Engineering news
Airbus has recently patented a design for an “ultra-rapid air vehicle together with a method of aerial locomotion”, otherwise called a hypersonic jet.
Airbus engineers Marco Prampolini and Yohann Coraboeuf expect the jet to reach speeds as high as Mach 4.5 – twice the speed of Concorde, and travel at heights of between 30,000 and 35,000 m, around 20km higher than conventional commercial aircraft. The aircraft would allow travel between distances of approximately 9000 km, for example Tokyo to Los Angeles, in just three hours.
Airbus is working with US firm Aerion to develop a supersonic business jet, which is planned to be in the air by 2019, although in an interview with PE, Airbus' head of engineering Charles Champion said that the development of supersonic jets “isn't a priority” for Airbus.
The hypersonic jet described in the US patent is powered by three different types of engines working in sequential order to get the craft aloft, into cruising altitude, and then up to its cruising speed of more than 3000 mph (4800 km/h).
To take off, the vehicle is propelled by a pair of turbojets mounted underneath the fuselage, as well as a rocket motor mounted in the rear. It will gradually be brought into a phase of “near-vertical ascendant flight”, much like the Space Shuttle, through the use of a “very substantial” thrust deployed by the rocket motor. The jet would reach and exceed Mach 1 during the take off.
Before reaching the speed of sound, the turbojets shut down and retract into the belly of plane — leaving only the rocket motor to guide it up to an altitude of up to 30,500m.
At cruising altitude, the rocket motor will shut down and retract into the fuselage. At this stage the plane's pair of wing-mounted ramjets would take over and propel it to a top speed of Mach 4.5.
The jet is to be powered by on-board hydrogen tanks, stored either in liquid form or in the state of “melted snow (slush)”, and one or more liquid oxygen tanks.
The patent states that the design of its jet would “very considerably” improve upon previous supersonic point-to-point ultra-rapid air vehicles that have been produced, namely the Concorde and Tupolev Tu-144. In particular, the design of the air vehicle “substantially” reduces the noise emitted when the sound barrier is broken - “the supersonic bang” - which it notes has been “the main limit, if not the only one” preventing the opening of lines other than transatlantic ones for the Concorde aircraft.
The patent says the aircraft will be able to carry around twenty passengers, and stresses its environmental benefits due to its use of hydrogen fuel. The patent also outlines the benefits of its high cruising altitude, which mean it will avoid interaction with general cruising air traffic and will allow operation in “almost all weather”.
The jet is envisaged to be utilised for both civil and military applications, with civil use expected to fall into the luxury VIP bracket for customers who who require “transcontinental return journeys within one day”.
Military applications are also expected to fall into strategic reconnaissance, ultra-rapid transport of “high added-value goods and equipped elite commandos”. In addition, the patent says that for offensive applications the jet could carry out precision strikes and take out “preferred high added-value targets” by using high-power electromagnetic pulses.
“As with satellites, the air vehicle of the invention offers almost total invulnerability to conventional antiaircraft systems, whilst having the flexibility and non-predictability of a traditional aircraft.”
The patent can be viewed here.
Our top ten pick of the world's most exciting aircraft development projects can be found here.