Patent ID: 8286434

Claim:
A supersonic propulsion system, said propulsion system designed for flight at a specific and pre-determined Mach number, comprising: an engine comprising an air intake and an exhaust system; a subsonic diffuser section coupled to the air intake of the engine, and configured to diffuse a flow and to admit the diffused flow to said air intake of said engine at a predetermined subsonic condition suitable for the engine; and a supersonic compression section coupled to the subsonic diffuser section by a throat, the supersonic compression section comprising a compression ramp and cowl; said cowl having an upstream lip; said compression ramp having an upstream straight compression ramp having a leading edge or an apex, connected downstream with a concave surface relative to the flow, said concave surface connected downstream with a straight surface; said leading edge or apex having an angle, and said cowl lip is positioned such that an inclined shock wave generated at said leading edge or apex intercepts said cowl lip; said cowl lip operable to produce a terminal shock wave extending to the compression surface; said concave surface having a radius of concavity operable to produce successive shocklets; said radius of concavity being larger than a radius that would be operable to cause said shocklets to focus on said cowl lip; said concavity operable to generate each of a plurality of said shocklets such that, at said specific and pre-determined flight Mach number, each shocklet of the plurality of said shocklets intercepts said terminal shock wave at a different location between said cowl lip and said compression surface.