Aircraft Propulsion Assembly
AssigneeBell Helicopter Textron Inc.
InventorsJohn Richard McCullough, Paul K. Oldroyd
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In some embodiments, a propulsion assembly for an aircraft includes a nacelle, at least one self-contained fuel tank disposed within the nacelle operable to contain a liquid fuel, an engine disposed within the nacelle operable to run on the liquid fuel, a drive system mechanically coupled to the engine and operable to rotate responsive to rotation of the engine, a rotor hub mechanically coupled to the drive system operable to rotate responsive to rotation of the drive system and a proprotor mechanically coupled to the rotor hub and operable to rotate therewith.
Claims20
A propulsion assembly for an aircraft comprising:
- a nacelle;
- at least one self-contained fuel tank disposed within the nacelle operable to contain a liquid fuel;
- an engine disposed within the nacelle operable to run on the liquid fuel;
- a drive system mechanically coupled to the engine and operable to rotate responsive to rotation of the engine;
- a rotor hub mechanically coupled to the drive system operable to rotate responsive to rotation of the drive system;
- and
- a proprotor mechanically coupled to the rotor hub and operable to rotate therewith.
An aircraft, comprising:
- an airframe;
- a distributed propulsion system including a plurality of propulsion assembles securable attachable to the airframe, the propulsion assembles each comprising:
- a nacelle;
- at least one self-contained fuel tank disposed within the nacelle operable to contain a liquid fuel;
- an engine disposed within the nacelle operable to run on the liquid fuel;
- a drive system mechanically coupled to the engine and operable to rotate responsive to rotation of the engine;
- a rotor hub mechanically coupled to the drive system operable to rotate responsive to rotation of the drive system;
- and
- a proprotor mechanically coupled to the rotor hub and operable to rotate therewith.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.