Counter-rotating fan assembly

A counter-rotating fan assembly, comprising:

• an upstream fan;
• a downstream fan that rotates in a direction opposite to a rotational direction of the upstream fan, the upstream fan and the downstream fan rotating about a substantially common rotation axis;
• an upstream motor that drives the upstream fan;
• an upstream motor support that supports the upstream motor;
• a downstream motor that drives the downstream fan;
• a downstream motor support that supports the downstream motor;
• and
• a barrel that surrounds at least a portion of the upstream fan and a portion of the downstream fan,
• characterized in that,
• the upstream motor support is located upstream of the upstream fan,
• the downstream motor support is located downstream of the downstream fan,
• the upstream motor support and the downstream motor support comprise a plurality of vanes,
• each vane has a cross section that includes a chord line that extends between a leading edge of the vane and a trailing edge of the vane, a chord length that corresponds to the length of the chord line, and a maximum thickness,
• the chord length is greater than the maximum thickness, and
• the chord line is oriented parallel to the rotation axis.