Liquid delivery system
AssigneeEaton Intelligent Power Limited
InventorSteven Charles RILEY
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A liquid delivery system is configured to pump a liquid (e.g., a cryogenic liquid) without a mechanical pump. The system includes a storage tank to store the liquid at low pressure; a transition tank configured to transition the low pressure liquid to a high pressure gas; and a pumping tank configured to first receive part of the low pressure liquid from the source tank and then to receive the pressurized gas from the transition tank to expel the low pressure liquid from the pumping tank. The liquid delivery system can be used to deliver fuel to an engine (e.g., on an aircraft).
Claims20
A liquid delivery system comprising:
- a source tank having a first internal pressure, the source tank being configured to hold a cryogenic liquid at the first internal pressure;
- a transition tank including a heat supply region, a liquid receiving region, and a gas holding region, the transition tank being configured to use the heat supply region to heat the cryogenic liquid disposed at the liquid receiving region to a gas, which collects in the gas holding region, thereby pressurizing the gas above the first internal pressure;
- a pumping tank including a liquid region and a gaseous region, the pumping tank having an outlet;
- a first low pressure line configured to selectively supply a first portion of the cryogenic liquid from the source tank to the liquid region of the pumping tank;
- a second low pressure line configured to selectively supply a second portion of the cryogenic liquid from the source tank to the liquid receiving region of the transition tank;
- and
- a high pressure line configured to selectively supply the pressurized gas collected within the gas holding region of the transition tank to the gaseous region of the pumping tank, whereby the pressurized gas expels the first portion of the cryogenic liquid out of the pumping tank through the outlet.
A method of delivering a fuel to an engine comprising:
- delivering a first portion of the fuel from a fuel tank to a pumping tank using a pressure differential between the fuel tank and the pumping tank;
- delivering a second portion of the fuel from the fuel tank to a transition tank using a pressure differential between the fuel tank and the transition tank;
- heating the second portion of the fuel within the transition tank to transition at least some of the second portion of the fuel into a gas and continuing to the heat the second portion of the fuel to pressurize the gas;
- and
- delivering the pressurized gas from the transition tank to the pumping tank so that the pressurized gas acts on the first portion of the fuel to expel the fuel from the pumping tank.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.