Airbus Patents Radical Design With Wraparound Engines Along its Body

Airbus Patent – Replacement of Large Engines under Wing

Airbus has filed a patent which recommends the replacement of the large engines under the wing with multi-fan jet engines which wrap around the fuselage of the airplane. The design is said to scoop up air, pushing it over the exterior of the engine in order to provide extra thrust. However, the engine nacelles would be blocking the sky-high views that flyers tend to enjoy from the window seat.

The window seat is a sought after section on an airplane but the new design would now make it the least favourite place. The aircraft manufacturers seem to be working constantly in enhancing propulsive efficiency without the need of changing the design of the plane. The patent published on Espacenet reads - `in the aeronautical industry, the current trend in turbofan design is to increase the bypass ratio in order to improve fuel consumption through increased propulsive, efficiency and to reduce noise on ground.

In conventional turbofan engines, the pursuit of higher propulsive efficiency needs increasing the fan diameter in order to produce a higher by-pass mass flow at lower slipstream velocities’. Sources reports that some may state that several airliners tend to use jet engines though they essentially use the ones which look like jet engines and are actually just turbofans.

Quest for Powerful & Efficient Engines

The difference between the two is, a jet engine tends to use thrust of the exhaust in order to manoeuvre and this system seems to work amazingly in small fighter planes though to use it for a commercial airliner would need too much fuel. A turbofan engine tends to have a turbo jet engine as its centre and the thrusts seems to move the craft though it uses a huge fan on the front to scoop up air and push it over the outside engine to provide the extra thrust for the plane.

The quest for more powerful and efficient engines, according to Airbus has led to bigger and bigger turbofans which are quickly reaching the design limitations. Multi-fan engine can be fixed to the fuselage of the aircraft which will enable the fans to scoop up airflow, moving it over the engine and providing the plane with an extra thrust.

View Blocked by Engine Nacelles

But the drawback is that the flyers would not be in a position to catch the sites from the sky anymore since their view would be blocked by the engine nacelles. Airbus also intends proposing a design which would be replacing the huge fan with a group of smaller ones but this is not a new concept.

 The firm has additional details in the patent which have not been taken into account earlier. The patent states that `a multi-fan engine including a gas turbine engine, a casing and fans encased by geared rings that connect with the geared rings of an adjacent fan like the rotation of one fan rotates the other fans’.By applying the geared rings to individual fans, the amount of torque is controlled by adjusting linear actuators.

The design would tend to be lighter since the need for heavy gearboxes and shafts that generally sit adjacent to the fan will not be needed which will free up plenty of space. With the use of these components, the inspections and servicing of the fans would be more convenient.