Abstract: A vehicle has a body and a source of a propellant. An engine is carried by the body. The engine reacts the propellant to produce thrust. The engine has a heat exchanger transferring heat from the reaction to at least a component of the propellant and generating electricity thermoelectrically.

Abstract: A compound cycle engine system has a rotary engine, which rotary engine generates exhaust gas. The system further has a compressor for increasing the pressure of inlet air to be supplied to the engine to a pressure in the range of from 3.0 to 5.0 atmospheres and an intercooler for providing the inlet air to the engine at a temperature in the range of from 150 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. The system further has one or more turbines for extracting energy from the exhaust gas. The Miller Cycle is implemented in the rotary engine, enabling the compression ratio to be lower than the expansion ratio, allowing the overall cycle to be optimized for lowest weight and specific fuel consumption.

Abstract: A compound cycle engine system has a rotary engine, which rotary engine generates exhaust gas. The system further has a compressor for increasing the pressure of inlet air to be supplied to the engine to a pressure in the range of from 3.0 to 5.0 atmospheres and an intercooler for providing the inlet air to the engine at a temperature in the range of from 150 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. The system further has one or more turbines for extracting energy from the exhaust gas. The Miller Cycle is implemented in the rotary engine, enabling the compression ratio to be lower than the expansion ratio, allowing the overall cycle to be optimized for lowest weight and specific fuel consumption.

Abstract: The bearing system includes a first component having a first substrate and a first coating. The first coating includes a DLC layer and a DLN layer between the DLC layer and the substrate. A second component is in sliding engagement with the first component.

Abstract: A pulse detonation engine (10) is provided with an aerovalve (14) for controlling the pressure of injected propellants (Ox, Fuel) in an open-ended detonation chamber (26). The propellants are injected at such pressure and velocity, and in a direction generally toward a forward thrust wall end (16) of the detonation chamber (26), an aerovalve (14) is formed which effectively inhibits or prevents egress of the propellant from the detonation chamber (26). A shock wave (34) formed by the injected propellant acts, after reflection by the thrust wall end (16) and in combination with the aerovalve (14), to compress and conserve, or increase, the pressure of the injected propellant. Carefully timed ignition (28) effects a detonation pulse under desired conditions of maintained, or increased, pressure. Termination of the propellant injection serves to “open” the aerovalve (14), and exhaust of the combusted propellants occurs to produce thrust.

Abstract: A method of combusting an endothermic fuel in a lean premixed/prevaporized combustion system includes transferring thermal energy from a combustion air stream to an endothermic fuel decomposition catalyst to cool the combustion air stream and heat the fuel and catalyst to a temperature sufficient to endothermically decompose an endothermic fuel. The catalyst is contacted with fuel to cause the fuel to endothermically decompose into a reaction product stream. The reaction product stream is mixed with the cooled combustion air stream to form a well-mixed, uniformly lean fuel/air mixture and the fuel/air mixture is combusted at an equivalence ratio of less than 1 to produce a combustion product stream. The invention also includes a system for practicing the method.

Abstract: A piloting fuel injector assembly for a supersonic ramjet engine has a cowl 24, 70 confining a pilot air portion of the airstream. A conical member 34, 74 produces a subsonic recirculation zone 30, 76 and a shock wave falling within the cowl. Pilot fuel injected 40, 82 upstream of the recirculation zone burns stoichiometrically. The exhaust 38, 86 from the cowl is sonic, producing a shock wave which facilitates ignition of the main fuel injected 46, 84 upstream of the cowl exhaust.

Abstract: A boundary-controlled aerodynamic window positioned adjacent the exit aperture of a gas laser is transparent to the laser beam emitted from the cavity of the laser. The boundary-controlled aerodynamic window is formed by a high velocity gas flow directed by a duct across the exit aperture for the laser beam isolating the low pressure region of the cavity from the high pressure of the atmosphere. The exit aperture is enlarged and an auxiliary gas flow injected along the sidewall of the duct adjacent the exit aperture to expand the thickness of the boundary layer. In a second embodiment, particulate matter is fixedly attached to the sidewall of the duct to increase the roughness of the wall surface. A third embodiment uses a plurality of nozzles, each injecting gas with a predetermined velocity.

Abstract: An ejector for pumping a low pressure, supersonic driven stream to a high pressure is disclosed. Effective pressure recovery in a relatively short axial length is sought.The low pressure driven stream is flowed at supersonic velocities into the ejector. A high energy driving stream is flowed laterally of the driven stream at a supersonic velocity greater than the supersonic velocity of the driven stream and a static pressure above the static pressure of the driven stream to cause compression of the driven stream at supersonic velocities.

Abstract: A gas laser emits an output laser beam from a low pressure region to a region having a higher pressure. This is done through an opening in the side of a laser device. Under normal circumstances, the provision of such an opening would incur a flow of air from the high pressure side, externally of the laser device, to the low pressure side within the device. To prevent this, an aerodynamic window is placed in a passageway leading from said opening in the laser device through which the laser beam passes. A gas flow is passed across said passageway which will provide a flow which represents the flow of a segment of a free-vortex flow field having a pressure differential across the segment which is equal to that between the low and high pressure regions. A single nozzle, specifically contoured to produce a segment of a free-vortex flow field directs the gas into the passageway and an opening collects the flow onto the other side of said passageway. A method of constructing such a nozzle is set forth.

Abstract: A gas laser emits an output laser beam from a low pressure region to a region having a higher pressure. This is done through an opening in the side of a laser device. Under normal circumstances, the provision of such an opening would incur a flow of air from the high pressure side, externally of the laser device, to the low pressure side within the device. To prevent this, an aerodynamic window is placed in a passageway leading from said opening in the laser device through which the laser beam passes. A gas flow is passed across said passageway which will provide a flow segment having a pressure differential across the segment which is equal to that between the low and high pressure regions. When such an aerodynamic window is used in an aircraft and the aircraft experiences changes in altitude, the pressure differential across the flow segment changes.

Abstract: A gas laser emits an output laser beam from a low pressure region to a region having a higher pressure. This is done through an opening in the side of a laser device. Under normal circumstances, the provision of such an opening would incur a flow of air from the high pressure side, externally of the laser device, to the low pressure side within the device. To prevent this, an aerodynamic window is placed in a passageway leading from said opening in the laser device through which the laser beam passes. A gas flow is passed across said passageway which will provide a flow which represents the flow of a segment of a free-vortex flow field having a pressure differential across the segment which is equal to that between the low and high pressure regions. A single nozzle, specifically contoured to produce a segment of a free-vortex flow field directs the gas into the passageway and an opening collects the flow onto the other side of said passageway. A method of constructing such a nozzle is set forth.