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US 12,638,323 B2Granted
Fuel gauging sensing devices
AssigneesAirbus Operations S.L.U., Airbus Operations GmbH
InventorsDavid Vicente Oliveros, Javier Ruiz De Pablo, Chris Wood
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fuel gauging sensing device for a fuel tank for aircrafts includes an optical fiber harness along the internal surface of the tank, a master optical controller connected to a first terminal of the optical fiber harness, a slave optical controller connected to a second terminal of the optical fiber harness, wherein the optical fiber harness includes Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors spaced in the optical fiber harness between 1 mm and 25 mm to provide temperature gradients inside the tank and wherein the master and slave optical controllers are configured to obtain the fuel gauging of the tank based on the output from the FBG sensors.
Claims13
A fuel gauging sensing device for a fuel tank for aircrafts, the device comprising:
- an optical fiber harness established along an internal surface of the tank;
- a master optical controller connected to a first terminal of the optical fiber harness;
- a slave optical controller connected to a second terminal of the optical fiber harness;
- and
- a helical track configured to allocate the optical fiber harness, the helical track having an adjustable helical pitch and length;
- wherein the optical fiber harness comprises a plurality of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors;
- wherein the FBG sensors are spaced in the optical fiber harness between 1 mm and 25 mm and configured to provide temperature gradients inside the tank;
- wherein the optical fiber harness comprises a plurality of intrinsic fiber sensors configured to measure a refractive index of a medium surrounding the sensors inside the tank;
- wherein the intrinsic fiber sensors are spaced in the optical fiber harness between 1 mm and 25 mm;
- wherein the optical fiber harness comprises one or more Fabry Perot sensors configured to obtain absolute pressure, temperature, and/or refractive index values at specific points inside the tank;
- wherein the first and second controllers are configured to gauge the fuel of the tank based on the absolute pressure, temperature, and/or refractive index values at specific points inside the tank from the one or more Fabry Perot sensors, the refractive index of the medium surrounding the plurality of intrinsic fiber sensors from the plurality of intrinsic fiber sensors, and the temperature gradients inside the tank from the plurality of FBG sensors;
- wherein the optical fiber harness comprises a helical form and is established from a first end of the internal surface of the tank to an opposite end of the internal surface of the tank.
9 more elements
A fuel gauging sensing device for a fuel tank for aircrafts, the device comprising:
- an optical fiber harness established along an internal surface of the tank;
- a master optical controller connected to a first terminal of the optical fiber harness;
- a slave optical controller connected to a second terminal of the optical fiber harness;
- and
- a helical track configured to allocate the optical fiber harness;
- wherein the optical fiber harness comprises a plurality of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors;
- wherein the FBG sensors are spaced in the optical fiber harness between 1 mm and 25 mm and configured to provide temperature gradients inside the tank;
- wherein the optical fiber harness comprises a plurality of intrinsic fiber sensors configured to measure a refractive index of a medium surrounding the sensors inside the tank;
- wherein the intrinsic fiber sensors are spaced in the optical fiber harness between 1 mm and 25 mm;
- wherein the optical fiber harness comprises one or more Fabry Perot sensors configured to obtain absolute pressure, temperature, and/or refractive index values at specific points inside the tank;
- wherein the first and second controllers are configured to gauge the fuel of the tank based on the absolute pressure, temperature, and/or refractive index values at specific points inside the tank from the one or more Fabry Perot sensors, the refractive index of the medium surrounding the plurality of intrinsic fiber sensors from the plurality of intrinsic fiber sensors, and the temperature gradients inside the tank from the plurality of FBG sensors;
- wherein the optical fiber harness comprises a helical form and is established from a first end of the internal surface of the tank to an opposite end of the internal surface of the tank;
- and
- wherein the helical track comprises a flat plate configured to attach the fiber harness to the helical track.
11 more elements
A fuel gauging sensing device for a fuel tank for aircrafts, the device comprising:
- an optical fiber harness established along an internal surface of the tank;
- a master optical controller connected to a first terminal of the optical fiber harness;
- a slave optical controller connected to a second terminal of the optical fiber harness;
- a helical track configured to allocate the optical fiber harness;
- wherein the optical fiber harness comprises a plurality of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors;
- wherein the FBG sensors are spaced in the optical fiber harness between 1 mm and 25 mm and configured to provide temperature gradients inside the tank;
- wherein the optical fiber harness comprises a plurality of intrinsic fiber sensors configured to measure a refractive index of a medium surrounding the sensors inside the tank;
- wherein the intrinsic fiber sensors are spaced in the optical fiber harness between 1 mm and 25 mm;
- wherein the optical fiber harness comprises one or more Fabry Perot sensors configured to obtain absolute pressure, temperature, and/or refractive index values at specific points inside the tank;
- wherein the first and second controllers are configured to gauge the fuel of the tank based on the absolute pressure, temperature, and/or refractive index values at specific points inside the tank from the one or more Fabry Perot sensors, the refractive index of the medium surrounding the plurality of intrinsic fiber sensors from the plurality of intrinsic fiber sensors, and the temperature gradients inside the tank from the plurality of FBG sensors;
- wherein the optical fiber harness comprises a helical form and is established from a first end of the internal surface of the tank to an opposite end of the internal surface of the tank;
- and
- wherein the helical track comprises a plate with holes configured to attach the fiber harness to the helical track.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.