GB849212A - Supersonic aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

849,212. Cooling aircraft structure ; boundary layer control. POWER JETS (RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT) Ltd. Feb. 21, 1957 [March 1, 1956], No. 6529/56. Class 4. The surface of a very high speed aircraft is cooled by a liquid, e.g. a fuel, which flows rearwardly thereover and enters the intake of one or more gas turbine or ram jet engines where it is burnt to provide thrust. In the aircraft of Fig. 1, the leading edges of the delta wing 1 are formed by a strip 3 of liquid-pervious material, e.g. perforated or slotted sheet or sintered metal sheet, the strip forming part of the wall of a duct 4 supplied with fuel through a pipe 6, Fig. 3. Further liquid-pervious strips 7, 8 may be provided above and below the wing to emit additional fuel. As the fuel flows rearwardly it is evaporated in the boundary layer and enters the intakes of gas turbine engines 13 disposed along the wing trailing edges. The intakes extend above and below the wing to an extent greater than the thickness of the boundary layer so that practically all the fuel emitted on the surface is utilised in the engines. The fuselage 2 may be similarly cooled by liquid-pervious sections 14, 15. Figs. 5, 6 (not shown) show aircraft with swept back or swept forward wings, the engines being situated at the wing tips or wing roots where the boundary layer tends to converge so that the fuel emitted on the wing surface enters the engine intakes. A further engine may be mounted on the end of the fuselage to receive the liquid emitted thereon. Thermocouples in the surface of the wing may control the liquid emission. It is stated that fuel evaporating in the aircraft boundary layer, will, by its cooling effect, promote luminar flow.