Gas turbine engine with convertible accessories

Drive means for connecting a gas turbine engine to its accessories are so constructed as to allow the accessories to be selectively positioned to any one of several predetermined circumferential positions about the perimeter of the engine. This feature permits convenient mounting of the same engine upon vehicles demanding radically different engine mounting arrangements

Advanced Propfan Engine Technology (APET) and Single-rotation Gearbox/Pitch Change Mechanism

The projected performance, in the 1990's time period, of the equivalent technology level high bypass ratio turbofan powered aircraft (at the 150 passenger size) is compared with advanced turboprop propulsion systems. Fuel burn analysis, economic analysis, and pollution (noise, emissions) estimates were made. Three different cruise Mach numbers were investigated for both the turbofan and the turboprop systems. Aerodynamic design and performance estimates were made for nacelles, inlets, and exhaust systems. Air to oil heat exchangers were investigated for oil cooling advanced gearboxes at the 12,500 SHP level. The results and conclusions are positive in that high speed turboprop aircraft will exhibit superior fuel burn characteristics and lower operating costs when compared with equivalent technology turbofan aircraft

Integrated gas turbine engine-nacelle

A nacelle for use with a gas turbine engine is presented. An integral webbed structure resembling a spoked wheel for rigidly interconnecting the nacelle and engine, provides lightweight support. The inner surface of the nacelle defines the outer limits of the engine motive fluid flow annulus while the outer surface of the nacelle defines a streamlined envelope for the engine

Integrated gas turbine engine-nacelle

A nacelle for use with a gas turbine engine is provided with an integral webbed structure resembling a spoked wheel for rigidly interconnecting the nacelle and engine. The nacelle is entirely supported in its spacial relationship with the engine by means of the webbed structure. The inner surface of the nacelle defines the outer limits of the engine motive fluid flow annulus, while the outer surface of the nacelle defines a streamlined envelope for the engine

Conceptual design study of advanced acoustic-composite nacelles

Conceptual studies were conducted to assess the impact of incorporating advanced technologies in the nacelles of a current wide-bodied transport and an advanced technology transport. The improvement possible in the areas of fuel consumption, flyover noise levels, airplane weight, manufacturing costs, and airplane operating cost were evaluated for short and long-duct nacelles. Use of composite structures for acoustic duct linings in the fan inlet and exhaust ducts was considered as well as for other nacelle components. For the wide-bodied transport, the use of a long-duct nacelle with an internal mixer nozzle in the primary exhaust showed significant improvement in installed specific fuel consumption and airplane direct operating costs compared to the current short-duct nacelle. The long-duct mixed-flow nacelle is expected to achieve significant reductions in jet noise during takeoff and in turbo-machinery noise during landing approach. Recommendations were made of the technology development needed to achieve the potential fuel conservation and noise reduction benefits

An advanced pitch change mechanism incorporating a hybrid traction drive

A design of a propeller pitch control mechanism is described that meets the demanding requirements of a high-power, advanced turboprop. In this application, blade twisting moment torque can be comparable to that of the main reduction gearbox output: precise pitch control, reliability and compactness are all at a premium. A key element in the design is a compact, high-ratio hybrid traction drive which offers low torque ripple and high torsional stiffness. The traction drive couples a high speed electric motor/alternator unit to a ball screw that actuates the blade control links. The technical merits of this arrangement and the performance characteristics of the traction drive are discussed. Comparisons are made to the more conventional pitch control mechanisms

Co-housing: Shared Futures

It is widely recognised that the UK housing market is dysfunctional. The problems are not limited to affordability and the mismatch between supply and demand. Equally important are the kinds of new housing produced by the speculative volume building model, and the communities and neighbourhoods that result. In the real world, the quantity, quality, location, density and price of housing are intimately bound up with how people live and relate to their neighbours and the resources that their homes consume. Cohousing could play a key role in solving the crisis. Cohousing usually includes private individual or family homes, which may be owned or rented, clustered around spaces and facilities that are collectively used. Food is often a focus, with community food production and/or a common house for shared meals. The communities generally have non-hierarchical structures and decision-making processes, and are usually designed, planned and managed by the residents

Utopianism and social change: materialism, conflict and pluralism

This article discusses criticisms that utopia and utopianism undermine social change. It outlines two types of utopia, future and current. It argues against claims that utopianism is idealist and steps aside from material and conflictual dimensions of society and so undermines change, proposing that utopias are material and conflictual and contribute to change. Against liberal and pluralist criticisms that utopianism is end-ist and totalitarian and terminates diversity and change it argues that utopianism can encompass liberal and pluralist dimensions and be dynamic rather than static. It is proposed that criticisms create false conflations and dichotomies. Critical perspectives, rather than being rejected, are answered on their own terms. Utopianism, it is argued, is part of change, materially, now and in the future

Co-production: towards a utopian approach

This article outlines how co-production might be understood as a utopian method, which both attends to and works against dominant inequalities. It suggests that it might be positioned ‘within, against, and beyond’ current configurations of power in academia and society more broadly. It develops this argument by drawing on recent research funded through the UK’s Connected Communities programme, led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council; and by attending to arguments from the field of Utopian Studies. It explores particular issues of power and control within the field of co-production, acknowledging that neoliberalism both constrains and co-opts such practice; and explores methodological and infrastructural issues such that its utopian potential might be realised

Educational archaeology and the practice of utopian pedagogy

This paper explores the idea, and some elements of the (potential) practice, of utopian pedagogy. It begins by outlining the general aims of ‘utopian pedagogy’ and notes the shift within contemporary writings away from the metaphor of the architect (armed with a utopian ‘blueprint’) towards that of the archaeologist. The ontological underpinnings of educational archaeology are discussed before attention turns to a critical examination of the pedagogical process of excavation. The key questions here are (to labour the metaphor) where to dig and how to identify a utopian find. The paper argues that, without a substantive normative vision to serve as a guide, utopian archaeology is conceptually flawed and practically ineffectual, romanticising an endlessly open process of exploration. The final section suggests that the fears associated with utopian architecture (authoritarian imposition, totalising closure) are misplaced and that drawing up a ‘blueprint’ should be the aim and responsibility of utopian pedagogy