Patent ID: 7861968

Claim:
An air inlet apparatus for use in supplying air to a cabin compressor of an environmental control system of a high speed airborne mobile platform, the apparatus comprising: a cabin compressor for supplying air to an environmental control system; a Pitot inlet in communication with an input of the cabin compressor, the Pitot inlet being disposed at a wing and body interface of the high speed airborne mobile platform, the Pitot inlet including: a duct structure having a face and a throat, positioned with the face located outside an exterior surface of a fuselage of the mobile platform, and such that the throat receives a first portion of a fuselage boundary layer adjacent to said fuselage and moving over said fuselage during flight, and feeds the first portion of the fuselage boundary layer to the cabin compressor; and a boundary layer diverter for supporting the duct structure outside the fuselage by a predetermined height, such that the boundary layer diverter is able to prevent a second portion of the boundary layer immediately adjacent to said exterior surface of said fuselage from entering said throat; said duct structure of said Pitot inlet having an inner lip and an outer lip spaced apart from said inner lip, said inner lip being closer to said exterior surface of said fuselage; and a ratio of a thickness of said outer lip to a thickness of said inner lip is between about 2:1 to about 4:1; said predetermined height of said diverter, and said ratio of thickness of said outer lip to said inner lip, enabling said Pitot inlet to provide a recovery factor of at least about 0.8 at said input of said cabin air compressor.