Ram air intakes of rotary-wing aircraft turbine engines

Claim 1

Air intake apparatus for a turbine engine of an aircraft particularly for a helicopter comprising in combination an inlet duct formed of an annular hollow housing having exterior and interior walls forming an opening at the forward end and flaring divergently outward toward the rear end, a streamlined bullet located within said duct, a thrust mechanism located within said duct for axially moving said bullet into and out of sealing position in said central opening, said thrust mechanism being supported on a plurality of radial struts secured to the interior wall of said duct and partially blocking said duct, a plurality of inertial particle separators radially aligned between the exterior and interior walls of said housing intermediate the forward and rear ends thereof, each of said separators having an inlet in the external wall of said housing for free communication with external air, a first outlet in said interior wall for communication with said duct and a second outlet communicating into the space between the external and internal walls of said housing for the accumulation of particles therein, said inlet and first outlet of said separator being constantly open to provide free flow of air into said duct, at least one channel extending rearwardly from the space between said external and internal walls of said housing and opening in the exterior wall of said housing for the discharge of said particles, and deflector elements stationarily positioned externally about said duct upstream of said separator to disturb the flow of said external air reaching the inlet of said separators.