Vapor-to-air heat exchanger for aircraft powerplant
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorDaniel Alecu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vapor-to-air heat exchanger for an aircraft powerplant that includes: a pressurized vapor source supplying vapor; and a condenser including a condenser inlet in fluid communication with the pressurized vapor source to receive the vapor, a condenser outlet, and at least one pneumatic vessel defining a cavity in fluid communication between the condenser inlet and the condenser outlet. The pneumatic vessel is reversibly inflatable to be configurable between a collapsed vessel configuration and an inflated vessel configuration. A volume of the cavity is greater in the inflated vessel configuration than in the collapsed vessel configuration. The pneumatic vessel is inflatable from the collapsed vessel configuration to the inflated vessel configuration when the cavity is pressurized by the vapor.
Claims20
A vapor-to-air heat exchanger for an aircraft powerplant, comprising:
- a pressurized vapor source supplying vapor;
- and
- a condenser including a condenser inlet in fluid communication with the pressurized vapor source to receive the vapor, a condenser outlet, and at least one pneumatic vessel defining a cavity in fluid communication between the condenser inlet and the condenser outlet, the at least one pneumatic vessel being reversibly inflatable to be configurable between a collapsed vessel configuration and an inflated vessel configuration, a volume of the cavity being greater in the inflated vessel configuration than in the collapsed vessel configuration, the at least one pneumatic vessel being inflatable from the collapsed vessel configuration to the inflated vessel configuration when the cavity is pressurized by the vapor.
A vapor-to-air heat exchanger for an aircraft powerplant, comprising:
- an evaporator supplying vapor;
- and
- a condenser including:
- a condenser inlet in fluid communication with the evaporator to receive vapor therefrom;
- a condenser outlet;
- and
- an array of pneumatic vessels spaced from one another in an array orientation so as to define at least one air flow path along a path orientation transverse to the array orientation, at least one pneumatic vessel of the array of pneumatic vessels defining an cavity, a plane transverse to the array orientation extending through the cavity, the cavity being in fluid communication between the condenser inlet and the condenser outlet, the at least one pneumatic vessel being inflatable when the cavity is pressurized by the vapor to transition from a collapsed vessel configuration to an inflated vessel configuration, a size of the at least one pneumatic vessel in the array orientation being greater in the inflated vessel configuration than in the collapsed vessel configuration.
A powerplant for an aircraft, comprising:
- a power unit rejecting heat at a nominal heat rejection rate;
- and
- a vapor-to-air heat exchanger including:
- an evaporator thermally coupled to the power unit so as to supply vapor at a nominal pressure upon the power unit rejecting heat at the nominal heat rejection rate;
- and
- a condenser including a condenser inlet downstream of the evaporator, a condenser outlet, and at least one pneumatic vessel being inflatable and defining an cavity in fluid communication between the condenser inlet and the condenser outlet, the at least one pneumatic vessel being configurable between a collapsed vessel configuration and an inflated vessel configuration, the at least one pneumatic vessel being inflatable from the collapsed vessel configuration to the inflated vessel configuration upon the cavity being pressurized up to the nominal pressure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.