Rolls-royce Corporation

Alan Bond

Bryan L Belcher

John L Scott-Scott

An engine for application to the propulsion of aerospace vehicles (terrestrial or orbital) capable of operating in two propulsive modes. The first mode employs liquid hydrogen to pre-cool the intake air of a turbo-compressor in order to deliver it at high pressure to a rocket type combustor/nozzle assembly. In this mode the external atmosphere is the source of oxidizer for the fuel. At a high Mach number in the hypersonic regime the engine changes to the second mode which is a conventional high performance rocket engine using liquid oxygen carried on the vehicle to oxidize the liquid hydrogen fuel. Both modes of propulsion use common hardware, namely the liquid hydrogen pump and the combustor nozzle assembly.

Aerospace propulsion

A heat exchanger comprises concentric annular arrays of parallel feeder tubes and receiver tubes which are interconnected by generally circumferentially extending heat exchanger tubes. Each heat exchanger tube interconnects one feeder tube with a corresponding receiver tube which is angularly spaced apart therefrom. In operation a first fluid flows over the heat exchanger tubes while a second fluid flows through the heat exchanger tubes. The heat exchanger tubes are so arranged that the fluid flowing through them has a component which is opposite to that of the fluid flowing over them.

Heat exchanger

An air intake suitable for an aerospace propulsor comprises a duct which contains, in flow series, a first heat exchanger, a water separator, and a cryogen injector and a second heat exchanger. Air entering the intake is cooled by the first heat exchanger to cause the majority of the water vapor in the air to condense into water droplet form. The water droplets are then removed by the air flow by the water separator. The cryogenic injector reduces the air flow temperatures still further so that any remaining water in the air flow is converted to small dry ice crystals which do not block the second heat exchanger.

Prevention of icing in the intakes of aerospace propulsors

An aerospace propulsor is powered by liquid hydrogen. The hydrogen is passed through a turbine which drives a liquid oxygen pump. During non-atmospheric flight, the liquid oxygen is directed to the propulsor's combustion chamber where it is mixed with the liquid hydrogen and combustion takes place. However during atmospheric flight, the liquid oxygen is pumped to drive a turbine which powers a fan adapted to provide additional pressurization of air entering the engine for combustion.

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Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

Alan Bond