Rolls-royce Corporation

William J Lewis

Clifford S Woodward

Kenneth M Pesyna

Leslie R Harper

Richard G Gardiner

Malcom C Hitchcock

Malcolm J Davis

An aircraft having a gas turbine engine with vectorable cold and hot nozzles. The aircraft is provided with a ducting in the wing which extends from an inlet facing downwards to an outlet in the upper surface of the wing directed rearwardly. The cold vectorable nozzles of the engine are designed so that they can be swung from a vertical downward position to provide vertical lift to a horizontal position directed rearwardly to produce forward thrust, to a position where they are directed upwardly and discharged into the ducting. In this way, the air discharged through the outlet of the ductingenhances the aerodynamic lift produced by the wing at slower speeds by inducing the air flow over the wing. In addition, the forward component of the thrust produced in the ducting provides a forward thrust on the aircraft, whilst additional forward thrust is produced by swiveling the hot nozzles.

VSTOL aircraft

A vectorable nozzle for directing the thrust produced by a gas turbine engine includes a duct, at least one toroidal nozzle segment, and a carrier ring for mounting the nozzle segment to the duct. The nozzle segment is hinged to the outer circumferential surface of the carrier ring about its toroidal axis. The carrier ring is rotatably mounted to the external surface of the duct at the downstream end thereof by means of a roller element bearing. The arrangement is such that the nozzle segment is moveable between a stowed location within the airframe space envelope and a deployed location. Once deployed the carrier ring is able to rotate the nozzle segment relative to the duct in order to vector the thrust produced by the engine.

Stowable nozzle

A variable area nozzle for a turbomachine comprising, a duct 25, an axially movable shroud 28 located at the downstream end of the duct 25, at least one circumferential array of plates 30 mounted at their upstream ends on the shroud, and an outer wall 34 surrounding the shroud 28 and the plates 30. The outer wall 34 extends downstream beyond the downstream end of the duct 25 and a plurality of links 36 which are pivotally attached to the outer wall 34 downstream of the downstream end of the duct 25 are provided. Each link 36 is pivotally attached to one of the plates 30. An actuator means 50 which is operable on the shroud 28 to move the shroud 28 along the duct 25 is provided. Axial movement of the shroud cause the plates 30 and the links 36 to pivot about the point of attachment of the links 36 to the outer wall 34 to vary the area of the nozzle. Further circumferential array of plates 37,39 may be provided downstream of the plates 30. The plates 37 are pivotally attached at their upstream ends to the downstream ends of plates 30.

Variable area nozzle for turbomachines

A variable area nozzle for a turbomachine comprising, a duct 25 at least one wall of which is defined by a fixed portion 26 and two movable plates 29,30 located downstream of a downstream edge of the fixed portion 26. A first of the plates 29 is movable in a direction along the duct 25 relative to the fixed portion 26 and a second of the plates 30 is pivotally mounted at its upstream end on a downstream end of the first plate 29. An outer wall 34 surrounding the panels 29,30 extends downstream beyond the said downstream edge of the fixed portion 26. A seal plate 36 pivotally attached to the outer wall downstream of the downstream edge of the said fixed portion 26 is pivotally attached to one or more of the plates 29,30 and the seal plate 36 together with the plates 29,30 and the outer wall 34 define a pressurizable chamber 41 on that side of the plates 29,30 remote from the interior of the nozzle. Pressurized gas is admitted to the chamber 41 to counterbalance partially the loads on the panels 29,30 due to the pressure of the gases which flow through the nozzle. An actuator means 38,39 is provided to move the first plate 29 along the duct 25 and thereby cause the second plate 30 and seal plate 36 to pivot and vary the area of the nozzle. Further plates 31,37 may be provided downstream of the plates 29.

Variable area nozzle

A fluid flow diverter system for use with twin engine vertical take-off aircraft. The diverter sysstem is employed to direct a portion of, or all, the working fluid from the first axial flow compressor (14) of either a by-pass engine, a twin fan engine or a variable cycle engine to either a pair of vectorable front nozzles (36) or to a by-pass duct (34). In the event of one engine failing in flight, an attempt at balancing the remaining thrust for vertical landing is made by ducting all the air normally existing from the operative engine's front nozzle (36) across to the inoperative engine's front nozzle (36).

Diverter valve with bypass duct obturator

One problem associated with aircraft using variable cycle engines is how to provide an air intake which is sufficiently large to be able to supply air to both the first and second compressors of the engine during the parallel flow mode and sufficiently small to minimize aerodynamic drag when the engines are operated in the tandom flow mode during supersonic forward flight. This invention overcomes this problem by providing an air intake which combines a blocker door covering a second portion of the duct which communicates with the second compressor and a means of varying the inlet area of the duct such that the area is maximize when the engines are required to operate in the parallel flow mode and minimized during series flow operation.

Variable area aircraft air intake

One problem associated with aircraft using variable cycle engines is how to provide an air intake which is sufficiently large to be able to supply air to both the first and second compressors of the engine during the parallel flow mode and sufficiently small to minimize aerodynamic drag when the engines are operated in the tandem flow mode during supersonic forward flight. This invention overcomes this problem by providing an air intake which combines a blocker door covering a second portion of the duct which communicates with the second compressor and a means of varying the inlet area of the duct such that the area is maximized when the engines are required to operate in the parallel flow mode and minimized during series flow operation.

A translating cowl thrust reverser for a ducted fan gas turbine engine has a fan cowl, the downstream portion of which is translatable axially to open an aperture in the cowl. The aperture has upstream and downstream side-walls and which are curved to deflect fan air flow through the aperture in a forward direction. An annular plate is positioned at the outlet from the aperture and projects into the turbulent flow region on the upstream side-wall to define with the side-wall a recess open to the flow which delays the separation of the flow from the side-wall. This increases the effective area of the outlet and the angle through which the flow is turned thus improving the thrust reverser efficiency to the point at which no cascades are needed in the aperture.

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Somerset, United Kingdom

William J Lewis