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:
Dec. 19, 2000
Filed:
May. 04, 1999
John Liu, Thorton, PA (US);
Michael A McVeigh, Moylan, PA (US);
Robert J Mayer, Swarthmore, PA (US);
The Boeing Company, Seattle, WA (US);
Abstract
A tiltrotor aircraft includes a spanwise-flow redirector having a pair of flow-redirection panels respectively mounted on the aircraft's mid-fuselage area for rotation about a panel pivot axis between a stowed position and a deployed position. In the stowed position, each panel is substantially flush with an adjacent surface of the mid-fuselage area. In the deployed position, each panel is raised into the path of one of the inbound spanwise flows generated by the aircraft's rotors during hover operation, whereupon each panel redirects the respective one of the inbound spanwise flows either forward or aft of the other inbound spanwise flow. In this manner, the deployed panels prevent stagnation of the inbound spanwise flow atop the mid-fuselage area while further serving to minimize re-ingestion of merged spanwise flow into the rotors, resulting in decreased airframe download forces, increased rotor thrust, and reduced noise levels during hover operation.