Aircraft drive assembly with co-axial thrust generating devices

Aircraft drive assembly with co-axial thrust generating devicesKeywords: Power drive units,Patents

In GB Patent 2347907 Ortwin Bobleter describes a drive unit that comprises at least one thrust generating unit, each of which has at least two thrust-generating devices mounted axially one behind the other on a common drive shaft. Each thrust generating device comprises a thrust generating element, e.g. airscrew, impeller or turbine fan which is connected to the drive shaft. It also comprises a housing including an inlet through which air is drawn and an outlet through which air is exhausted. The air inlets are screened, e.g. by baffles from the air outlets so, when in use, to prevent air exhausted from the air outlets from being drawn into the air inlets. The thrust generating devices may be driven by turbines via transmissions. The housing may be S-shaped so that the inlets and outlets face in opposite directions. The outlets may be provided with rotatable deflectors for vectoring the thrust. Roll of the aircraft may be achieved by directing exhaust air flow along passages to openings at the wing tips.