US2330322A - Heating apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Sept 28, w43. L. A. WILLIAMS, JR

HEATING APPARATUS l Filed Aug. 5, 1942 heated air is effective to heat Patented Sept. 28, 1943 HEATING ArrAnA'rUs Northfield, lll., assignor to Lynn A. Williams,

AStewart-Warner Corporation,

Chicago, lll., a

corporation of Virginia Application August 3, 1942, Serial No. 453,347 Claims. (Cl. 981) My invention relates generally to aircraft heating apparatus, and more particularly to means for heating the gun turrets of bombers.

Considerable difficulty has'been encountered in the heating of gun turrets of bombers in which a hemispherical transparent plastic. dome is mounted for rotation with the gun and gunners seat. This is due partially to the fact that at high velocities considerable leakage of cold air into the turret takes place because of the necessary clearance between the turret dome and the fuselage of the plane to permit rotation of the former. Furthermore, frosting of the dome, impairing the view of the gunner, presents a serious problem. Due to the high rate of heat dissipation from the surface ofthe dome, it is nearly impossible to supply sufficient heat to the turret to maintain the entire space within the turret at a high temperature, particularly when the plane is flying at high altitudes where the temperature may be in the order of 60 F.

To overcome these and other dilliculties, I have provided an improved means for distributing heated air over the inner surface of.' the transparent dome of a gunners turret whereby the the dome suinciently to prevent the formation of frost thereon.

It is thus an object of my invention to provide an improved apparatus for heating gunners turrets on aircraft.

A further object is to provide an improved means for distributing heat supplied to a gunner's turret in a manner to prevent the formation of frost on the transparent dome thereof and to prevent localized cooling of the dome by cold air leaking into the turret.

Other objects will appear description, reference being had to' the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a portion of an airplane showing the gunner's turret;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the turret:

and

v Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

As shown, the turret comprises a gunners compartment It, which may be cylindrical in shape and the wall structure fuselage It. The gunners seat and the gun mount are mounted for rotary movement about the vertical axis of the compartment I2. Rotating with the gun mount and gunners seat is the transparent plastic dome I6. This dome is provided with an air exhaust tube i8, whichis freely swiveled at the apex of the dome so as to operate of which is xeci to theproject thin widearcuate from the following ner surface of the dome.

' dome and that the heated in the manner of a weather vane and provide a suillcient aspi ating effect to assure rapid ventilation of theI urrt.

Heated fair is su plied to the turret by a heater 20, which is suitably secured to the compartment wall l2. This heater is preferably of the internal combustion type, such, for example, as disclosed in prior Patent No. 2,191,178. The heater is provided 'with a suitable fan or blower causing flow of the heated Ventilating air through ari elbow 24 into a. manifold 26. The manifold 26 provides a circular passageway 28 between itand the upper edge portion of the `cylindrical wall i2.

of the passageway 28 2li to a diametrically The cross-sectionalarea decreases from. the elbow opposite point.

and an upwardlyextendof the manifold 26. fish-tail shape and their plan-view, so that they streams of heated air at high velocity against the lower portion of the inner surface of the dome it. The heated Aair ing flange 30 forming These nozzles are of z openings are arcuate in therefore tends to flow upwardly along the inner surface of the dome I6 toward the discharge elbow I8. The -heat I is thus concentrated-on the plastic dome I6 and.

the temperature of the latter maintained sufficiently high to prevent frosting of its external surface or the condensation of moisture or frosting on its inner surface.

The aggregate area vof the ends of the nozzles 32 is preferably considerably less than the cross-sectional area of the elbow. 24, with the result that substantially uniform distribution of heated air now among the several nozzles is obtained. The fact that the nozzle ports form. restrictions also'results in an increase in the velocity at which the heated air is projected against the inner surface of the dome, with the advantage that there is a more emcient exchange of heat from the effect, tending to prevent the formation ofyand to remove, 4any frost or condensation .onthe in- If desired, the nozzles 32 may be separate from the wall 12' and be welded or otherwise secured thereto. However, the construction i shown, in which-theupper'edge of the wall l2 is formed to provide the nozzles 32, constitutes a relatively simple and effective distribution 'of the heated air along the entire supplied by the heater 2B,

the discharge ports at v heated air to the v air has a mild scouring' means for securing uniform lower edge of the inner surface of the dome [I6 and causing the heated air to flow upwardly in relatively thin layers along the inner surface of the dome.

Since the sheet-like jets of heated air discharged by the nozzles 32 cut across any air currents resultant from leakage around the base of the dome i6, such leakage currents will not produce localized cold areas on the dome I6, since any such incipient streams of cold air are broken up and heated by the air ejected from the nozzles 32.

While I have shown. and described a particular embodiment of Amy invention', it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous variations and modifications may be made therein without departing from the underlying principles of the invention. I therefore desire, by the following claims, to include within the scope of my invention all such variations and modifications by which substantially the results of my invention may be obtained by the use of substantially the same or equivalent means.

I claim:

l. In an aircraft turret having a movable transparent dome and having a fixed turret compartment wall, the combination of means for supplying a stream of heated air, a manifold connected to receive heat from said means and extending around the upper edge of the turret compartment, said manifold having a portion deiining with the upper edge of the turret compartment wall a, port for the discharge of a relatively thin sheet of heated air along the lower inner edge surface of the dome.

2. In an aircraft gun turret having a movable transparent dome provided with an air exhaust port at its top, a relatively fixed turret compartment wall, a heater supported by said wal1 and having means for discharging a stream of heated air, means forming a manifold receiving heated air from said heater andv extending around the top of said compartment wall, and a plurality of' nozzles communicating with said manifold and directing the ow of heated air therefrom tothe inner lower edge surface of said dome.

3. In an aircraft gun turret having. a generally hemispherical dome, a heater having an outlet for the discharge of heated air therefrom, conduit means connected to said outlet and conformed to discharge the heated air near the-base of said dome against the inner surface thereof, and means for withdrawing air from the top of said dome.

4. An aircraft gun turret having a transparent dome provided with a central air exhaust opening at its top, a heater having means for supplying heated air under pressure, and means receiving heated air from said heater 'and discharging it in a sheet-like stream along the bottom of said dome and against the inner surface thereof.

5. In an aircraft gun turret having a wall fixed with respect to the aircraft and having a dome mounted for movement with respect to the aircraft, a heater of the internal combustion type fixed to the aircraft, a manifold receiving heated air from said heater and secured to said wail, and'a plurality of ,heated air outlet nozzles connected to said manifold and directed to project the heated air in thin streams against the inner surface of said dome near the base thereof.

n LYNN A. WILLIAMS. JR.

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