Two stage pressurization system for aerospace applications

Abstract

There is provided a two-stage system for expelling a liquid fuel component from a main fuel tank to a rocket engine. A first vessel contains a first gas pressurized to the desired operating pressure at a minimum operating temperature. Since the first gas is subject to pressure increase due to environmental heating, opening a first valve exposes the pressurized first gas to a pressure relief valve, returning the pressure to the desired operating pressure. Subsequent opening of a second valve causes the pressurized first gas to displace a partition, such as a piston, expelling a desired quantity of the fluid. A gas generator converts the fluid to a second gas that expels a desired quantity of fuel from a main fuel tank. The two-stage system is at an equilibrium pressure. The only active control required for the system is a controller to meter the flow of fuel from the main fuel tank to the engine. The pressure drop in the system resulting from the discharge of fuel causes the pressurized first gas to further displace the partition charging more fluid into the system until equilibrium is achieved again.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.