Hypersonic Inlet Systems and Methods

• Main Authors: LEYLEGIAN JOHN C, TYLL JASON S, ROBERTSON ANDREW, CHUE RANDY S.M, GIRLEA FLORIN, ESPINOSA ANGEL M, FARRELL DANIEL J, SMITH THOMAS R, ALIFANO JOSEPH A
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 24.12.2009
• Subjects: AEROPLANES; AIR INTAKES FOR JET-PROPULSION PLANTS; AIRCRAFT; ARRANGEMENTS OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSIONTRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; BLASTING; CALCULATING; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TOTRANSPORTATION; COMBUSTION ENGINES; COMPUTING; CONTROLLING FUEL SUPPLY IN AIR-BREATHING JET-PROPULSION PLANTS; COSMONAUTICS; COUNTING; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLYING SUITS; GAS-TURBINE PLANTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; HEATING; HELICOPTERS; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS; INDEXING SCHEME FOR ASPECTS RELATING TONON-POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES OR ENGINES, GAS-TURBINES ORJET-PROPULSION PLANTS; INDEXING SCHEMES RELATING TO ENGINES OR PUMPS IN VARIOUSSUBCLASSES OF CLASSES F01-F04; JET-PROPULSION PLANTS; LIGHTING; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; PARACHUTES; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE; TRANSPORTING; WEAPONS

Hypersonic inlet systems and methods are disclosed. In one embodiment, an inlet for an airbreathing propulsion system includes an inboard surface at least partially shaped to conform to a plurality of streamline-traces of a design flowfield approaching an aperture, an outboard surface spaced apart from the inboard surface, an upper surface extending between the inboard and outboard surfaces, and a lower surface extending between the inboard and outboard surfaces, wherein leading edges of the inboard, outboard, upper, and lower surfaces cooperatively define the aperture.