Vented hydrogen fuel reservoir for aircraft engine
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsMateusz Ozog, Assaf Farah
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An assembly is provided for an aircraft. This aircraft assembly includes a hydrogen containment vessel, a hydrogen storage vessel, a hydrogen supply channel, a cavity purge channel and a plenum purge channel. The hydrogen containment vessel includes a containment vessel wall. The hydrogen storage vessel includes a storage vessel wall and a storage cavity. The hydrogen storage vessel is disposed within the hydrogen containment vessel. A containment plenum is disposed between the storage vessel wall and the containment vessel wall. The hydrogen supply channel is fluidly coupled with the storage cavity. The cavity purge channel is fluidly coupled with the storage cavity. The plenum purge channel is fluidly coupled with the containment plenum.
Claims20
An assembly for an aircraft, comprising:
- a hydrogen containment vessel comprising a containment vessel wall;
- a hydrogen storage vessel including a storage vessel wall and a storage cavity, the hydrogen storage vessel disposed within the hydrogen containment vessel, and a containment plenum disposed between the storage vessel wall and the containment vessel wall;
- a hydrogen supply channel fluidly coupled with the storage cavity;
- a cavity purge channel fluidly coupled with the storage cavity;
- and
- a plenum purge channel fluidly coupled with the containment plenum.
An assembly for an aircraft, comprising:
- a hydrogen containment vessel comprising a containment vessel wall;
- a hydrogen storage vessel including a storage vessel wall and a storage cavity, the hydrogen storage vessel disposed within the hydrogen containment vessel, and a containment plenum extending between the storage vessel wall and the containment vessel wall;
- a hydrogen supply circuit fluidly coupled with the storage cavity;
- a plenum purge circuit fluidly coupled with the containment plenum;
- and
- a flushing circuit fluidly coupled with the containment plenum, the flushing circuit configured to direct fluid into the containment plenum to flush out hydrogen fuel, which has leaked from the hydrogen storage vessel into the containment plenum, through the plenum purge circuit.
A method of operation, comprising:
- supplying hydrogen fuel to a fuel injector of an aircraft engine from a storage vessel;
- purging leaked hydrogen fuel from a containment plenum surrounding the storage vessel to ambient;
- and
- purging stored hydrogen fuel from an internal storage cavity of the storage vessel to ambient when a parameter of the leaked hydrogen fuel is above a threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.