Raytheon Company

Timothy F O'Brien

Timothy Raymond Conners

Faure Malo-Molina

A passive bypass for an inlet to a supersonic or hypersonic air-breathing engine allows airflow in the inlet to exit through the cowling when the inlet supplies more airflow than the air-breathing engine demands. The air-breathing engine may be the only form of propulsion or a secondary form of propulsion to reach higher speeds. The passive bypass includes a plurality of lower channels in the cowling that are operatively coupled to the inlet diffuser at an inner surface of the cowling and swept forward towards the throat, a plenum in the cowling operatively coupled to the plurality of lower openings and a plurality of upper channels in the cowling that are operatively coupled to the plenum and swept back away from the throat to an outer surface of the cowling. A serpentine path through the plurality of lower openings, the plenum and the plurality of upper openings allows airflow in the inlet to exit through the cowling when the inlet supplies more airflow than the air-breathing engine demands.

Passive bypass for mitigation of inlet buzz in supersonic or hypersonic air-breathing engines

An air inlet for a flight vehicle engine includes at least one fin, at least partially upstream of a throat of the engine. The fin protrudes into a flow channel, extending beyond a boundary layer into the main airstream in the inlet. The fin causes mixing in the flow, bringing high-momentum flow into areas of the flow channel containing low-momentum flow by aggregating the boundary layer and causing it to lift from the surface. The fin may have a width and/or height that varies along its length in the flow direction, which may allow it to shape the flow around it in predictable ways, without resulting in excessive drag.

Flight vehicle engine with finned inlet

An inlet for a flight vehicle engine, such as for a supersonic or hypersonic engine, includes an internal flow diverter to divert boundary layer flow. The flow diverter is configured to minimize disruption to flow outside the diverted boundary by being configured through use of a flow field that is also used to configure the walls of the inlet. The flow field that is used to configure an inlet-creating shape and a diverter-creating shape has the same flow generator, contraction ratio, compression ratio, mass capture ratio, pressure ratio between entrance and exit, and/or Mach number, for example. The internal diverter may be configured so as to allow arbitrary selection of a leading edge shape for the internal diverter, for example to use a shape that helps avoid radar detection.

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Vail, AZ, United States of America

Timothy F O'Brien