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US 2026/0307811 A1Published application
Aircraft with an unducted fan propulsor
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsSara Elizabeth Carle, Daniel L. Tweedt, Syed Arif Khalid, Andrew Breeze-Stringfellow, William Bowden, Trevor H. Wood, Kishore Ramakrishnan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure is generally related to aircraft having one or more unducted fan propulsors at locations within specific regions relative to an airfoil, such as a wing or horizontal stabilizer. More specifically, the specific regions are located where there is a relatively higher pressure air flow beneath the wings or above a horizontal stabilizer. That higher pressure air flow can be utilized to provide increased thrust from the unducted fan propulsor.
Claims20
An aircraft comprising:
- a fuselage;
- a pair of wings extending from the fuselage,
- two or more unducted fan propulsors, each of the unducted fan propulsors is mounted relative to one of the wings on a high pressure side thereof, the unducted fan propulsor having a centerline (CL), a plurality of blades arranged in a forward array and a plurality of blades arranged in a rearward array, wherein only one of the forward and rearward array of blades are rotating blades and the rotating blades define a maximum outer diameter (D);
- a point (P) located at an intersection of the CL and a line HP perpendicular to the CL that passes through an axial midpoint between a rearward trailing edge at a root of a blade of the rearward array and a forward leading edge at a root of a blade of the forward array when the forward leading edge and rearward trailing edge of the respective blades are aligned with each other;
- and
- an airfoil section having an effective quarter chord point QC;
- a positioning line (R) having a length (RL) and extending from the QC to the point P of the unducted fan propulsor at an angle θ measured positive in a counter-clockwise direction when the high pressure side of the airfoil section is below the airfoil section when viewed looking from an outboard position towards an inboard position of the wing;
- wherein 0.07≤RL/D≤2.0 and θ is between 187° and 342°;
- and wherein at least one of the two or more unducted fan propulsors further includes:
- a spinner having an external surface;
- wherein a flowpath curve corresponds to an intersection of the external surface with a plane containing the CL and the forward leading edge of the blade root;
- wherein an axial direction, z, parallel to the CL, and a radius, r, defines the flowpath curve;
- wherein a bulge location with radius r1 on the flowpath curve is found by proceeding forward from the leading edge of the blade root to where the radius r reaches a maximum;
- and
- wherein a local minimum with radius r2 on the flowpath curve is found by proceeding aft from the bulge location to a nearest point where the radius r stops decreasing within an axial extent of the forward blade root, and wherein ratio r1/r2 is from 1.021 to 1.192.
12 more elements
An aircraft, comprising:
- a fuselage;
- an airfoil extending from the fuselage, the airfoil having an airfoil section defining an effective quarter chord point (QC);
- an unducted fan propulsor mounted relative to the airfoil section on a high pressure side thereof, the unducted fan propulsor having a centerline (CL), a plurality of blades arranged in a forward array and a plurality of blades arranged in a rearward array, wherein only one of the forward and rearward array of blades are rotating blades and the rotating blades define a maximum outer diameter (D);
- a point (P) located at an intersection of the CL and a line HP perpendicular to the CL that passes through an axial midpoint between a rearward trailing edge at a root of a blade of the rearward array and a forward leading edge at a root of a blade of the forward array when the forward leading edge and rearward trailing edge of the respective blades are aligned with each other;
- and
- an ellipse origin positioning line (EOR) having a length (EORL) extending from the QC to an ellipse origin (OR) at an angle θ measured positive in a counter-clockwise direction when the high pressure side of the airfoil section is below the airfoil section, and measured positive in a clockwise direction when the high pressure side of the airfoil section is above the airfoil section, when viewed looking for an outboard position towards an inboard position;
- wherein the P of the unducted fan propulsor is located within a first ellipse having a first major axis length (1MajAL) and a first minor axis length (1MinAL) with a first ellipse origin defined by EORL/D of 0.938 and θ of 253.6°, and where 1MajAL/D is 2.8 and 1MinAL/D is 1.7;
- and wherein at least one of the two or more unducted fan propulsors further includes:
- a spinner having an external surface;
- wherein a flowpath curve corresponds to an intersection of the external surface with a plane containing the CL and the forward leading edge of the blade root;
- wherein an axial direction, z, parallel to the CL, and a radius, r, defines the flowpath curve;
- wherein a bulge location with radius r1 on the flowpath curve is found by proceeding forward from the leading edge of the blade root to where the radius r reaches a maximum;
- and
- wherein a local minimum with radius r2 on the flowpath curve is found by proceeding aft from the bulge location to a nearest point where the radius r stops decreasing within an axial extent of the forward blade root, and wherein ratio r1/r2 is from 1.021 to 1.192.
11 more elements
An aircraft, comprising:
- a fuselage;
- an airfoil extending from the fuselage, the airfoil having an airfoil section defining an effective quarter-chord point (QC);
- an unducted fan propulsor mounted relative to the airfoil section on a high pressure side thereof, the unducted fan propulsor having a centerline (CL), a plurality of blades arranged in a forward array and a plurality of blades arranged in a rearward array, wherein one of the forward and rearward array of blades are rotating blades and the rotating blades define a maximum outer diameter (D);
- a point (P) located at an intersection of the CL and a line HP perpendicular to the CL that passes through an axial midpoint between a rearward trailing edge at a root of a blade of the rearward array and a forward leading edge at a root of a blade of the forward array when the forward leading edge and rearward trailing edge of the respective blades are aligned with each other;
- and
- a positioning line (R) having a length (RL) and extending from the QC to the point P of the unducted fan propulsor at an angle θ measured positive in a counter-clockwise direction when the high pressure side of the airfoil section is below the airfoil section, and measured positive in a clockwise direction when the high pressure side of the airfoil section is above the airfoil section, when viewed looking from an outboard position towards an inboard position (e.g. the fuselage) OR when viewed with the LE to the left of the TE;
- wherein 0.065<RL/D<1.98 and θ is between 187° and 340°;
- and wherein RL/D and 0 of the P of the unducted fan propulsor adhere to the following expressions:
- RL
- D
- +
- (
- 1.4161
- *
- [
- 1.88978
- *
- sin
- 2
- (
- θ
- )
- -
- 0.0875
- *
- cos
- 2
- (
- θ
- )
- +
- 0.477
- *
- sin
-
- (
- θ
- )
- *
- cos
-
- (
- θ
- )
- ]
- +
- 1.764
- *
- sin
-
- (
- θ
- )
- +
- 0.19146
- *
- cos
-
- (
- θ
- )
- )
- 1.96
- *
- sin
- 2
- (
- θ
- )
- +
- 0.7225
- *
- cos
- 2
- (
- θ
- )
- >
- 0
- and
- RL
- D
- +
- (
- -
- 1.4161
- *
- [
- 1.88978
- *
- sin
- 2
- (
- θ
- )
- -
- 0.0875
- *
- cos
- 2
- (
- θ
- )
- +
- 0.477
- *
- sin
-
- (
- θ
- )
- *
- cos
-
- (
- θ
- )
- ]
- +
- 1.764
- *
- sin
-
- (
- θ
- )
- +
- 0.19146
- *
- cos
-
- (
- θ
- )
- )
- 1.96
- *
- sin
- 2
- (
- θ
- )
- +
- 0.7225
- *
- cos
- 2
- (
- θ
- )
- <
- 0
- ;
- and wherein at least one of the two or more unducted fan propulsors further includes:
- a spinner having an external surface;
- wherein a flowpath curve corresponds to an intersection of the external surface with a plane containing the CL and the forward leading edge of the blade root;
- wherein an axial direction, z, parallel to the CL, and a radius, r, defines the flowpath curve;
- wherein a bulge location with radius r1 on the flowpath curve is found by proceeding forward from the leading edge of the blade root to where the radius r reaches a maximum;
- and
- wherein a local minimum with radius r2 on the flowpath curve is found by proceeding aft from the bulge location to a nearest point where the radius r stops decreasing within an axial extent of the forward blade root, and wherein ratio r1/r2 is from 1.021 to 1.192.
157 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.