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US 11,338,892 B2Granted
Autonomous seabased resupply system
AssigneeTextron Innovations Inc.
InventorsJeffrey Paul Nissen, Troy Cyril Schank, Peter Charles Robichaux, Jason Paul Hurst, Todd Christopher Worden
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An exemplary autonomous seabased resupply system includes an unmanned blob positioned in a water body, the blob containing fuel, a pump on the blob configured to pump the fuel through a conduit to a craft, and a ballast system operable to change a vertical position of the blob in the water body.
Claims20
A method for resupplying an aircraft at sea, the method comprising:
- deploying, in a water body, an unmanned resupply system comprising a flexible liquid fuel containment membrane containing fuel, a pump on the flexible liquid fuel containment membrane operable to pump the fuel, containers located on an exterior of the flexible liquid fuel containment membrane and on opposite sides of the flexible liquid fuel containment membrane, and an operating system located inside one or more of the containers, the operating system comprising at least one selected from a power supply, a communication system, and a control processor;
- and
- transferring the fuel to a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
A method for resupplying an aircraft at sea, the method comprising:
- transferring fuel from an unmanned resupply system deployed in a water body to a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, the resupply system comprising:
- a flexible liquid fuel containment membrane containing the fuel;
- a pump on the flexible liquid fuel containment membrane operable to pump the fuel to the aircraft;
- containers located on an exterior of the flexible liquid fuel containment membrane and on opposite sides of the flexible liquid fuel containment membrane;
- and
- an operating system located inside one or more of the containers, the operating system comprising at least one selected from a power supply, a communication system, and a control processor.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.