Systems and methods to generate propulsor side forces
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsDavid N. Beal, Stephen A. Huyer
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Abstract
Systems and methods for maneuvering an underwater vehicle by generating vehicle maneuvering forces from a propulsor of the vehicle are provided. A ducted, pre-swirl propulsor is configured such that the pitch angles of the stator blades of the upstream stator row can be varied. By varying the pitch angles of the stator blades about the circumference, a mean stator side force is generated. Subsequently, the axial velocity and swirl that is ingested into the inflow is varied. The rotor of the propulsor then generates a side force in response to the inflow.
Claims19
A method for designing a ducted, pre-swirl propulsor for an underwater vehicle to produce maneuvering forces, said method comprising the steps of:
- characterizing stator forces and a stator-induced flow for a variation in stator blade pitch angles;
- computing rotor forces based on the induced flow;
- and
- choosing rotor blade parameters to optimize the rotor forces, a combination of the stator forces and the rotor forces producing the maneuvering forces.
A ducted, pre-swirl propulsor system for an underwater vehicle, said system comprising:
- a row of stator blades, a pitch angle, αblade, of said stator blades varying about a circumference of the vehicle to produce a circumferentially varying downflow;
- and
- a rotor ingesting the downflow to produce a side force on the vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.