The invention relates to the field of thrust reversers for aircraft propulsion assembly nacelle, and more specifically to the field of door reversers.
In a non-limiting manner, the invention is of particular interest when such a reverser equips a propulsion assembly mounted in the vicinity of a tail, that is to say generally in the rear portion of the fuselage of an aircraft.
Each of the propulsion assemblies 3 comprises a thrust reverser having an upper door 8 and a lower door 9. In
In a manner known per se, the doors of the propulsion assemblies 3A and 3B in thrust reversal configuration are configured to redirect in an upstream direction A4 portion of the air exiting the propulsion assemblies 3A and 3B through the reversal openings 10A/10B.
Under these conditions, the vertical tail 5 is likely to be subjected to asymmetric air currents, taking into account in particular the respective trajectories of the air flows exiting the propulsion assemblies 3A and 3B through the upper reversal openings 10A and 10B.
Indeed, a portion of the air exiting the propulsion assembly 3B, through the upper reversal opening 10B, typically flows along a trajectory 11B passing through a region C1 extending along one of the faces of the vertical tail 5 located on the side of this propulsion assembly 3B. A portion of the air exiting the propulsion assembly 3A, through the upper reversal opening 10A, typically flows along a trajectory 11A bypassing the tailfin 6 and also crossing the region C1. On the side of the propulsion assembly 3A, a region C2 extending along the other face of the vertical tail 5 thus finds itself undersupplied with air.
The lack of air supply to the tailfin 6 at the region C2 leads to a loss of stability of the aircraft 1.
In addition, the control surface 7 thus emptied of wind at the region C2 has a reduced effectiveness likely to lead to a loss of controllability of the aircraft 1 and potentially a runway excursion.
A purpose of the invention is to provide a door reverser capable of improving the stability and controllability of an aircraft when the doors are open in the landing phase, in particular in crosswinds.
More generally, the invention aims at providing a door reverser making it possible to better control the air flows resulting from the opening of the doors.
To this end, the object of the invention is a thrust reverser for an aircraft propulsion assembly, this reverser having a central longitudinal axis and comprising a fixed structure, a lower door and an upper door, the lower door and the upper door each comprising a downstream edge and each being movable with respect to the fixed structure, around a respective axis of rotation, between:
the downstream edge of the lower door and the downstream edge of the upper door defining, when the lower and upper doors are in the open position, a deflection opening configured to allow a second portion of said fluid to exit the reverser through this deflection opening.
According to the invention, when the lower and upper doors are in the open position:
When the reverser is in thrust reversal configuration, such an offset of the downstream edges allows said second portion of fluid to be oriented axially downstream and vertically upwards, at least in a reference system wherein the lower door and its downstream edge are located vertically below a median longitudinal plane passing through the central longitudinal axis of the reverser and wherein the upper door and its downstream edge are located vertically above this median longitudinal plane.
When the reverser equips a propulsion assembly mounted in the rear portion of the fuselage of an aircraft, the deflection opening thus makes it possible to direct this second portion of fluid so as to increase the pressures and speeds near the vertical tail which is typically located vertically above the central longitudinal axis of the reverser.
This results in an increase in the pressurisation of the tailfin and the control surface of this tail and consequently an improvement in the stability and controllability of the aircraft, in particular in crosswinds.
More generally, such a geometry of the deflection opening makes it possible to better control the air flows in thrust reversal configuration.
Preferably, said first distance may be comprised between five percent and thirty percent of a radius of a section of said ejection outlet when the lower and upper doors are in the closed position.
Moreover, it is preferred that the deflection opening has a surface projected onto a projection plane perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis comprised between two percent and ten percent of an ejection surface formed by a section of said ejection outlet when the lower and upper doors are in the closed position.
In one embodiment, the axis of rotation of the lower door can be offset along the central longitudinal axis with respect to the axis of rotation of the upper door.
In one embodiment, each of the lower and upper doors can form with respect to the central longitudinal axis, when said doors are in the open position, an opening angle comprised between 55° and 65°, preferably equal to 60°.
According to a first variant embodiment, the fixed structure may comprise an annular ejection shroud, this ejection shroud comprising a trailing edge forming said rear end of the fixed structure.
Thus, according to this first variant, the ejection outlet can be fully delimited by the rear end of the fixed structure, the trailing edge of which is continuous.
Such a fixed structure makes it possible to improve the performance of the reverser in direct thrust configuration compared with a fixed structure wherein the ejection outlet is delimited partly by the rear end of the fixed structure and partly by the downstream edge of the lower and upper doors.
According to a second variant embodiment, the downstream edge of the lower door and the downstream edge of the upper door can delimit a respective portion of said ejection outlet when the lower and upper doors are in the closed position.
Preferably, the deflection opening may have an ovoid surface, projected onto said projection plane, this ovoid surface being preferably centred on the central longitudinal axis.
The invention also relates to a nacelle for an aircraft propulsion assembly, this nacelle comprising a reverser as described above.
The invention also relates to a propulsion assembly for an aircraft, this propulsion assembly comprising such a nacelle.
Finally, the invention also relates to an aircraft comprising such a propulsion assembly.
In one embodiment, the propulsion assembly can be connected to a fuselage of this aircraft so that, in said vertical direction, said midpoint of the downstream edge of the upper door is located between said midpoint of the downstream edge of the lower door and a vertical tail of this aircraft.
In other words, in this last embodiment, a point constituted by the projection onto said projection plane of the median point of the downstream edge of the upper door is located vertically, that is to say in the vertical direction, between a point formed by the projection onto this projection plane of the midpoint of the downstream edge of the lower door and a point formed by the projection onto this projection plane of at least one point of the vertical tail.
This configuration makes it possible to improve the stability and controllability of the aircraft, in particular in crosswinds, for the reasons set out above.
Other advantages and features of the invention will appear upon reading the detailed, non-limiting description which follows.
The following detailed description refers to the appended drawings wherein:
In the present description, the terms “upstream”, “downstream”, “front” and “rear” are defined with respect to a direction A5 of air flow around the propulsion assembly 20 when the latter generates thrust, that is to say a direction A5 opposite to the direction of movement of the aircraft that it propels.
In a manner known per se, the propulsion assembly 20 comprises a turbomachine 21 shrouded by a nacelle 22. In this example, the turbomachine 21 is a two-spool and bypass turbojet engine.
The turbojet engine 21 has a central longitudinal axis A6 around which its various components extend, in this case, from the front to the rear of the turbojet engine 21, a fan 23, a low pressure compressor 24, a high pressure compressor 25, a combustion chamber 26, a high pressure turbine 27 and a low pressure turbine 28. The compressors 24 and 25, the combustion chamber 26 and the turbines 27 and 28 form a gas generator.
During operation of the turbojet engine 21, an air flow 30 enters the nacelle 22 via an air inlet upstream of the propulsion assembly 20, crosses the fan 23 then divides into a central primary flow 30A and a secondary flow 30B. The primary flow 30A flows in a primary gas flow path 31A passing through the gas generator. The secondary flow 30B flows in a secondary flow path 31B surrounding the gas generator and delimited radially outwards by the nacelle 22.
The invention relates more specifically to a door thrust reverser such as the reverser 40 of
In general, the function of the reverser 40 is to reverse a portion of the thrust generated by the propulsion assembly 20 in order to brake the aircraft during its landing.
Of course, the reverser 40 can equip a propulsion assembly different from that of
With reference to
The fixed structure 41 comprises in this example a front frame 42, a rear section 43 and two beams 44 connecting the front frame 42 and the rear section 43 to each other.
The front frame 42 has an annular shape configured to connect the reverser 40 to the nacelle 22, according to any conventional assembly technique.
In this example, the rear section 43 has an annular shape defining an ejection shroud. This ejection shroud 43 defines a rear end of both the reverser 40, the nacelle 22 and the propulsion assembly 20.
When the reverser 40 is mounted on the propulsion assembly 20, the central longitudinal axis A7 of the reverser 40 and the central longitudinal axis A6 of the propulsion assembly 20 coincide.
The front frame 42, the rear section 43 and the beams 44 delimit, radially outwards, a flow conduit D1 for a fluid coming from a portion of the propulsion assembly 20 located upstream of the reverser 40.
More specifically, the fluid capable of flowing in the conduit D1 is in this example made up of a mixture of gas exiting the primary flow path 31A and air coming from the secondary flow path 31B, that is to say of a mixture of the primary 30A and secondary 30B flow paths.
The flow conduit D1 comprises an inlet delimited by the front frame 42 and an ejection outlet delimited by the rear section 43.
In order to be able to perform thrust reversal, the fixed structure 41 comprises in this example two reversal openings in the form of radial openings.
Each of these reversal openings is delimited, longitudinally, by the front frame 42 and the rear section 43 and, radially, by the beams 44.
The reverser 40 of
The doors 46 and 47 are respectively called lower door and upper door, with reference to their relative positioning with respect to the vertical when the reverser 40 is connected to an aircraft in flight configuration.
Each of the doors 46 and 47 is movable with respect to the fixed structure 41, around a respective axis of rotation (not shown), between an open position, illustrated in
To modify the position of the doors 46 and 47, the reverser 40 comprises two cylinders 48 and 49 which are each connected on the one hand to the front frame 42 of the fixed structure 41 and on the other hand to a respective one of the doors 46 and 47.
With reference to
In the closed position, the doors 46 and 47 make it possible to guide towards the ejection outlet a fluid E1 entering the conduit D1 at the front frame 42 and flowing in the conduit D1 in a direction generally parallel to the central longitudinal axis A7. As indicated above, the fluid flow E1 comprises in this example a mixture of the primary 30A and secondary 30B flows generated by the operation of the turbojet engine 21.
In this configuration of reverser 40 wherein the doors 46 and 47 are in the closed position, the propulsion assembly 20 can generate direct thrust. This configuration of the reverser 40 is called direct thrust, or else “direct jet”.
With reference to
This open position makes it possible to evacuate from the flow conduit D1, via the reversal openings, portions E2 and E3 of the fluid E1 flowing in the conduit D1. It also makes it possible to redirect at least a portion E4 and E5 of the fluid thus evacuated upstream, that is to say in particular towards the front frame 42 of the fixed structure 41 and more generally towards the front of the propulsion assembly 20 and of the aircraft 1. The fluid thus redirected upstream generates a counter-thrust.
To direct the fluid upstream, the doors 46 and 47 each comprise an internal wall 50 having a proximal end 51 configured to extend radially through the flow conduit D1, so as to prevent a major portion of the fluid E1 flowing in the conduit D1 to continue its trajectory to the ejection outlet. The orientation of the internal wall 50 is such that the fluid E1 thus blocked continues its trajectory by crossing the reversal openings and by having at least one component oriented upstream.
In a manner known per se, it is possible to maximise this component and improve thrust reversal performance by placing a spoiler 52 at a distal end 53 of the internal wall 50 of each of the doors 46 and 47.
When the doors 46 and 47 are in the open position, the reverser 40 is in a configuration called thrust reversal configuration, also called “reverse jet”.
In the present description, the expression “open position” designates a position of maximum opening as shown in
In the reverser 40 of
This fraction of fluid E6 typically represents less than ten percent of the total volume of fluid E1 introduced into the conduit D1 and does not significantly reduce the counter-thrust force generated by the flows E4 and E5 (see
A first median longitudinal plane P1, a second median longitudinal plane P2 and a transverse plane P3 are defined with respect to this reference frame (see
In the reverser 40 of
In a situation such as that illustrated in
In the embodiment of
In this example, the deflection opening allows the flow E7 at the outlet of the reverser 40 to be oriented in a direction forming with the horizontal plane P2 an angle of about twenty degrees.
To this end, the downstream edge 60 of the lower door 46 is offset along the central longitudinal axis A7 towards the rear with respect to the downstream edge 61 of the upper door 47 when the doors 46 and 47 are in the open position. This offset concerns at least the midpoints M1 and M2 of the downstream edges 60 and 61 respectively, these points M1 and M2 being called midpoints because they intersect the median longitudinal plane P1 (see
In this example, this offset is obtained by correspondingly offsetting the axes of rotation of the doors 46 and 47 along the central longitudinal axis A7.
Alternatively or additionally, in embodiments not shown, the longitudinal offset of the downstream edges 60 and 61 with respect to each other may result from a differential in the opening angle of the doors 46 and 47, the position of the connection points of the cylinders 48 and 49, or else the stroke of the cylinders 48 and 49.
When the reverser 40 equips a propulsion assembly such as the propulsion assembly 20 of
Preferably, the midpoint M1 of the downstream edge 60 and the midpoint M2 of the downstream edge 61 are longitudinally offset from each other, when the doors 46 and 47 are in the open position, by a distance X1 comprised between five percent and thirty percent of an internal radius X2 of the rear section 43 of the fixed structure 41 (see
To obtain satisfactory pressurisation of the tail 5 without significantly reducing the counter-thrust, it is moreover preferred that the deflection opening has a surface, projected onto a projection plane formed by the transverse plane P3, comprised between two percent and ten percent of the internal section of the rear section 43. In this example, this internal section is equal to π(X2)2. Concerning the projected surface of the deflection opening, said surface is in particular calculated using the distance X3 separating the midpoints M1 and M2 from each other in the vertical direction Z2.
In this example, the ratio X3/X1 is close to 1, good performance can generally be obtained with a ratio X3/X1 comprised between 0.2 and 2.
The downstream edges 60 and 61 can have different geometries such as those illustrated in
In the example of
In the example of
In this example, the deflection opening has a substantially ovoid shape making it possible to maximise the flow E7 in the vertical median plane P1 of the reverser 40.
The invention is in no way limited to reversers of the type described above. For example, the invention applies similarly to a reverser such as that described in document FR 2 764 000 A1. In this case, the beams on which the doors are hinged comprise a rear end which delimits a portion of the ejection outlet when the doors are in the closed position, the downstream edge of the doors delimiting another portion of the ejection outlet when said doors are in the closed position.
More generally, the principle of the invention can be implemented in any application requiring improved control of the air jets exiting the reverser in reverse thrust. For example, the invention is also of interest in applications wherein the reverser equips a propulsion assembly mounted under an aircraft wing.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2000005 | Jan 2020 | FR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/FR2020/052543 | 12/18/2020 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2021/136898 | 7/8/2021 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5779192 | Metezeau et al. | Jul 1998 | A |
6256979 | Fournier | Jul 2001 | B1 |
7735778 | Lair | Jun 2010 | B2 |
8002217 | Sternberger | Aug 2011 | B2 |
8015797 | Lair | Sep 2011 | B2 |
8052085 | Lair | Nov 2011 | B2 |
11187187 | Gormley | Nov 2021 | B2 |
20080072570 | Lair | Mar 2008 | A1 |
20190162135 | Channell | May 2019 | A1 |
20230067232 | Pascal | Mar 2023 | A1 |
20230103118 | Brochard | Mar 2023 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
0 715 068 | Jun 1996 | EP |
2 764 000 | Dec 1998 | FR |
WO-2021136898 | Jul 2021 | WO |
Entry |
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International Search Report dated Apr. 7, 2021 in PCT/FR2020/052543 filed Dec. 18, 2020, 2 pages. |
Preliminary French Search Report dated Sep. 1, 2020 in French Patent Application No. 2000005, 2 pages (with Translation of Category of Cited Documents). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20230067232 A1 | Mar 2023 | US |