An aircraft having a supercharger installed from a retrofit kit and a retrofit kit for retrofitting a supercharger 24 in or below the separation space (21) of an aircraft engine compartment or nacelle which is made up of a supercharger (24), one or more mounting plates (26) (54) and a drive pulley assembly (35) (53). The kits can also include a mounting bracket (25) and front connector mounting (52).
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1. A supercharger retrofit kit for attachment of an automotive supercharger to at least one of an aircraft engine and an aircraft engine mounting within an engine compartment of an aircraft comprising:
a supercharger including an impeller, a pulley assembly means for connection of the aircraft engine accessory drive to the supercharger impeller for transferring rotary motion from an aircraft engine accessory drive to the supercharger impeller, the combination being presized for installation in or below the separation space of an aircraft engine compartment.
15. An aircraft comprising at least one engine compartment having a separation space and a retrofit supercharger from a kit attached to the at least one of an engine and an engine mounting and positioned within or below the separation space, the supercharger including an impeller, a pulley assembly means for connection of the aircraft engine accessory drive and the supercharger impeller for transferring rotary motion from an aircraft engine accessory drive to the supercharger impeller, the combination being installed in or below the separation space of the aircraft engine compartment.
28. A supercharger retrofit kit for attachment of an automotive supercharger to at least one of an aircraft engine and an aircraft engine mounting within an engine compartment of an aircraft comprising:
supercharger including an impeller, a pulley assembly means for connection of the aircraft engine accessory drive to the supercharger impeller for transferring rotary motion from an aircraft engine accessory drive to the supercharger impeller, the combination being presized for installation in or below the separation space of an aircraft engine compartment, and at least one of a mounting plate and a mounting bracket.
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13. The supercharger retrofit kit of
14. The supercharger retrofit kit of
16. The aircraft of
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19. The aircraft of
20. The aircraft of
21. The aircraft of
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24. The aircraft of
25. The aircraft of
26. The aircraft of
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29. The supercharger retrofit kit of
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Superchargers have been used to enhance aircraft, automotive and marine engine performance for decades. With the passage of time, automotive and aircraft engine compartments have become increasingly crowded and complicated as improvements and accessories are added.
Representative supercharger/engine configurations are found in:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,751 Taiji Matsubara where FIGS. 1 and 2 depict vividly the space limitations in a modern automotive engine compartment. Here, the supercharger is cradled between the cylinder banks of a V-type engine so as to avoid interference with other accessories, etc., in the engine compartment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,459 to James Middlebrook teaches the configuration of a gear-driven, centrifugal supercharger.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,734 to Kenji Horiuchi et al teaches a supercharger automotive engine arrangement showing the complexity and lack of space in the modern automotive engine compartment. A direct gear drive is utilized.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,835,238 to J. W. Oehrli teaches a variable speed direct drive on a McCulloch (Paxton) supercharger and the complexity existing even in the 1950s.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,741,235 to W. A. Wiseman teaches the use of a simple, belt-driven, supercharger/aircraft engine system for installation prior to mounting the engine on an aircraft.
Problems unconnected with light aircraft, per se, virtually drove U.S. light aircraft manufacturers out of the private sector market. Early on, superchargers were useful in aircraft but were gear-driven. The supercharger/aircraft systems had many problems. The gear drives were unreliable and, as a result, aircraft turbocharging came to the fore. (See U.S. Pat. No. 2,835,238) Although the aircraft industry ended production of most of these early aircraft, they have proved to be quite airworthy when treated properly and are widely used today. In fact, the designs of recent craft follow the earlier models to a great extent.
However, users of these aircraft have needed to extend the service altitude at which the craft can be comfortably flown. For example, pilots wishing to fly in states with numerous mountain peaks with heights over 8-10,000 feet are always at risk. Additionally, pilots need increased altitude to reduce congestion of airways at lower altitudes. Finally, increased power availability during take-offs and landings provides an appreciable safety margin. Turbochargers and superchargers were slated to provide the additional power. However, turbochargers required extensive maintenance. On average, they must be rebuilt every 800-1000 hours and even when properly maintained, can shorten engine life and can damage the cylinders of the aircraft's engines. Therefore, the cost of equipment and maintenance has ensured that turbochargers have seen relatively little usage in light aircraft.
Unfortunately, the aircraft industry has not configured the engine compartment of lightweight aircraft to include superchargers. Further, so many problems arose out of the use of gear-driven superchargers and in light aircraft that they went out of use. As a result, the engine compartment or nacelle was not sized to house retrofitted superchargers and none are thought to be on the market even today.
Over time, competition in the United States essentially reduced the availability of light aircraft engines to two—the Continental and the Lycoming engines. The present invention provides a mechanism for of for the emplacement of a selected supercharger can be retrofit outfitted with kit components.
The separation space is defined in terms of the aft vertical baffle and the firewall separating the engine compartment from the passenger compartment or wing structure in some multi-engine craft. However, the separation space is not defined by the baffle but by the empty space adjacent the firewall. It is preferred that the separation space be from at least 26 cm deep to 51 cm deep and more preferably about 28 cm to about 41 cm in depth.
The air filtering device can be attached to the supercharger air intake or placed elsewhere in the engine compartment air stream to avoid heat from the air stream off the engine. When the air filter is separated from the supercharger air inlet, the two can be connected by the flexible conduits, such as SCAT and SCEEPT ducts.
The attachment of the supercharger to the aircraft will generally be through the use of studs or bolts as shown in the Figures. The attachment of the mounting gusset to the Lycoming-type engine will use the bolt holes in the crank-case normally used for attachment of an air conditioning unit. The use of a supercharger mounting with a frontal ring is not generally necessary. It is advantageous where the width of the separation space is sufficiently small that a “thin” mounting plate is required to mount the supercharger. The “frontal ring” mounting can then be used to reduce vibration and any resulting metal fatigue.
The set-up of the belt drive is predicated on the availability of space within the separation space, or the adjacent engine compartment as cowling configurations change from aircraft to aircraft and over time as models change and as owners customize their crafts. Thus, additional pulleys, belts and mountings can be added to avoid obstacles to the use of straight drive shafts like the drive shaft of
The exact shapes and materials of the drive shafts mounting brackets, plates, gussets and clamps can also be modified to conform to design requirements brought about by the availability of new materials, in model changes and the statutes, regulations, rules and other regulatory or legal requirements. Those skilled in the art are warned to know and carefully apply the relevant law to ensure good health and safety during manufacture, the assembly and use of the component parts, the supercharger and kit assemblies and the deposition of the manufacturing, maintenance and repair scraps, chemicals and residues in an environmentally safe manner.
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