Emissionless Silent and Ultra-Efficient Airplane Using CFJ Airfoil
Gecheng Zha
Problem
Significant improvements in aircraft performance can be achieved by optimizing an airfoil design. One of the important goals of airfoil design is to achieve a compromise in airfoil topology to satisfy different operating conditions such as take-off and landing (low speed, high angle of attack) and cruising conditions (high speed, low angle of attack). Conventionally, it is achieved by varying the wing geometry, for example, increasing the surface of the wings by means of extending the flaps during take-offs and landings. It is highly desirable to obtain an airfoil configuration that can be equally efficient for different aerodynamic conditions and have a simple mechanical design at the same time.
Solution
Instead of replacing conventional airplane wings with the CFJ airfoil wings, the present invention changes the design of a whole airplane to be built around the CFJ airfoil. The core principle of the present invention is that the CFJ airfoil generates both lift and thrust. Therefore, an airplane can be propelled only by the thrust generated by the CFJ airfoil without using an auxiliary source of propulsion such as a turbine.
Preliminary calculations suggest that the energy savings would be substantial enough to allow the novel airplane to use an electric power source, such as fuel cells. The fuel cells or another power source will power a pump required to circulate an air flow for creating lift and thrust.
Competitive Advantage
The present invention is a system-level design that is based on the novel CFJ airfoil design. Based on wind tunnel tests, the proposed design, among other benefits, significantly reduces stall speed, take-off and landing distances, and improves fuel consumption.
Applications
The invention is applicable to aircrafts.
Patent Status
International patent application No.
WO2008054518
entitled, "EMISSIONLESS SILENT AND ULTRA-EFFICIENT AIRPLANE USING CFJ AIRFOIL" was published on May 8, 2008.
Licensing Opportunity
We are seeking a commercialization partner with capabilities in product development, sales, and marketing. An exclusive worldwide license is available.
About the Inventors
Dr. Zha, is an Associate Professor at the University of Miami (UM) since 2001. He has extensive experience on aircraft aerodynamics, flow control, wind tunnel tests, turbomachinery, propeller aerodynamics, landing gear aerodynamics, Computational Fluid Dynamics algorithm development and application, and design optimization. Dr. Zha's research at UM has been funded by AFOSR (Air Force Office of Scientific Research), NASA, ARO (Army Research Office) NRC (National Research Council), AFRL (Air Force Research Lab), and Siemens. Before Dr. Zha joined UM, he had extensive experience within the aerospace industry (GE Aircraft Engines, Pratt & Whitney) and government lab (AFRL). Dr. Zha received his Ph.D. degree from University of Montreal supported by the Quebec government FCAR award for outstanding Ph.D. students. In the spring of 2000, Dr. Zha studied at MIT as a special student in the Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Dr. Zha has published 18 journal papers, 1 book chapter, and 37 conference papers.
Selected References
Zha, G.-C., Bruce F. Carroll, Paxton, C., Clark A. Conley and Adam Wells, "High Performance Airfoil Using Co-Flow Jet Flow Control", AIAA Journal, Vol. 45, No. 8, pp. 2087-2090, 2007
Zha, G.-C., Gao, W. and Paxton, C. D., "Jet Effects on Co-Flow Jet Airfoil Performance", AIAA Journal, Vol.45, No.6, 2007, pp. 1222-1231
Zha, G.-C and Paxton, C. and Conley, A. and Wells, A. and Carroll, B., "Effect of Injection Slot Size on High Performance Co-Flow Jet Airfoil", AIAA Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 987-995, 2006
Zha, G.-C. and Paxton, C., "A Novel Flow Control Method for Airfoil Performance Enhancement Using Co-Flow Jet", Applications of Circulation Control Technologies, AIAA Book Series, Progress in Aeronautics and Astronautics, Vol. 214, 2006, Chapter 10, pp. 293-314, Editors: R. D. Joslin and G. S. Jones
Chen, X.-Y. and Zha, G.-C. and Yang, M.-T., "Numerical Simulation of 3-D Wing Flutter with Fully Coupled Fluid-Structural Interaction", Journal of Computers & Fluids, Vol. 36, No. 5, June 2007, pp. 856-867
Chen, X. and Zha, G.-C., "Implicit Application of Non-Reflective Boundary Conditions for Navier-Stokes Equations in Generalized Coordinates", International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, Vol. 50, No. 7, pp. 767-793, 2006
Chen, X. and Zha, G.-C., "Fully Coupled Fluid-Structural Interactions Using an Efficient High Solution Upwind Scheme", Journal of Fluid and Structure, Vol. 20, No. 8, Nov. 2005, pp. 1105-1125
Zha, G.-C., "A Low Diffusion Efficient Upwind Scheme", AIAA Journal, Vol.43, No.5, pp. 1137-1140, 2005
Hu, Z. and Zha, G.-C., "Calculations of 3D Compressible Using an Efficient Low Diffusion Upwind Scheme", International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, Vol. 47, pp. 253-269, Nov. 2004
Zha, G.-C., "Boundary Layer Loss Mechanism and Justification of Wall Functions for Turbulence Modeling", AIAA Journal, Vol. 42, No. 11, Nov. 2004, pp. 2387-2390
Zha, G.-C. and Hu, Z., "Calculation of Transonic Internal Flows Using an Efficient High Resolution Upwind Scheme", AIAA Journal, Jan. 2004
