US Patent 9422889 Combined turbojet and ramjet engine

A combined engine includes a turbopump including a pump injecting hydrogen into a heater arranged in an outer casing downstream from a central body, and a subsonic turbine driving the pump, which turbine receives partially-expanded hydrogen collected at an outlet from the heater to apply the hydrogen to a supersonic turbine to operate the engine as a turbojet. The hydrogen from the supersonic turbine is collected in tubes inside the central body to be sent to a combustion chamber defined downstream from the central body, while the hydrogen that is partially expanded in the subsonic turbine is sent directly to the combustion chamber via injectors to operate the engine as a ramjet.