Patent ID: 8387950

Claim:
A flow device mounted within a passage adapted for a fluid to flow therethrough and for an anti-icing system on an aircraft engine, the flow device comprising: a panel having a thickness in a through-thickness direction thereof; and an expandable orifice defined in the panel, the expandable orifice comprising an outer perimeter, a plurality of cantilevered tabs surrounded by the outer perimeter and lying in a common plane, and an opening that extends through the thickness of the panel and is surrounded and defined by the cantilevered tabs, wherein each of the cantilevered tabs lies entirely in the plane and the opening has an axis parallel to the through-thickness direction of the panel, the cantilevered tabs projecting from the outer perimeter toward the opening, adjacent pairs of the cantilevered tabs being separated from each other by a gap, the gaps enabling the cantilevered tabs to deflect out of the plane thereof independently of each other, each of the cantilevered tabs defining a junction at the outer perimeter at which the cantilevered tab bends when deflected out of the plane thereof, wherein the opening is operable to restrict the fluid flowing through the expandable orifice as the fluid flows through the passage at a pressure below a predetermined pressure level, the cantilevered tabs being operable to deflect out of the plane thereof to relieve an over-pressure condition of the fluid at a pressure above the predetermined pressure level, the cantilevered tabs being entirely cantilevered within the passage so as to plastically deform at the junctions thereof while remaining cantilevered in response to the pressure within the passage being above the predetermined pressure level.