An aircraft engine seal apparatus

Abstract

An aircraft engine seal apparatus has an inflatable seal with a front wall, a rear wall and a side wall forming a rim for pressing and sealing against an internal surface of an engine intake. There is at least one access hatch which is openable to allow access into a cavity behind the seal in use. Each access hatch has a structure with a liner extending from the front wall to the rear wall and defining a passageway through the seal, and a door or cover which seals against said structure when closed. The hatch liner may have sections of flexible plastics material which are sealed together with overlap in a circumferential direction to form a liner having a convex shape facing into the passage. The sections are trained through the front and rear flanges. A front flange is adhered to a front surface of the front wall around an aperture in the front wall, and the rear flange is likewise adhered to a rear surface of the rear wall. Flexible lanyard connectors are provided for safety and flexible tabs provide a visual guide for insertion depth into the engine intake. The hatches allow very convenient insertion of a tube of a drier and/or insertion and removal of desiccant bags.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.