Integrated aircraft propulsion system
AssigneeRolls-Royce North American Technologies Inc.
InventorsEdward C. Rice, Richard K. Keller, William B. Bryan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An integrated propulsion system comprising at least two gas turbine engines, at least one fan, and a transmission assembly coupling the at least two gas turbine engines to the at least one fan wherein the at least two gas turbine engines are disposed within a main body of an airframe comprising the main body and a pair of wings, and wherein the number of gas turbine engines is greater than the number of fans.
Claims15
An aircraft with an integrated propulsion system wherein a number of gas turbine engines and a number of fans consists of two gas turbine engines and one fan, the system comprising:
- a transmission assembly coupling a first of said two gas turbine engines and a second of said two gas turbine engine to said fan;
- a fan passage in fluid communication with the fan, the fan passage defined between a fan inlet duct and a fan exhaust duct;
- and
- at least one gas turbine engine passage in fluid communication with one of the two gas turbine engines, the at least one gas turbine engine passage defined between an inlet duct of the one gas turbine engine and an exhaust duct of the one gas turbine engine;
- wherein the fan passage and the at least one gas turbine engine passage are exclusive of one another;
- the fan passage and the at least one gas turbine engine passage being at least partially defined within a fuselage of the aircraft,
- wherein the inlet duct of the one gas turbine engine is on a first side of the fuselage, and the fan inlet duct is on a second side of the fuselage, wherein the second side of the fuselage is a top side or a bottom side of the fuselage, wherein the top side is the side of the fuselage on which a cockpit of the aircraft is located and the bottom side of the fuselage is the side of the fuselage opposite the top side.
An aircraft with a propulsion system comprising:
- a first gas turbine engine installed on a first side of an aircraft body and a second gas turbine engine installed on a second side of said aircraft body;
- and
- a fan unit installed on a top side of said aircraft body or a bottom side of the aircraft body, wherein the top side is the side of the aircraft body on which a cockpit of the aircraft is located and the bottom side is the side of the aircraft body opposite the top side, said fan unit coupled to said first gas turbine engine and said second gas turbine engine by a transmission assembly comprising a clutch and more than one rotating linkages,
- wherein each of said first gas turbine engine and said second gas turbine engine are in fluid communication with a respective exclusive engine duct comprising an engine inlet duct and an engine exhaust duct, and wherein said fan unit is in fluid communication with an exclusive fan duct comprising a fan inlet duct and a fan exhaust duct, the exclusive fan duct and each of the exclusive engine ducts are at least partially defined within the aircraft body,
- wherein the engine inlet duct of the first gas turbine engine is on the first side of the aircraft body, the engine inlet duct of the second gas turbine engine is on the second side of the aircraft body, and the fan inlet duct is on the top side of the aircraft body or the bottom side of the aircraft body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.