WO2015181512A4

WO2015181512A4 - A new ramjet engine

Info

Publication number: WO2015181512A4
Application number: PCT/GB2015/000148
Authority: WO
Inventors: Paul William Lefley
Original assignee: Paul William Lefley
Priority date: 2014-05-30
Filing date: 2015-05-22
Publication date: 2015-12-23
Also published as: GB2526611A; SE1600350A1; GB201409600D0; WO2015181512A1; SE542641C2; GB2526611B

Abstract

This new ramjet consists of an air intake port (11), a diffuser stage (12), a fuel source (13), a combustion stage (14), and an exhaust nozzle (15). There are impellors in the diffuser stage that draw air into the engine when the aircraft is stationary or moving at any speed below the maximum cruising speed. The impellors are driven by electric motors, which require an electrical power source such as a battery, or are fed from an alternative source such as a fuel cell system. There are control systems for the impellors, for the fuel supply, and overall engine control. The new ramjet is a hybrid engine as it uses a combination of an electrical or another power source in addition to at least one combustible liquid or gaseous fuel. The engine can also operate in a way where it uses only one power source or fuel.

Claims

AMENDED CLAIMS received by the International Bureau on 23 November 2015 (23.1 1 .2015) The technical features and embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A new hybrid ramjet engine incorporating an active diffuser stage, where said stage consists of at least one rotary impellor.

2. A new hybrid ramjet engine with an active diffuser stage, consisting of at least one impellor, where said impellor or impellors are operated by a rotating electrical machine, and where said electrical machine is defined as a reversible motor-generator, depending on the rotational direction of the shaft torque, and can bi-directionally rotate to reverse the air flow when required.

3. A new hybrid ramjet engine as described in claims 1 and 2 involving an active diffuser stage, shown in Drawings, figure 2, with multiple impellors (21), not turbines, and multiple electrical machines (22) to increase the effectiveness of the active diffuser, where each said impellor or impellors are connected to a reversible electrical machine.

4. A new hybrid ramjet engine with multiple electrical machines, where a certain number of electrical machines are dedicated to motoring, and the remainder are dedicated to regenerating.

5. A new hybrid ramjet engine with multiple electrical machines, where a certain number of electrical machines and impellors may be contra-rotating relative to the rotational direction of the remaining electrical machines and impellors.

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machine - impellor combinations, where the net input power to the machines raises the power of the air (the air-power) inside the engine, which in turn will allow the air pressure or the air flow or both to increase inside the engine, and where each impellor is allowed to run at the same or different speeds relative to the other impellors, thereby enabling the new ramjet engine to produce significant thrust when stationary, and therefore enabling the aircraft to take-off from standstill and climb.

7. A new hybrid ramjet engine containing a number of electrical machine - impellor combinations, where regenerative power can be extracted from the forward motion of the engine by the reversible electrical machine - impellor combinations (acting as turbines), operating within the air flow inside the active diffuser and presenting a decelerating force on the engine, and where said regenerative power is extracted from the machine - impellor combinations, preferably as electrical power.

8. A new hybrid ramjet engine as described in claim 1, involving an active diffuser stage, where said diffuser stage may have a non-diverging volume to enable the new ramjet to operate more efficiently at subsonic speeds.

9. A new hybrid ramjet engine as described in claim 1, involving an active diffuser stage,

consisting of many reversible machine - impellor combinations, where said active diffuser stage provides a higher gas back-pressure than the diffuser stage in a standard ramjet for a given air speed.

10. A new hybrid ramjet engine as described in claim 1, where the variable exhaust nozzle (15) has a variable geometry, between converging and diverging, including both converging and diverging together, in order to optimise the exhaust gas flow out of the engine, for a range of aircraft speeds and flight conditions: this capability is novel for ramjet engines, but is a known option for conventional gas-turbine engines.

11. A new hybrid ramjet engine which, due to the design of the electronically controlled active diffuser stage, and which contains independently variable speed impellors and variable inlet geometry, yields a ramjet engine which can operate at both sub-sonic and super-sonic speeds, and thus can operate as a simple jet engine, or as a ramjet, or in transition between the two in a hybrid mode of operation with the same engine design.

12. A new hybrid ramjet engine which, due to the design of the electronically controlled active diffuser stage, and which contains independently variable speed impellors and variable inlet geometry, yields a ramjet engine which which can raise the initial air pressure inside the engine to enable it to become self-starting.

13. A new hybrid ramjet engine, comprising an active diffuser stage, which has a bidirectional power interaction with the air flowing through it i.e. power can either be extracted from or added to the air flow, requires an electronic control system to control the rotational direction, speed, torque, the power flow to and from the individual electrical machines, the discharging and recharging of the electrical power source, as well as fuel metering.

14. A new hybrid ramjet engine in which electrical machines in the diffuser stage require a

rechargeable electrical power source such as a battery system, and/or a super-capacitor system, and/or a non-rechargeable electrical power source such as a fuel cell system, or a combination of any two or all three such electrical power sources, thereby allowing an interchange of electrical energy between these devices or sources.

15. A new hybrid ramjet engine with an active diffuser stage comprising independent machine - impellor combinations, each with a four quadrant torque-speed capability, so that the electrical power system can either provide power or be recharged in flight, and so that air can flow in either direction through the engine, thus providing either motive power, or, rapid deceleration by reversing the rotational direction of the impellors and pushing air out of the front of the engine.

16. A new hybrid ramjet engine with an active diffuser, in which the number, size and power rating of each machine - impellor combination, all acting in concert, enhances the negative air speed gradient within the active diffuser and with a positive pressure difference across the diffuser (from inlet to outlet), when combined with the exhaust nozzle assembly, produces substantial thrust without the combustion of fuel especially when the incoming air speed is subsonic.

17. A new hybrid ramjet engine with a closable wall between the active diffuser and combustion sections to transform the new ramjet engine into a non-air-breathing rocket engine.

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