SUSPENSION PYLON FOR AN AIRCRAFT ENGINE FITTED WITH A COUNTERFLOW COOLING EXCHANGER

Abstract

The invention relates to an aircraft pylon comprising a cooling exchanger (10) with counterflow of a flow of hot primary air (22) by a flow of cold secondary air (24) flowing oppositely to each other in a longitudinal direction (L), characterized in that it comprises two bundles (10a, 10b) juxtaposed on both sides of a central axis (12) and each comprising a plurality of parallel longitudinal plates (15) forming a hot pass and a cold pass of the bundle, and in that one of the hot or cold passes of each bundle is supplied by a central inlet (14a) common to the two bundles (10a, 10b) and one of the hot or cold passes of each bundle opens into a central outlet (16) common to the two bundles, said inlets (14b, 14c) and outlets (16b, 16c) of the conjugate passes, referred to as side inlets and outlets, being separate and diverging laterally from said central axis (12).

Claims

1. A suspension pylon for a propulsion engine of an aircraft under a wing of an aircraft having a main axis, characterized in that it comprises: a counterflow cooling exchanger of a flow of hot primary air by a flow of cold secondary air flowing oppositely to each other in a direction, referred to as the longitudinal direction (L), coinciding with said main axis of said engine, said exchanger comprising two plate exchanger blocks, referred to as bundles, juxtaposed one beside the other on both sides of a central juxtaposition axis extending in said longitudinal direction (L), and each comprising: a plurality of parallel longitudinal plates forming in alternation flow ducts for the flow of hot primary air, which define a hot pass of the bundle, and flow ducts for the flow of cold secondary air, which define a cold pass of the bundle, a hot air inlet and a hot air outlet arranged respectively at each longitudinal end of said bundle, a cold air inlet and a cold air outlet arranged respectively at each longitudinal end of said bundle, said hot passes of the two bundles being in fluid communication with a central inlet common to the two bundles forming said hot air inlets of the two bundles and a central outletcommon to the two bundles forming said hot air outlets of said bundles, and said cold passes of the two bundles being in fluid communication with separate side inlets and side outlets which diverge laterally from said central axis, said separate side inlets being supplied by fresh ambient air drawn from the proximity of said pylon, conduits for distribution of hot air suitable for fluidly connecting a device for drawing air from said aircraft engine and said central inlet common to the two bundles.

2. The pylon as claimed in claim 1, wherein said cold and/or hot passes of the two bundles of said exchanger are separated by a central closure bar.

3. The pylon as claimed in claim 1 wherein each bundle of said exchanger is housed in a housing comprising, at each longitudinal end, an end wall formed from two openwork planes inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction (L) and connected by a joint edge which extends perpendicularly to said longitudinal direction (L), each inclined openwork plane forming a side inlet or a side outlet of one of the passes of said bundle, and each pair of inclined openwork planes of the two bundles arranged facing each other forming an inlet common to said bundles and/or an outlet common to said bundles.

Description

LIST OF FIGURES

[0047] Other aims, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following description given solely in a non-limiting way and which makes reference to the attached figures in which:

[0048] FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a cooling exchanger of a pylon in accordance with a first embodiment variant of the invention,

[0049] FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a cooling exchanger of a pylon in accordance with one embodiment of the invention enabling the overall shape of the exchanger to be grasped,

[0050] FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a suspension pylon for an aircraft engine in accordance with one embodiment of the invention fitted with the exchanger of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

[0051] In the figures, for the purposes of illustration and clarity, scales and proportions have not been strictly respected. Throughout the detailed description which follows with reference to the figures, unless stated to the contrary, each element of the exchanger is described as it is arranged when the exchanger is arranged within a suspension pylon for an aircraft engine. This configuration is illustrated in particular by FIG. 3.

[0052] Furthermore, identical, similar or analogous elements are designated by the same reference signs in all the figures.

[0053] FIG. 1 illustrates a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an exchanger 10 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, which comprises two bundles 10a, 10b juxtaposed one beside the other on both sides of a central juxtaposition axis 12 which extends in the longitudinal direction L.

[0054] In the embodiment shown in the figures, the two bundles are separated by a closure bar.

[0055] Each bundle 10a, 10b comprises a plurality of plates 15 which each extend in the longitudinal direction. These plates 15 are, for example, metal plates which are brazed onto an external armature to keep them in a parallelepiped arrangement.

[0056] These plates 15 define, in twos, flow ducts for the air flows which themselves form the counterflow hot and cold passes of the bundle.

[0057] The bundle 10a is housed in a housing which comprises, at a first longitudinal end, an end wall formed by two inclined openwork planes 24a, 24b and, at an opposing second longitudinal end, an end wall formed by two inclined openwork planes 26a, 26b. The planes 24a and 24b are connected to each other by a joint edge 24c which extends perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction L. The planes 26a and 26b are connected to each other by a joint edge 26c which extends perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction L and parallel to the edge 24c.

[0058] The adjacent bundle 10b is housed in a housing which comprises, at a first longitudinal end, an end wall formed by two inclined openwork planes 25a, 25b and, at an opposing second longitudinal end, an end wall formed by two inclined openwork planes 27a, 27b. The planes 25a and 25b are connected to each other by a joint edge 25c which extends perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction L. The planes 27a and 27b are connected to each other by a joint edge 27c which extends perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction L and parallel to the edge 25c.

[0059] The inclined openwork planes 24a, 25a, 26a and 27a each form a side inlet or a side outlet of one of the (hot or cold) passes of the bundle.

[0060] The inclined openwork planes 26b and 27b of the two bundles arranged facing each other form a common inlet or a common outlet of the bundles and the inclined openwork planes 24b, 25b arranged at the other longitudinal end form a conjugate common inlet or a common outlet.

[0061] In all the figures, the solid arrows represent the main flow direction of the cold air flow within (and in the proximity of) the exchanger and the dotted arrows represent the main flow direction of the hot air flow within (and in the proximity of) the exchanger.

[0062] In FIG. 1, the hot passes of the two bundles 10a, 10b are in fluid communication with the common inlet 30 formed by the walls 26b and 27b and the common outlet 32 formed by the walls 24b and 25b.

[0063] The cold passes of the two bundles are in fluid communication with the separate side inlets formed by the openwork planes 24a and 25a and the separate side outlets formed by the openwork planes 26a and 27a.

[0064] In other words, the hot passes of the two bundles 10a, 10b are supplied by the common inlet 30 and open into the common outlet 32, and the cold passes of the two bundles 10a, 10b are supplied by the separate side inlets 24a, 25a and open into the separate side outlets 26a, 27a.

[0065] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a perspective view of an exchanger of a pylon in accordance with one embodiment of the invention enabling the general shape of the exchanger to be grasped. In this view, it is also possible to see some of the openwork walls forming the inlets and/or outlets.

[0066] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a pylon 40 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention comprising the exchanger of FIG. 1. This exchanger can be fixed in the pylon by any means within the immediate scope of the person skilled in the art.

[0067] The pylon houses the exchanger 10 so that the longitudinal direction L of the exchanger coincides with the main direction of the pylon (which coincides with the main axis of the engine and the main direction of movement of the aircraft).

[0068] The cold air inlets formed by the walls 24a and 25a are arranged towards the front of the aircraft. In this way, the side inlets for cold air can be supplied by the ambient air present on both sides of the pylon 40 when the aircraft is moving in the direction of the arrow referenced F in FIG. 3.

[0069] Air intakes arranged on both sides of the pylon 40 make it possible to supply the air of the cold passes of the exchanger 10 and thus to ensure the cooling of the hot air directed towards the exchanger 10 by suitable conduits from a source of hot air, which is, for example, air drawn from the propulsion engine (not illustrated in FIG. 3) carried by the pylon 40.