Importance

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Abstract

An air inlet provides air to an air consuming system of an aircraft, such as an auxiliary power unit, which consumes ram air during flight and which sucks in ambient outside air during ground operations of the aircraft. The inlet opening is flush with the outer surface of the fuselage skin. An air channel extends from the opening and is recessed into the fuselage. An air inlet lip bounds the downstream edge of the inlet opening. To prevent the formation of an airflow separation bubble in the air channel when air is sucked into the inlet during ground operations of the aircraft, an air guide element is arranged adjacent to the nose of the air inlet lip. In one embodiment the air guide element is an aerodynamically profiled auxiliary slat fixed in front of the nose of the air inlet lip to form an air guide gap therebetween. In another embodiment, the air guide element is a tiltable air guide flap that can be selectively deployed to extend downwardly from the nose of the air inlet lip during ground operation, and retracted flush into a recess of the air inlet lip during cruise flight of the aircraft.

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First Claim