Catalytic fuel tank inerting systems
AssigneeHamilton Sundstrand Corporation
InventorsXiaohong Liao, Beakal T. Woldemariam, Brian R. Shea, Earl Jean LaVallee, Eric Surawski
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Abstract
Fuel tank inerting systems are described. The systems include a fuel tank, a catalytic reactor arranged to receive a reactant mixture comprising a first reactant and a second reactant to generate an inert gas to be supplied to the fuel tank to fill an ullage space of the fuel tank, a condenser heat exchanger arranged between the catalytic reactor and the fuel tank and configured to cool an output from the catalytic reactor, and a fan assembly arranged within an inerting system flow path upstream of the catalytic reactor, wherein the fan assembly is arranged within a gas flow having a temperature of at least 185° C.
Claims20
A fuel tank inerting system, the system comprising:
- a fuel tank;
- a catalytic reactor arranged to receive a reactant mixture comprising a first reactant and a second reactant to generate an inert gas to be supplied to the fuel tank to fill an ullage space of the fuel tank, wherein the first reactant is fuel and the second reactant is air;
- a condenser heat exchanger arranged between the catalytic reactor and the fuel tank and configured to cool an output from the catalytic reactor;
- and
- a fan assembly arranged within an inerting system flow path upstream of the catalytic reactor, wherein, in use, the fan assembly is arranged within a gas flow having a temperature of at least 185° C.,
- wherein the fan assembly comprises a fan housing with a fan motor arranged within the fan housing and configured to drive operation of the fan assembly, and
- wherein cool air is supplied into the fan housing to provide cooling to fan components of the fan assembly and prevent ingestion of gas of the gas flow.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.