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US 8,408,491 B2Granted
Nacelle assembly having inlet airfoil for a gas turbine engine
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsAshok K. Jain, Michael Winter
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A nacelle assembly includes an inlet lip section and an airfoil adjacent to the inlet lip section. The airfoil is selectively moveable between a first position and a second position to adjust the flow of oncoming airflow and to influence an effective boundary layer thickness of the nacelle assembly.
Claims23
A nacelle assembly, comprising:
- an inlet lip section;
- and
- at least one airfoil stored in a cavity defined inside said inlet lip section, wherein said cavity is disposed between a radially outer and a radially inner wall of said inlet lip section, and said at least one airfoil is selectively moveable between a first position and a second position in response to a sensing signal and without moving any other portion of the nacelle assembly to influence a flow of oncoming airflow and influence an effective boundary layer thickness of the nacelle assembly.
A gas turbine engine, comprising:
- at least one fan section, at least one compressor section, at least one combustor section and at least one turbine section, wherein said fan section includes a geartrain;
- a nacelle assembly at least partially surrounding said at least one compressor section, said at least one combustor section and said at least one turbine section, wherein said nacelle assembly includes an inlet lip section and at least one airfoil adjacent to said inlet lip section, said at least one airfoil selectively moveable between a first position and a second position to influence an effective boundary layer thickness of said nacelle assembly;
- a controller that identifies an operability condition, wherein said controller selectively commands movement of said at least one airfoil between said first position and said second position in response to said operability condition;
- and
- a sensor that produces a sensing signal representing said operability condition and communicates said sensing signal to said controller.
2 more elements
A method of increasing an effective boundary layer thickness of an inlet section of a nacelle of a gas turbine engine, comprising the steps of:
- (a) sensing an operability condition;
- (b) communicating a sensing signal representative of the operability condition;
- and
- (c) selectively translating an airfoil positioned adjacent to the inlet lip section in a radial outward direction from the nacelle without moving any other portion of the nacelle in response to the sensing signal.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.