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US 12,715,576 B2Granted
Rotorcraft with powerplant exhaust sound attenuation
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorNathan Tomes
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An assembly is provided for a rotorcraft. This rotorcraft assembly includes a fuselage, a tail and a rotorcraft lift system. The tail boom is connected to and projects longitudinally out from the fuselage. The rotorcraft lift system includes a rotorcraft rotor and a powerplant configured to drive rotation of the rotorcraft rotor to generate rotorcraft lift. The powerplant includes a heat engine and a powerplant flowpath. The powerplant flowpath extends through the heat engine. The outlet from the powerplant flowpath is fluidly coupled to an interior volume in the tail boom.
Claims18
An assembly for a rotorcraft, comprising:
- a fuselage;
- a tail boom connected to and projecting longitudinally out from the fuselage, the tail boom comprising an acoustic panel and a tubular sidewall;
- and
- a rotorcraft lift system including a rotorcraft rotor and a powerplant configured to drive rotation of the rotorcraft rotor to generate rotorcraft lift, the powerplant including a heat engine and a powerplant flowpath, the powerplant flowpath extending through the heat engine, the heat engine comprising a rotary engine, and an outlet from the powerplant flowpath fluidly coupled to an interior volume in the tail boom;
- wherein the tubular sidewall forms an exterior of the tail boom and an outer peripheral boundary of the interior volume within the tail boom;
- and
- wherein the acoustic panel is an integral part of the tubular sidewall and extends longitudinally along the interior volume downstream of the outlet from the powerplant flowpath.
4 more elements
An assembly for a rotorcraft, comprising:
- a rotorcraft airframe including a fuselage and a tail boom, the tail boom projecting longitudinally along a centerline out from the fuselage to a distal end of the tail boom, and the tail boom comprising an acoustic panel longitudinally lining at least a portion of an interior volume within the tail boom;
- a heat engine disposed in the rotorcraft fuselage, an exhaust outlet from the heat engine fluidly coupled with an environment external to the rotorcraft airframe through the interior volume within the tail boom, wherein the acoustic panel is configured to attenuate noise propagating in combustion products output from the heat engine through the exhaust outlet;
- an air system comprising an air flowpath, an upstream section of the air flowpath extending within the fuselage, and a downstream section of the air flowpath extending longitudinally within the tail boom, the downstream section of the air flowpath comprising the interior volume;
- a sidewall extending longitudinally along a centerline and circumferentially around the downstream section of the air flowpath;
- and
- a plurality of slots extending longitudinally in the sidewall as an array, each of the plurality of slots projecting through the sidewall to fluidly couple the downstream section of the air flowpath to an environment external to the tail boom;
- wherein the heat engine comprises an intermittent combustion internal combustion engine.
4 more elements
An assembly for a rotorcraft, comprising:
- a fuselage;
- a tail boom connected to and projecting longitudinally out from the fuselage, the tail boom comprising a tubular sidewall and an acoustic panel, the tubular sidewall forms an exterior of the tail boom and an outer peripheral boundary of the interior volume within the tail boom, and the tail boom projecting longitudinally along a centerline out from the fuselage to a distal tail end of the tail boom;
- and
- a rotorcraft lift system including a rotorcraft rotor and a powerplant configured to drive rotation of the rotorcraft rotor to generate rotorcraft lift, the powerplant including a heat engine and a powerplant flowpath, the powerplant flowpath extending through the heat engine, and an outlet from the powerplant flowpath fluidly coupled to an interior volume in the tail boom;
- wherein the acoustic panel extends longitudinally along the tail boom to the distal tail end of the tail boom, and the acoustic panel extends longitudinally along the interior volume downstream of the outlet from the powerplant flowpath;
- and
- wherein the acoustic panel includes a first skin, a second skin and a cellular core between and connected to the first skin and the second skin, the cellular core forms a plurality of cavities within the acoustic panel between the first skin and the second skin, and each of the plurality of cavities is fluidly coupled with the interior volume through one or more respective perforations in the first skin.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.