms a ring-shaped additional flow channel with an opening to the outer side positioned in the nacelle wall axially between an upstream portion of the stationary downstream section and a downstream portion of the displaceable upstream section, the ring-shaped additional flow channel extending from the outer side of the nacelle wall, through the opening, to the engine inlet and via which the air flows into the engine inlet,
the ring-shaped additional flow channel is closed in the second downstream position of the displaceable upstream section, wherein the upstream portion of the stationary downstream section directly abuts a downstream portion of the ring-shaped seal and the downstream portion of the displaceable upstream section directly abuts an upstream portion of the ring-shaped seal such that the ring-shaped seal is positioned axially between the upstream portion of the stationary downstream section and the downstream portion of the displaceable upstream section,
the ring-shaped seal forms a smooth and edge-free downstream boundary of the additional flow channel, and
the displaceable upstream section of the engine nacelle is formed by the inlet lip.

Assignees

• Rolls Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co Kg

Inventors

• Todorovic Predrag

Classifications

• B64D29/06

  Attaching of nacelles, fairings or cowlings · CPC title

• B64D33/02

  of combustion air intakes · CPC title

• F05D2250/90

  Variable geometry · CPC title

• F05D2220/323

  for aircraft propulsion, e.g. jet engines · CPC title

• F02C7/28

  Arrangement of seals · CPC title