Cooling system for high speed aircraft
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorJohn S. Amneus, III
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An inlet ramp for an aircraft engine is constructed as a movable panel which is internally cooled by fluid coolant. At a selected time, the coolant flow is terminated allowing the panel to overheat and melt away so as to expose an underlayer of ablative material. The ablative material then begins to melt away thereby cooling the underlying surface of the aircraft via ablation.
Claims12
A cooling system for high speed aircraft, comprising:
- first cooling mean provided on said aircraft for cooling a surface portion of said aircraft;
- and
- ablative cooling means provided on said aircraft adjacent said first cooling means, said ablative cooling means being drivably movable with respect to said aircraft such that upon deactivation of said first cooling means and upon controlled driven movement of said ablative cooling means, said ablative cooling means undergoes ablation.
A method of cooling a surface portion of an inlet ramp for an aircraft engine of a high speed aircraft, wherein said method comprises cooling said surface portion with convection cooling means;
- deactivating said convection cooling means;
- and cooling said surface portion with ablative cooling.
An inlet ramp for controlling airflow into a high speed aircraft engine, comprising:
- a ramp member controllably movable with respect to said engine, said ramp member comprising a smooth outer surface portion for selectively introducing said airflow into said engine and for selectively blocking said airflow from entering said engine, said ramp member comprising an ablative material for providing ablative cooling to said inlet ramp;
- and
- fluid cooling means for directing a fluid coolant about said ramp member prior to ablation of said ablative material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.