Fuel jettison system
AssigneeSikorsky Aircraft Corporation
InventorsJames J. Morgia, Anthony P. Cutting
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fuel jettison system which provides pilot-initiated automatic operation to jettison fuel down to a 60 minute useable fuel remaining level while the manual operation, requiring the pilot to hold down the jettison panel switch, jettisons fuel down to a 20-minute useable fuel remaining level. The pilot can interrupt jettisoning at any time. This termination sequence operates in either automatic or manual mode. The port and starboard main fuel tanks jettison fuel independently through independent shutoff valves and associated circuit logic to thereby maintain aircraft balance.
Claims19
An aircraft fuel jettison system comprising:
- a fuel tank;
- a fuel pump;
- a fuel conduit in communication with said fuel tank and said fuel pump;
- a shutoff valve having an inward vent within said fuel conduit;
- and
- an overboard fuel jettison conduit in communication with said fuel pump.
A rotary-wing aircraft comprising:
- a port fuel tank;
- a starboard fuel tank
- a fuel pump;
- a port fuel conduit in communication with said port fuel tank and said pump;
- a port dip conduit in communication with said port fuel conduit, said port dip conduit defining an opening at a first level within said port fuel tank, said port dip conduit penetrates into said port fuel tank at a second level greater than said first level;
- a port shutoff valve having an inward vent within said port fuel conduit;
- a starboard fuel conduit in communication with said starboard fuel tank and said pump;
- a starboard dip conduit in communication with said starboard fuel conduit, said starboard dip conduit defining an opening at a first level within said starboard fuel tank, said starboard dip conduit penetrates into said second fuel tank at a starboard level greater than said first level;
- a starboard shutoff valve having an inward vent within said starboard fuel conduit;
- and
- an overboard fuel jettison conduit in communication with said fuel pump.
A method of jettisoning fuel comprising the steps of:
- (A) selectively jettisoning fuel to a predefined useable fuel remaining level in response to a first command;
- and
- (B) selectively jettisoning fuel to a useable fuel remaining level less than said predefined useable fuel remaining level in response to a second command.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.