Back in the eighties NASA and General Electric among other companies made research on more efficient engines for airliners. One of them were the so called unducted fans or prop-fans, a combination of a pusher reactor engine and a high speed propeller driven by the reactor.
For strange reasons this configuration, that actually proved to be more efficient, was not finally adopted. In our days, when energy efficiency becomes again of major importance, some old concepts as unducted fans are cleverly recovered.
One of our beloved designs for small wind turbines is directly inspired by this beautiful double propulsion layout. With far less technologic background than NASA and General Electric, our nacelle-propeller combination, though actually fine working, is nothing but a humble homage to best aircraft ingenuity.
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