{
  "patent_number": "US 11814186",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Jet Engines Use Heat to Automatically Adjust Airflow",
  "original_title": "Flow aperture method and apparatus",
  "summary": "A GE patent for a jet engine component that changes shape based on temperature to automatically control how much cooling air flows into the engine core.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a way to manage temperatures inside a jet engine by using materials that physically change shape when they get hot. The engine has a hot core and a cooler secondary airflow, such as air from a fan or bleed line. By using a passageway made of a material that deflects—or bends—as it heats up, the engine can automatically open or close a gap to let more or less cooling air in. A thermal barrier coating is used to ensure the material reacts specifically to the temperature of the hot core, rather than the cooler air passing through it, allowing for precise, passive control of airflow without needing complex electronic sensors.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover active control systems that use electronic sensors or actuators to adjust airflow.",
    "Does not cover cooling systems that rely on fixed-geometry apertures that do not change shape.",
    "Does not cover materials that do not exhibit temperature-dependent deflection (e.g., standard rigid steel components).",
    "Does not cover methods of cooling that do not involve a secondary fluid source like a fan or bleed line."
  ],
  "filed": "2021-12-08",
  "granted": "2023-11-14",
  "expires": null,
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "General Electric Co",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/general-electric-co",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Dennis R. Jonassen",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/dennis-r-jonassen"
    },
    {
      "name": "Scott Alan Schimmels",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/scott-alan-schimmels"
    },
    {
      "name": "David A. Perveiler",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/david-a-perveiler"
    },
    {
      "name": "James Michael Hoffman",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/james-michael-hoffman"
    },
    {
      "name": "Michael G. Chenery",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/michael-g-chenery"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 0,
  "tags": [
    "aerospace",
    "mechanical"
  ],
  "abstract": "In a jet engine having a core that sources a first flow of fluid and a component (such as a fan, a pump, and/or a bleed line) that sources a second flow of fluid, and where the first flow of fluid will typically have, at least during ordinary operation, a higher temperature than the second flow of fluid, at least one flow aperture formed by a first passageway to receive at least a portion of the aforementioned second flow of fluid, wherein that first passageway is comprised of at least one material that (by design and intent) deflects as a function of temperature such that a flow of the second flow of fluid through the at least one flow aperture is thereby desirably modulated.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/11814186/starship-lunar-lander-hls",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/11814186/starship-lunar-lander-hls/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US11814186",
  "relatedPatents": []
}