US 12,448,139 B2
Open rotor pylon fairing
William Joseph Bowden, Cleves, OH (US); Lukasz Ignacy Mazurkiewicz, Warsaw (PL); Syed Arif Khalid, West Chester, OH (US); and Trevor Howard Wood, Clifton Park, NY (US)
Assigned to General Electric Company, Evendale, OH (US); and General Electric Company Polska sp. z o.o., Warsaw (PL)
Filed by General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US); and General Electric Company Polska sp. z o.o., Warsaw (PL)
Filed on Apr. 26, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/307,110.
Claims priority of application No. 443512 (PL), filed on Jan. 17, 2023.
Prior Publication US 2024/0239503 A1, Jul. 18, 2024
Int. Cl. B64D 29/02 (2006.01); B64D 27/12 (2006.01); B64D 27/40 (2024.01)
CPC B64D 29/02 (2013.01) [B64D 27/12 (2013.01); B64D 27/402 (2024.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An aircraft defining a longitudinal centerline and extending between a forward end and an aft end, the aircraft comprising:
a fuselage extending between the forward end of the aircraft and the aft end of the aircraft;
a wing assembly extending laterally outwardly with respect to the longitudinal centerline from a portion of the fuselage;
an unducted turbofan engine including an unducted fan defining a fan diameter and including fan blades rotatable about the longitudinal centerline and fan guide vanes not rotatable about the longitudinal centerline; and
a pylon fairing that connects the unducted turbofan engine to the wing assembly, the pylon fairing having a forwardmost point upstream of a trailing edge of the fan guide vanes, the pylon fairing defining a leading edge and including a first inflection point along the leading edge, the first inflection point defining a first radius of curvature that is less than 5 times the fan diameter and greater than 0.1 times the fan diameter to reduce drag associated with supersonic flow at cruise conditions, and a second inflection point along the leading edge downstream of the first inflection point, the second inflection point defining a second radius of curvature that is less than 3 times the fan diameter and greater than 0.1 times the fan diameter to provide control of a flow of air over the leading edge of the pylon fairing into the wing assembly.