Aircraft propulsion system and methods of feathering
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsJean Thomassin, Pierre Bertrand, Todd A. Spierling, Chad M. Henze
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aircraft propulsion system including at least first airmover, an electric motor configured to at least partially power the at least first airmover, wherein the first airmover includes a propeller having at least a first position configured to provide thrust to the aircraft and a second position configured to recharge a power source, wherein the second position is a reverse windmilling position, and a heat engine configured to at least partially power the first air mover or a second air mover.
Claims13
An aircraft propulsion system comprising:
- a first airmover and a second airmover disposed coaxially;
- an electric motor configured to power the first airmover, wherein the first airmover includes a propeller having at least a first position configured to provide thrust to the aircraft and a second position configured to recharge a power source, wherein the second position is a reverse windmilling position in which at least one blade of the propeller is rotated about a blade axis by at least 90 degrees with respect to an operating position, the operating position corresponding to the first position configured to provide forward thrust to the aircraft, wherein the blade axis is a span-wide axis extending through an airfoil of the at least one blade;
- and
- a heat engine configured to directly power the second air mover.
A method of operating an aircraft propulsion system comprising:
- reverse windmilling an airmover connected to electric motor, including rotating at least one blade of the airmover about a blade axis by at least 90 degrees with respect to an operating position, the operating position corresponding to the first position configured to provide forward thrust to the aircraft, wherein the blade axis is a span-wide axis extending through an airfoil of the at least one blade;
- recharging a power supply while reverse windmilling the airmover;
- and
- directly powering an additional airmover by a heat engine, the airmover and the additional airmover disposed coaxially.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.