The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 08, 2023
Filed:
Feb. 04, 2021
Spirit Aerosystems, Inc., Wichita, KS (US);
Henry Arnold Schaefer, Wichita, KS (US);
SPIRIT AEROSYSTEMS, INC., Wichita, KS (US);
Abstract
A ducted fan housing for directing a duct flow includes an annular cowling and an adjustable fan duct nozzle. The nozzle includes a flexible sleeve having rigid areas arranged circumferentially around the nozzle orifice and connected by flexible areas so as to form a unitary sleeve structure. The rigid areas are radially moveable between a normal configuration in which the orifice is smaller and a dilated configuration in which the orifice is larger. A drive mechanism uses drive elements to move at least some of the rigid areas between the configurations to adjust the size of the orifice. The rigid areas may be constructed from laminated graphite and epoxy, and the flexible areas may be constructed from laminated graphite and soft resin. If the housing includes a thrust reverser, then a flexible joint area extends circumferentially around the housing and connects the flexible sleeve to a thrust reverser cowl.