Cooling system for aircraft
AssigneesAirbus SAS, Airbus Operations GmbH
InventorsCharles-Etienne Martin, Frederick Berg, Darren Paget
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cooling system for aircraft comprises a first loop intended to cool fuel cells and on which there is a ram air heat exchanger, and a second loop intended to cool power electronic equipment items and to supply heat to an evaporator to gasify dihydrogen in order to supply the fuel cells. The first loop and the second loop are interconnected by a flow line starting at the output of the ram air heat exchanger and by a return line. A controller regulates the coolant temperature in the first loop, and in the second loop by controlling the opening of the flow line. Also an aircraft with such a cooling system.
Claims7
A cooling system for use in an aircraft which comprises at least one fuel cell, an evaporator, and at least one power electronic equipment item, the cooling system comprising:
- a cooling circuit in which a coolant circulates, the cooling circuit comprising:
- a first loop configured to cool said at least one fuel cell and which comprises a primary ram air heat exchanger and a first temperature sensor;
- -a second loop configured to cool said at least one power electronic equipment item and to supply heat to the evaporator to gasify dihydrogen which is passed to said at least one fuel cell, the second loop comprising a second temperature sensor;
- and,
- a controller configured to adjust an opening of a first valve at an input of the primary ram air heat exchanger and a second valve on a recirculation branch of the first loop, so as to regulate a temperature of the coolant at an input of said at least one fuel cell;
- wherein the first loop and the second loop are interconnected by a flow line and by a return line, the flow line starting at an output of the primary ram air heat exchanger and flow within the flow line being controlled by the controller opening a third valve, so as to regulate a temperature of the coolant at an input of said at least one power electronic equipment item,
- wherein the flow line is downstream from the output of the primary ram air heat exchanger and upstream from the input of said at least one fuel cell, and,
- wherein the controller is further configured to regulate said temperature of the coolant at the input of said at least one fuel cell and said temperature of the coolant at an input of said at least one power electronic equipment item according to temperature measurements performed by or with the first temperature sensor and by the second temperature sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.