US 2026/0192931 A1Published application

Blended wing aircraft with boundary layer ingestion features and body/engine shielding features

AssigneeGeneral Electric Company

InventorsArthur William Sibbach, Daniel Alan Niergarth, Erich Alois Krammer, Brandon Wayne Miller, James Laverty

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Abstract

In one aspect, a blended wing aircraft includes a blended wing body and an engine including a nacelle defining an inlet and an outlet. The engine further includes a fan positioned within the nacelle between the inlet and the outlet, with the engine being supported relative to the blended wing body such that the inlet of the nacelle is configured to receive boundary layer air from the blended wing body. In addition, the blended wing aircraft includes a plurality of surface features positioned upstream of the fan, with each surface feature of the plurality of surface features comprising a projection extending outwardly from an adjacent surface of the blended wing aircraft such that the projection is configured to interact with the boundary layer air.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A blended wing aircraft, comprising:

a blended wing body;
an engine including a nacelle defining an inlet and an outlet, the engine further including a fan positioned within the nacelle between the inlet and the outlet, the engine being supported relative to the blended wing body such that the inlet of the nacelle is configured to receive boundary layer air from the blended wing body;
and
a plurality of surface features positioned upstream of the fan within the nacelle at a location upstream of the fan and downstream of the inlet of the nacelle, each surface feature of the plurality of surface features comprising a projection extending outwardly from an adjacent surface of the blended wing aircraft such that the projection is configured to interact with the boundary layer air;
wherein a bottom end of the inlet of the nacelle is recessed relative to an adjacent base profile surface of the blended wing body and defines a recessed inlet channel;
and
wherein the plurality of surface features are provided within the recessed inlet channel.

4 more elements

A blended wing aircraft, comprising:

a blended wing body extending in a longitudinal direction between a forward end of the blended wing body and an aft end of the blended wing body, the blended wing body extending in a lateral direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction;
a first engine supported relative to the blended wing body, the first engine having a first forwardmost rotating airfoil and a first aftmost rotating airfoil;
a second engine supported relative to the blended wing body, the second engine being spaced apart from the first engine in the lateral direction, the second engine having a second forwardmost rotating airfoil and a second aftmost rotating airfoil;
and
a shielding tail extending outwardly from the blended wing body at a location between the first and second engines in the lateral direction, the shielding tail extending in the longitudinal direction between a forward tail end and an aft tail end, the forward tail end being aligned with or positioned forward of the first and second forwardmost rotating airfoils in the longitudinal direction, the aft tail end being aligned with or positioned aft of the first and second aftmost rotating airfoils in the longitudinal direction.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.