Outlet for ejecting a hot gas through an aircraft engine wall

Abstract

A duct for evacuating hot air from an aircraft engine is extended by a movable stack that can project from the wall such that the hot air is ejected a distance from the wall without risk of damaging the wall. The stack can, however, be retracted by a control device under circumstances of moderate engine speed, with the advantage that the drag of the wall, generally an outer nacelle, is then reduced.

Claims

1. An outlet for ejecting a hot gas through an aircraft engine wall, an outer face of the wall being exposed to a flow of a cooling gas, the flow being tangent to the wall, the outlet comprising at least one opening through the wall, a duct for conveying the hot gas extending under an inner face of the wall and leading to the opening, and a stack associated with the opening and in the shape of a sleeve projecting out of the wall, the sleeve being comprised of a sleeve wall which is continuous, the sleeve being open at an upper edge above the wall, wherein the stack is detached from the wall, movably engaged through the opening, and provided with a movement control device varying a height of the projection of the stack out of the wall, and wherein the control device comprises a motor means sensitive to a temperature, to the exclusion of any voluntary control.

2. The ejection outlet according to claim 1, wherein the control device comprises a sensor of said temperature, and an electric motor controlled by the sensor.

3. The ejection outlet according to claim 1, wherein the motor means comprises an inert actuator changing state according to a temperature.

4. The ejection outlet according to claim 1, wherein the temperature is either a temperature of the wall downstream of the opening, or a temperature of the hot gas in the duct.

5. The ejection outlet according to claim 1, further comprising a means for returning the stack to a fully deployed position at maximum height of projection out of the wall, in case of inactivity or failure of the control device.

6. The ejection outlet according to claim 1, wherein the movement is tilting between two stable positions of the stack, according to the crossing of a temperature threshold of the wall or of the hot gas in the duct.

7. The ejection outlet according to claim 1, wherein the stack has a continuous wall, devoid of openings.

8. The ejection outlet according to claim 1, wherein the stack is cylindrical, and the control device is arranged to impose thereto a translational movement perpendicular to the wall by sliding in the opening.

9. The ejection outlet according to claim 1, wherein the stack is movable with a fully retracted position under the wall, at zero projection height.

10. The ejection outlet according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of said openings each provided with a said stack and distributed over the wall, wherein the stack movement control devices are independent of each other.

11. The ejection outlet according to claim 1, wherein the height of the projection varies depending on the speed of flight of the aircraft.

Description

(1) The various aspects, features and advantages of the invention will be kept described in more detail, by means of the following figures, which illustrate some embodiments thereof given purely by way of illustration:

(2) FIG. 1 illustrates the disappearance of an ejection grating on an aircraft engine;

(3) FIG. 2 schematically shows the ejection flow;

(4) FIG. 3 shows the gas flows at the grating;

(5) FIG. 4 illustrates the effect of stacks at the openings of the grating;

(6) FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a first embodiment of the invention with two operating states;

(7) FIG. 7 shows a device for controlling the movement of the stack;

(8) and FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate a second embodiment of the invention with two operating states.

(9) FIG. 1 schematically shows a nacelle cowl surrounding an aircraft engine, the wall 1 of which is provided with an outlet 2 through which a heat exchange circuit 3 located under the wall 1 opens outside said wall, and ejects a gas jet previously withdrawn from another part of the engine and having participated in a heat exchange. It is recalled that the invention is not limited to a use on a nacelle cowl, but that it can also relate to other cowls, such as those of external or internal stator casings. Likewise, the heat exchange circuit 3 can originate from various places in the engine, its path is also not imposed and the heat exchange allows to cool another fluid which is also indifferent.

(10) Reference is made to FIG. 2. The heat exchange circuit 3 includes at its downstream end a pipe 4 which extends under an inner face 5 of the wall 1. Approaching the latter, the pipe 4 is divided into branches 6, here distinct from each other, then parallel and with a section first decreasing, then uniform, before reaching the wall 1 and the outlet 2; and the branches 6 are connected to the wall 1, and communicate to the outside of the latter, through many openings 7 of the outlet 2, which pass through the wall 1. Their disposition is better visible in FIG. 3. The openings 7 are parallel to each other, follow one another in a transverse direction T (often the angular direction of the engine), and their shape is oblong, their largest dimension being in a longitudinal direction or a direction of main elongation X, perpendicular to the previous one on the wall 1 (often the axial direction of the engine). The length of the openings 7 in the direction X can be comprised between 100 mm and 450 mm; the width of the openings 7 in the direction T may be comprised between 5 mm and 30 mm; that of the ejection grating formed by the outlet 2 between 250 mm and 600 mm; and the total area of the outlet 2 can vary between approximately 0.01 m2 and 0.25 m2. However, there is no real dimensional limit to the application of the invention. And the openings 7 are separated by lamellae 8 of the wall 1, the width of which may be comprised between 0.5 times and 3 times the width of the openings 7, preferably 1.0 times.

(11) The hot gas, often air, which is ejected by the circuit 3 is therefore divided into hot streams 9 which respectively take the branches 6. Their direction may first be in the direction of height R (perpendicular to the two previous ones X and L, and often coinciding with the radial direction of the engine) by rising below the outer face 12, opposite the inner face 5, of the wall 1, before being inflected and taking a movement component in the longitudinal direction X under the effect of an external flow 10 tangent to the wall 1 (often directed downstream of the engine) of a cool gas (often ambient air). But the flow 10 is divided into cool streams 11, passing around the openings 7 and over the lamellae 8, passing over the outlet 2, with a significant flow rate which remains tangent to the wall 1. This flow rate of cool gas thwarts the return of the hot streams 9 on the outer face 12 of the wall 1 and protects it from overheating. In addition, dividing the hot and cool flows into intertwined streams 9 and 11 promotes their faster mixing and therefore the elimination of hot areas outside the outlet 2.

(12) FIG. 4 shows a possible arrangement of a stack ejection grating, wherein the openings 7 and the branches 6 of the circuit are extended by stacks 13 projecting on the outer face 12 of the wall 1. The height of the stacks 13 can typically be a few millimetres or a few centimetres with this disposition. The hot streams 9 exit the heat exchange circuit 3 at a distance from the wall 1 through an upper edge 20 of the stacks 13, which helps to maintain the cool air streams between the openings 7.

(13) The description now relates to FIGS. 5 and 6. The stacks 13 are not fixed to the engine structure and in particular to the wall 1, but on the contrary are detached therefrom, and each consists of a sleeve of cylindrical shape, that is to say with a constant section, identical to that of the opening 7 except for a small clearance, engaged through the opening 7. Their section may be rectangular, with in particular two long straight and parallel sides in the axial direction X as shown in FIG. 3, and two short rounded sides. Their wall is continuous, devoid of any opening. In addition, they are movable. Their movement is advantageously sliding and accomplished by a control device 14 comprising, in a housing 15 articulated at a fixed point 16 of the structure of the aircraft engine, an electric motor 17, movement transmission gears 18, and a worm 19 meshing with the transmission 18, perpendicular to the wall 1 and articulated to the stack 13.

(14) The control device 14 imposes on the stack 13 a translational movement in the direction of the worm 19 which has the effect of making it slide in the branch 6 by varying its height of projection H above the outer face 12 between a maximum value, corresponding to a fully deployed position shown in FIG. 5, and a minimum value wherein the height of the projection can moreover be zero, that is to say that the stack 13 is then fully retracted in branch 6 and the outer face 12 is smooth (FIG. 6). The first position is used when the wall 1 is subjected to very high temperatures during the ejection of very hot gas, while the second position is used in other circumstances, when the cooling needs of the aircraft engine are lower and the hot gas flow is reduced, or the gas is at a lower temperature. The opening section of the stack 13 is identical in the two states, and must be sufficient to evacuate all the predictable gas flows without opposing a significant pressure drop.

(15) The control device 14 can be controlled by the means shown in FIG. 7, comprising an electrical circuit 21 or a thermocouple 22, which is a temperature sensor positioned (for example) on the outer face 12 of the wall 1 downstream of the openings 7 of the outlet 2, controls two switches 23 and 24 able to place the terminals 25 of the electric motor 17 at either one of the positive or negative poles of a constant potential difference 26. The electric circuit 21 therefore allows the electric motor 17 to be rotated in one direction or the other. Switching is made when the thermocouple 22 detects that a temperature of the wall 1 becomes higher or lower than a threshold value.

(16) The electric circuit 21 is completed by end-of-stroke contacts 27 and 28 established at the terminals of the motor 17 and which open the electric circuit 21 to stop the movement when a limit is reached. A device which is purely passive in that it does not impose any outer control, but which is simple and reliable is obtained. And this device is bi-stable between the fully deployed position and the fully retracted position, which is satisfactory because the intermediate deployments are uninteresting in this application, and allows to safeguard the robustness of the device.

(17) Another control device 29, having some similar properties but of even simpler constitution, is described by means of FIGS. 8 and 9. It comprises a deformable structure 30 mounted to a fixed structure 31 of the engine, and carrying a smooth rod 32 replacing the worm 19 and carrying the stack 13. The deformable structure 30 is bi-stable between two states where it has different shapes, therefore imposing two different deployment positions on the stack 13 as above. The deformable structure 30 can be constructed from a thermostat bimetal made of a shape memory alloy. Switching from one state to another can be controlled (for example) by the temperature of the hot gas, the deformable structure 30 being exposed to this gas by a communication duct 33 leading into the duct 4.

(18) A significant gain in fuel consumption by the engines equipped with the invention has been observed, thanks to the possibility of retracting the stacks 13 in most flight speeds, despite the increase in weight imposed by the control devices 14. The reliability of the latter is good thanks to their robustness. It is moreover possible, in some designs, to add a return device (34 in FIGS. 5 and 6) in the shape of a spring which tends to displace the stack 13 to its fully deployed position, which is therefore a safety position preventing in all circumstances damage to the wall 1. The force of the spring 34 can however be overcome by the motor 17, so that the operation of the device is not impeded and that the fully deployed position is forced only in the event of any damage or inactivity of the control device (engine failure or damage to the transmission 18 for example). The connection between the transmission 18 and the worm 19 must then be kinematically reversible.

(19) In the usual case of a plurality of openings 7, each is advantageously controlled by an independent device similar to those which have been described, so that a failure of one of them remains localised at the corresponding opening 7.

(20) In general, the means for triggering the deployment and retraction of the stack, which are sensitive to the crossing of certain temperature thresholds, can be either sensors which measure a temperature and send the measurement to a control device, or the stack actuators themselves, which are built to change state based on temperature.