Systems and methods for fuel-based thermal management
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsLeo J. Veilleux, JR., Lubomir A. Ribarov
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel-based thermal management system may comprise a heat exchanger configured to thermally couple a fluid and a fuel. A controller may be configured to modulate a flow of the fluid to the heat exchanger. A tangible, non-transitory memory may be configured to communicate with the controller. The controller may determine a temperature of the fluid, estimate a dissolved oxygen concentration in the fuel using a first fuel temperature, a flight cycle time, and at least one of an altitude measurement or a ambient pressure measurement, and modulate the flow of the fluid to the heat exchanger based on the dissolved oxygen concentration.
Claims20
A fuel-based thermal management system for a gas turbine engine, comprising:
- a fuel-fluid heat exchange system comprising:
- a heat exchanger configured to thermally couple a fluid received from a heat source and a fuel received from a fuel source, and
- a valve configured to regulate a flow of the fluid to the heat exchanger;
- a controller in operable communication with the valve;
- and
- a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the controller, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the controller, cause the controller to perform operations comprising:
- determining, by the controller, whether a temperature of the fluid is above a predetermined fluid temperature threshold,
- estimating, by the controller, a dissolved oxygen concentration in the fuel using a first fuel temperature, a flight cycle time, and at least one of an altitude measurement or a ambient pressure measurement, and
- modulating, by the controller, the flow of the fluid to the heat exchanger based on the dissolved oxygen concentration.
A method of fuel-based thermal management for a gas turbine engine, comprising:
- modulating, by a controller, a flow of a fluid to a heat exchanger configured to thermally couple the fluid to a fuel, by:
- receiving, by the controller, a fluid temperature;
- receiving, by the controller, a first fuel temperature;
- receiving, by the controller, a flight cycle time;
- receiving, by the controller, at least one of an altitude measurement or an ambient pressure measurement;
- estimating, by the controller, a dissolved oxygen concentration of the fuel using the first fuel temperature, the flight cycle time, and the at least one of the altitude measurement or the ambient pressure measurement;
- and
- determining, by the controller, whether a thermal load from the fluid can be deposited into the fuel based on the estimating the dissolved oxygen concentration of the fuel.
A fuel-based thermal management system, comprising:
- a heat exchanger configured to thermally couple a fluid and a fuel;
- a controller configured to modulate a flow of the fluid to the heat exchanger;
- and
- a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the controller, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the controller, cause the controller to perform operations comprising:
- determining, by the controller, a temperature of the fluid,
- estimating, by the controller, a dissolved oxygen concentration of the fuel using a first fuel temperature, a flight cycle time, and at least one of an altitude measurement or a ambient pressure measurement, and
- modulating, by the controller, the flow of the fluid to the heat exchanger based on the dissolved oxygen concentration of the fuel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.