Lubricant system for aircraft
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsSylvain Lamarre, Genevieve McMurray, Thibaut Edmond J. Duchene
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A powerplant of an aircraft is provided and includes a primary tank fluidly connected to a motor via a lubrication circuit that is operable to provide lubricant to a part of the motor when the aircraft is in use, the primary tank having pre-defined maximum and minimum lubricant levels, a secondary tank disposed relative to the primary tank such that a portion of the secondary tank is disposed height-wise between the maximum level and the minimum level of the primary tank when the aircraft is stationary on horizontal terrain and air and lubricant conduits.
Claims20
A powerplant of an aircraft, comprising:
- a motor;
- a primary tank fluidly connected to the motor via a lubrication circuit that is operable to provide lubricant to a part of the motor when the aircraft is in use, the primary tank having pre-defined maximum and minimum lubricant levels;
- a secondary tank disposed relative to the primary tank such that a portion of the secondary tank is disposed height-wise between the maximum level and the minimum level of the primary tank when the aircraft is stationary on horizontal terrain;
- an air conduit fluidly connecting:
- into the primary tank at a location on the primary tank that extends height-wise above the maximum level of the primary tank when the aircraft is stationary on horizontal terrain, and
- into the secondary tank at a location on the secondary tank that height-wise extends above the maximum level of the primary tank when the aircraft is stationary on horizontal terrain;
- and
- a lubricant conduit fluidly connecting:
- into the primary tank at a location on the primary tank that height-wise extends below the minimum level of the primary tank when the aircraft is stationary on horizontal terrain, and
- into the secondary tank at a location on the secondary tank that height-wise extends below the minimum level of the primary tank when the aircraft is stationary on horizontal terrain.
An aircraft motor assembly, comprising:
- a nacelle connected to the aircraft motor;
- and
- a lubricant system providing the aircraft motor with a desired range and comprising:
- a primary tank having maximum and minimum levels and containing, to the maximum level, lubricant for the engine such that the vehicle has a first range;
- a secondary tank disposed in space in one of the engine and the nacelle and containing additional lubricant at or below the maximum level and at or above the minimum level;
- and
- a fluid connection between the secondary and the primary tanks to maintain substantially equal lubricant levels in the primary and secondary tanks.
A method of retrofitting an aircraft to provide the aircraft with an additional flight range, the method comprising:
- determining, for a primary lubricant tank of a powerplant of the aircraft, maximum and minimum lubricant levels of the primary lubricant tank;
- determining a rate of lubricant consumption of the powerplant when the aircraft is in use;
- determining, based on the rate of lubricant consumption and the additional flight range, a volume of additional lubricant required to enable the aircraft to fly a sum of an original flight range and the additional flight range;
- sizing a secondary lubricant tank to provide the volume of additional lubricant height-wise in between the maximum and minimum lubricant levels of the primary lubricant tank when the secondary lubricant tank is installed on the aircraft;
- installing the secondary lubricant tank on the aircraft such that the secondary lubricant tank provides the volume of additional lubricant at a location that is height-wise in between the maximum and minimum lubricant levels of the primary lubricant tank;
- fluidly connecting the secondary lubricant tank to the primary lubricant tank such that a level of lubricant in the secondary lubricant tank tracks a level of lubricant in the primary lubricant tank while the level of lubricant in the primary lubricant tank is between the maximum and minimum lubricant levels of the primary lubricant tank during operation of the aircraft;
- and
- structuring the primary and secondary lubricant tanks such that air pressure in the primary and secondary lubricant tanks is substantially the same when the aircraft is stationary on horizontal ground.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.