Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to provide an aircraft propulsion system which can improve the propulsion efficiency of the existing aircraft and reduce the fuel consumption of the whole range of the aircraft.
To achieve the foregoing object, an aircraft propulsion system comprises:
the energy storage unit is arranged in the aircraft body;
The tail fan subassembly sets up in the aircraft afterbody, tail fan subassembly is open fan engine, include:
the first driving unit is electrically connected with the energy storage unit;
A tail fan rotor arranged at the periphery of the tail of the aircraft and connected with the first driving unit in a transmission way, and
The tail fan stator is arranged at the periphery of the tail of the aircraft;
wherein the aft fan stator is closer to the aft end of the aircraft than the aft fan rotor.
In one or more embodiments, the aircraft comprises a wing, the aircraft propulsion system further comprises wing fan assemblies, the wing fan assemblies are arranged in pairs on a pair of the wings, and at least one wing fan assembly is arranged on each wing;
wherein the wing fan assembly is an open fan engine.
In one or more embodiments, the wing fan assembly includes a wing fan rotor and a wing fan stator that is closer to the aft end of the aircraft than the wing fan rotor.
In one or more embodiments, at least one of the wing fan assemblies includes:
The outer casing and set up in outer casing is interior:
A compressor;
A combustion chamber provided on the downstream side of the compressor in the incoming flow direction;
the high-pressure turbine is arranged on the downstream side of the combustion chamber along the incoming flow direction and is in transmission connection with the air compressor through a high vortex shaft;
A power turbine provided on a downstream side of the high-pressure turbine in an incoming flow direction;
the generator is in transmission connection with the power turbine through a low vortex shaft, the generator is electrically connected with the energy storage unit, and the energy storage unit is electrically connected with the second driving unit;
the wing fan stator is arranged on the periphery of the tail cone part of the outer casing, and the wing fan rotor is in transmission connection with the low vortex shaft and the second driving unit.
In one or more embodiments, the wing fan rotor is drivingly connected to the low vortex shaft through a speed reducer.
In one or more embodiments, at least one of the wing fan assemblies includes:
The outer casing and set up in outer casing is interior:
A high pressure compressor;
the combustion chamber is arranged on the downstream side of the high-pressure compressor along the incoming flow direction;
The high-pressure turbine is arranged on the downstream side of the combustion chamber along the incoming flow direction and is in transmission connection with the high-pressure compressor through a high vortex shaft;
a low pressure turbine disposed downstream of the high pressure turbine in an incoming flow direction, and
The generator set comprises a generator and a second driving unit, wherein the generator is in transmission connection with the low-pressure turbine through a low-vortex shaft, the generator is electrically connected with the energy storage unit, the energy storage unit is electrically connected with the second driving unit, and
The actuating unit is arranged at the upstream of the outer casing along the incoming flow direction, a flow channel in the outer casing is defined between the actuating unit and an inlet of the outer casing, the wing fan rotor is arranged at the periphery of the actuating unit and is in transmission connection with the low-pressure turbine, and the wing fan stator is arranged at the periphery of the outer casing at the downstream side of the actuating unit along the incoming flow direction.
In one or more embodiments, the wing fan stator is mounted to the actuation unit periphery by a pitch adjustment unit.
In one or more embodiments, the wing fan rotor is drivingly connected to the low pressure turbine through a gearbox and the low vortex shaft.
In one or more embodiments, the first drive unit and/or the second drive unit is a motor.
In one or more embodiments, the motor is secured within the aircraft by a motor bracket.
The invention has the beneficial effects that:
Through setting up tail fan subassembly, it has boundary layer suction effect, can provide 20% ~30% thrust simultaneously, consequently under the unchangeable circumstances of aircraft total thrust demand, conventional gas turbine engine's thrust demand reduces, consequently its fan diameter also can reduce, satisfies the size constraint restriction under the nacelle maximum diameter more easily, has equivalent to indirectly increased traditional gas turbine engine's duct ratio simultaneously. On the basis, the open fan engine is an engine between the vortex propeller and the vortex fan, and can be seen as an ultra-high bypass compared with the vortex fan engine except for an outer bypass, and has the advantages of high propulsion efficiency, low fuel consumption and high flying speed of the vortex fan engine, and the aerodynamic efficiency of the tail fan assembly 1 can be further improved by applying the open fan configuration to the tail fan assembly.
On the basis, in the tail fan assembly of the configuration, a double-row fan structure is arranged, a tail fan rotor and a tail fan stator are combined, and on the basis that the tail fan rotor provides the suction effect of the auxiliary surface layer and the partial thrust, the tail fan stator is utilized for rectifying and noise reduction, so that the noise requirement of an aircraft in take-off is met. Meanwhile, in the landing process, the tail fan assembly can be reversed to play a role in reverse thrust, shorten the landing distance and even replace a reverse thrust device in the traditional engine, so that the engine structure is simplified, and the weight of the engine is reduced.
The foregoing description is only an overview of the present application, and is intended to be implemented in accordance with the teachings of the present application in order that the same may be more clearly understood and to make the same and other objects, features and advantages of the present application more readily apparent.
Detailed Description
Embodiments of the technical scheme of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following examples are only for more clearly illustrating the technical aspects of the present application, and thus are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs, the terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to be limiting of the application, and the terms "comprising" and "having" and any variations thereof in the description of the application and the claims and the above description of the drawings are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions.
In order to improve the propulsion efficiency of an existing aircraft, according to some embodiments of the present application, an aircraft propulsion system is provided, as shown in fig. 1, which shows a schematic view of an aircraft propulsion system according to some embodiments of the present application applied to an aircraft, the aircraft 100 comprising a fuselage 101 and a wing 102, the aircraft propulsion system comprising a tail fan assembly 1 arranged at the tail of the aircraft and an energy storage unit 2.
Fig. 2 is a schematic partial view of a tail fan assembly according to some embodiments of the present application, fig. 3 is a schematic layout of the tail fan assembly according to some embodiments of the present application, fig. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the tail fan assembly according to some embodiments of the present application, and as can be seen in conjunction with fig. 1 to 4, the energy storage unit 2 is disposed in the fuselage 101 of the aircraft 100, the tail fan assembly 1 is disposed at the tail 103 of the aircraft, and the tail fan assembly 1 is an open fan engine, i.e. no nacelle components are disposed outside the fan rotor, in an open engine configuration.
The tail fan assembly 1 comprises a first driving unit 10, a tail fan rotor 11 and a tail fan stator 12, wherein the first driving unit 10 is electrically connected with the energy storage unit 2, for example, by a cable. The tail fan rotor 11 is disposed on the outer periphery of the tail 103 of the aircraft and is in transmission connection with the first driving unit 10, in a specific embodiment, the first driving unit 10 is a motor, and is supported on the inner side of the tail 103 of the aircraft through a motor support plate 112, the tail fan rotor 11 includes a fan disc 110 and rotor blades disposed on the fan disc 110, the fan disc 110 is in transmission connection with a driving shaft of the motor through a fan shaft 111, and the motor extracts electric power through the energy storage unit 2, so as to drive the tail fan rotor 11 to rotate.
The aft fan stator 12 is disposed on the outer periphery of the aft portion 103 and may be considered as a plurality of stator blades disposed on the outer periphery of the aft portion 103.
Wherein the aft fan stator 12 is closer to the aft end of the aircraft 100 than the aft fan rotor 11, it is understood that the aft end of the aircraft 100 may be understood as the extreme end of the incoming airflow direction during flight of the aircraft 100.
Through setting up tail fan assembly 1, it has boundary layer suction effect, can provide 20% ~30% thrust simultaneously, consequently under the unchangeable circumstances of aircraft total thrust demand, the thrust demand of conventional gas turbine engine reduces, consequently its fan diameter also can reduce, satisfies the size constraint restriction under the nacelle maximum diameter more easily, has equivalent to indirectly increased the duct ratio of conventional gas turbine engine simultaneously. On this basis, the open fan engine is an engine between the turboprop and the turbofan, and can be regarded as an ultra-high bypass compared with the turbofan engine except for an external bypass, and has the advantages of high propulsion efficiency, low fuel consumption and high flying speed of the turbofan engine, and the aerodynamic efficiency of the tail fan assembly 1 can be further improved by applying the open fan configuration to the tail fan assembly 1.
On the basis, in the tail fan assembly 1 of the configuration, a double-row fan structure is arranged, a tail fan rotor 11 and a tail fan stator 12 are combined, and on the basis that the suction effect of a boundary layer and partial thrust are provided through the tail fan rotor 11, the tail fan stator 12 is utilized for rectification and noise reduction, so that the noise requirement of the aircraft 100 in the take-off process is met.
Meanwhile, in the landing process, the tail fan assembly 1 can be reversed to play a role in reverse thrust, shorten the landing distance and even replace a reverse thrust device in the traditional engine, so that the engine structure is simplified, and the engine weight is reduced.
In the description of embodiments of the present application, the technical terms "first," "second," and the like are used merely to distinguish between different objects and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated, a particular order or a primary or secondary relationship. In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more unless explicitly defined otherwise.
Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearances of such phrases in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Those of skill in the art will explicitly and implicitly appreciate that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.
With continued reference to fig. 1, in one embodiment of the present propulsion system, the wing 102 of the aircraft 100 is provided with a wing fan assembly 3 offshore, and fig. 5 shows a schematic perspective view of the wing fan assembly according to some embodiments of the present propulsion system. The wing fan assemblies 3 are arranged in pairs on a pair of wings 102, i.e. the number of wing fan assemblies 3 arranged on the wings 102 is the same, while at least one wing fan assembly 3 is arranged on each wing 102, it being understood that in the embodiment shown in the way, one wing fan assembly 3 is arranged on each wing 102, and in other embodiments different from that shown in the figures, two or more wing fan assemblies 3 may be arranged on each wing, respectively. In the configuration provided by the present propulsion system, the wing fan assembly is an open fan engine. The open rotor engine formed by the open fans has the advantages of high propulsion efficiency, low fuel consumption and high flying speed of the turbofan engine, and the open rotor engine can benefit from the high propulsion efficiency brought by the large bypass ratio of the open fans and the boundary layer suction effect of the tail open fans by arranging the open fan engine on each wing respectively, so that the fuel consumption required by the whole propulsion system can be greatly reduced under the condition of generating the same thrust.
Further, as shown in fig. 5, the wing fan assembly 3 includes a wing fan rotor 31 and a wing fan stator 32, the wing fan stator 32 being closer to the rear end of the aircraft 100 than the wing fan rotor 31. By providing a double row fan configuration, the wing fan stator 32 can be utilized to rectify and reduce noise, thereby meeting the noise requirements of the aircraft 100 during takeoff. In some other suitable embodiments, the double row blades in the wing fan assembly 3 may also be counter-rotating blades
Fig. 6 shows a schematic view of a wing fan assembly according to a first embodiment of the application, and fig. 7 shows a schematic view of a wing fan assembly according to a second embodiment of the application. One or more embodiments of the present application provide propulsion systems that include at least one wing fan assembly configuration as disclosed in the first embodiment shown in fig. 6, or at least one wing fan assembly configuration as disclosed in the second embodiment shown in fig. 7. The specific structure of the present wing fan assembly is further described in the following two specific embodiments, respectively.
First embodiment of wing Fan Assembly
Referring to fig. 6, the wing fan assembly 3 includes an outer casing 30, and a compressor 301, a combustion chamber 302, a high pressure turbine 303, a power turbine 304, and a motor group 305 disposed in the outer casing 30. The combustion chamber 302 is disposed on the downstream side of the compressor 301 along an inflow direction a, which shows the direction of airflow when the wing fan assembly 3 is in operation. The high-pressure turbine 303 is disposed downstream of the combustion chamber 302 in the inflow direction a and is drivingly connected to the compressor 301 via a high-vortex shaft 306. The power turbine 304 is disposed on the downstream side of the high-pressure turbine 303 along the incoming flow direction a, the motor set 305 includes a generator and a second driving unit, the generator is in transmission connection with the power turbine 304 through the low vortex shaft 307, the generator is electrically connected with the energy storage unit 2, the energy storage unit 2 is electrically connected with the second driving unit, for example, as shown in fig. 1, the electrical connection between the wing fan assembly 3 and the energy storage unit 2 is realized by an electrical cable 4.
The wing fan stator 32 is disposed on the outer periphery of the tail cone 13 of the outer casing 30, and the wing fan rotor 31 is in transmission connection with the low vortex shaft 307 and the second driving unit. In a specific embodiment, the fan disk assembly 310 of the wing fan rotor 31 is drivingly connected to the low vortex shaft 307 by a speed reducer 308, and the second drive unit is a motor, the output shaft of which is drivingly connected to the fan disk assembly 310 of the wing fan rotor 31.
After being compressed by the compressor 301, the incoming air enters the combustion chamber 302 to be combusted with fuel oil, the fuel oil enters and drives the high-pressure turbine 303 to rotate, and the high-pressure turbine 303 is connected with the compressor 301 through the high-vortex shaft 306 to drive the compressor to rotate to compress air. After flowing through the high-pressure turbine 303, the fuel gas enters the power turbine 304 to drive the fuel gas to rotate, the power turbine 304 drives the low-vortex shaft 307, and the speed reducer 308 is respectively connected with the left-side low-vortex shaft 307 and the right-side fan disc assembly 309 to drive the open-type fan rotor 308 to rotate to provide thrust. The wing fan stator 32 is secured to the outer casing 30 at the outer periphery of the tail cone 13 by a mounting assembly 311. The generator in the motor unit 305 is connected with the speed reducer 308 through the shaft 314, the motor unit 305 is fixed in the tail cone through the mounting support plate 312, the generator is driven to rotate by the shaft 314, and part of the combustion chemical energy is converted into electric energy in a mechanical energy mode and is transmitted to the energy storage unit 2 for storage. In addition, during high thrust conditions such as take-off and climb, the second driving unit in the motor unit 305 may also use the electric energy of the energy storage unit 2 to provide auxiliary energy to the wing fan rotor 31 to rotate to generate thrust.
Second embodiment of wing Fan Assembly
Referring to fig. 7, the wing fan assembly 3 'includes an outer casing 30' and a high pressure compressor 301', a combustion chamber 302', a high pressure turbine 303', a low pressure turbine 304' and a motor assembly 305 'disposed within the outer casing 30'. The combustion chamber 302 'is disposed downstream of the high-pressure compressor 301' in the incoming flow direction a, the high-pressure turbine 303 'is disposed downstream of the combustion chamber 302' in the incoming flow direction a, and the low-pressure turbine 304 'is disposed downstream of the high-pressure turbine 303' in the incoming flow direction a by being drivingly connected to the high-pressure compressor 301 'through the high-vortex shaft 306'. The motor set 305' includes a generator and a second driving unit, the generator is in transmission connection with the low-pressure turbine 304' through the low-vortex shaft 307', the generator is electrically connected with the energy storage unit 2, and the energy storage unit 2 is electrically connected with the second driving unit. For example, as shown in fig. 1, the electrical connection between the wing fan assembly 3' and the energy storage unit 2 in the present embodiment may also be a wired electrical connection via the cable 4 as in the first embodiment.
The actuating unit 5 is disposed upstream of the outer casing 30' along the incoming flow direction a, a flow passage in the outer casing 30' is defined between the actuating unit 5 and an inlet of the outer casing 30', the wing fan rotor 31' is disposed at the outer periphery of the actuating unit 5 and is in transmission connection with the low-pressure turbine 304', and the wing fan stator 32' is disposed at the outer periphery of the outer casing 30' at the downstream side of the actuating unit 5 along the incoming flow direction a. In a particular embodiment, a fan shaft 309' in wing fan rotor 31' is drivingly connected to low pressure turbine 304' through gearbox 308' and low vortex shaft 307 '. In another specific embodiment, wing fan stator 32' is mounted to the outer periphery of actuation unit 5 by a pitch adjustment unit.
After being compressed by the high-pressure compressor 301', the incoming air enters the combustion chamber 302' to be combusted with fuel, the fuel enters the high-pressure turbine 303 'and drives the high-pressure turbine 303' to rotate, and the high-pressure turbine 303 'is connected with the high-pressure compressor 301' through the high-vortex shaft 306', so that the high-pressure compressor 301' can be driven to rotate and compress air. The gas leaving the high pressure turbine 303 'enters the low pressure turbine 304' and drives it in rotation, the low pressure turbine 304 'being connected to the low pressure turbine disk 309' and to the low vortex shaft 307 'and driving a gearbox 308' connected to the left side of the low vortex shaft 307', the left side of the gearbox 308' being connected to the fan shaft 309', the left side of the fan shaft 309' being connected to the actuator unit 5, the actuator unit 5 mainly acting as a support and the wing fan rotor 31 'rotating, the wing fan rotor 31' generating thrust by compressing the incoming air. After the wing fan stator 32' is installed on the wing fan rotor 31', the root of the wing fan stator is fixedly connected with the outer casing 30', so that the wing fan stator can play a role in rectifying air. In addition, a variable pitch adjustment structure may be mounted within the outer casing 30' to change the pitch angle of the wing fan stator 32' to thereby effect a change in thrust and aerodynamic efficiency of the wing fan assembly 3' or to effect a thrust reversal. The motor group 305 'is installed inside the tail cone of the wing fan assembly 3', and is connected with the low-pressure turbine 304 'and the low-vortex shaft 307', and the second driving unit in the motor group 305 'can provide auxiliary energy for the wing fan rotor 31' under the high-thrust flight conditions of take-off, climbing and the like through the power supply of the energy storage unit 2, so that the fuel consumption and the carbon dioxide emission are reduced. During low thrust conditions such as cruising and descending, the low pressure turbine 304 'may drive the generator in the electric machine set 305' to rotate to generate electricity, and the generated electric energy will be stored in the energy storage unit 2.
The propulsion system can supply power to the motors in the motor group 305 under the working conditions of large thrust such as take-off, climbing and the like, so as to provide auxiliary thrust power besides chemical energy. The wing fan assembly 3 provides power for the tail fan assembly 1, the energy storage unit 2 arranged in the aircraft can also assist in power supply, and in low-thrust flight conditions such as cruising and descending, the electric energy generated by the wing fan assembly 3 can be stored in the energy storage unit 2 in the aircraft besides being provided for the tail fan assembly 1. Under the working conditions of low thrust such as descending, landing and sliding, the wing fan assembly 3 can be closed, and the energy storage unit 2 supplies power to the tail fan assembly 1 so as to provide all power, thereby achieving the purpose of reducing pollutant emission and noise of the combustion chamber.
The application is characterized in that one or a plurality of open rotor engines are respectively arranged below the wings of the aircraft, the main thrust of the aircraft is provided by the engines, meanwhile, a motor is arranged in the tail cone of the open rotor engine to assist the open fan rotor to supply power so as to rotate to generate thrust, the power can be generated under the working conditions of low thrust such as cruising, descending and the like, and the electric energy can be stored in a battery pack arranged on the aircraft body. The electric energy of the battery pack of the fuselage is transmitted to the electrically-driven open fan arranged at the tail of the aircraft by the fuselage cable, and in the stages of descending, landing, sliding and the like, the electric energy can be used for driving the tail open fan to perform propulsion or reverse thrust, and the open rotor engine with high propulsion efficiency and the tail open fan based on the boundary layer suction technology are adopted at the same time.
In a specific embodiment, the first drive unit and/or the second drive unit is a motor and the energy storage unit 2 is a battery.
In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless explicitly specified and limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," "fixed" and the like are to be construed broadly and include, for example, fixed connection, detachable connection, or integral therewith, mechanical connection, electrical connection, direct connection, indirect connection via an intermediary, communication between two elements, or interaction between two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the embodiments of the present application will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art according to specific circumstances.
It is to be understood that reference herein to "along" a direction means that there is at least a component in that direction, preferably within 10 ° of that direction, more preferably within 5 °.
It should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present application, but not to limit the technical solution of the present application, and although the detailed description of the present application is given with reference to the above embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the technical solution described in the above embodiments may be modified or some or all technical features may be equivalently replaced, and these modifications or substitutions do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solution deviate from the scope of the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, and all the modifications or substitutions are included in the scope of the claims and the specification of the present application. In particular, the technical features mentioned in the respective embodiments may be combined in any manner as long as there is no structural conflict. The present application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed herein, but encompasses all technical solutions falling within the scope of the claims.