Gas delivery augmenter with pump mechanism
AssigneeGoodrich Corporation
InventorEric McFarland
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gas delivery augmenter may include a pump mechanism for facilitating inflation of an inflatable. The pump mechanism is generally configured to be driven/powered by pressure-volume energy from a primary gas received by the gas delivery augmenter, and the pump mechanism of the gas delivery augmenter is configured to entrain a secondary gas deliver the entrained secondary gas (and any remaining primary gas) to the inflatable. The pump mechanism, as described in greater detail below, enables secondary gas to be pumped/delivered to the inflatable even as the inflatable backpressure increases, thus providing improved inflation over conventional aspirators.
Claims15
A gas delivery augmenter comprising:
- a pump mechanism comprising a rotary vane pump;
- a housing within which the rotary vane pump is disposed;
- a first inlet defined in the housing, the first inlet configured to receive a primary gas from a gas supply;
- an initial gas outlet defined in the housing through which at least an initial portion of the primary gas is configured to exit the gas delivery augmenter into an inflatable;
- a second inlet defined in the housing, wherein the rotary vane pump is configured to entrain a secondary gas into the housing via the second inlet;
- and
- a final outlet defined in the housing, wherein the rotary vane pump is configured to pump a remaining portion of the primary gas and the secondary gas into the inflatable via the final outlet, wherein reception of the primary gas is configured to drive the pump mechanism using pressure-volume energy from the primary gas to entrain the secondary gas.
An inflation system comprising:
- a gas supply configured to provide a primary gas;
- and
- a gas delivery augmenter coupled to the gas supply and comprising:
- a pump mechanism, the pump mechanism including a rotary vane pump;
- a housing within which the rotary vane pump is disposed;
- a first inlet defined in the housing, wherein the first inlet is configured to receive the primary gas from the gas supply;
- an initial gas outlet defined in the housing through which at least an initial portion of the primary gas is configured to exit the gas delivery augmenter into an inflatable;
- a second inlet defined in the housing, wherein the rotary vane pump is configured to entrain a secondary gas into the housing via the second inlet;
- and
- a final outlet defined in the housing, wherein the rotary vane pump is configured to pump a remaining portion of the primary gas and the secondary gas into the inflatable via the final outlet, wherein in response to reception of the primary gas, the gas delivery augmenter is configured to drive the pump mechanism using pressure-volume energy from the primary gas to entrain the secondary gas.
An evacuation assembly of an aircraft, the evacuation assembly comprising:
- an inflatable slide;
- a gas supply configured to provide a primary gas;
- and
- a gas delivery augmenter coupled to the gas supply and comprising:
- a pump mechanism including a rotary vane pump;
- a housing within which the rotary vane pump is disposed, wherein the housing is disposed within an inflatable volume of the inflatable slide;
- a first inlet defined in the housing, wherein the first inlet is configured to receive the primary gas from the gas supply;
- an initial gas outlet defined in the housing through which at least an initial portion of the primary gas is configured to exit the gas delivery augmenter into the inflatable slide;
- a second inlet defined in the housing, wherein the rotary vane pump is configured to entrain a secondary gas into the housing via the second inlet;
- and
- a final outlet defined in the housing, wherein the rotary vane pump is configured to pump a remaining portion of the primary gas and the secondary gas into the inflatable slide via the final outlet, wherein in response to reception of the primary gas the gas delivery augmenter is configured to drive the pump mechanism using pressure-volume energy from the primary gas to entrain the secondary gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.