Patent attributes
An aircraft is equipped with multiple fans for boundary layer ingestion. The aircraft comprises a fuselage, having an exterior surface and a rearward-most end. The aircraft also comprises a plurality of fans that are fixed to and positioned about the exterior surface of the fuselage at an axial location forward of the rearward-most end of the fuselage. Each one of the plurality of fans comprises a plurality of fan blades and a fan drive configured to rotate the plurality of fan blades. The plurality of fan blades are positioned at lateral locations relative to the exterior surface of the fuselage such that when rotated by the fan drive the plurality of fans receive and accelerate fuselage boundary layer air flow, along the exterior surface of the fuselage, from a first average velocity to a second average velocity, greater than the first average velocity, when the aircraft is in flight.
