Thermal and energy management method and apparatus for an aircraft
AssigneeHamilton Sundstrand Corporation
InventorsRichard E. Niggemann, Dam Nguyen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The cooling of components (26) of a vehicle (10) carrying a turbine engine (12) and a fuel supply (24) for the engine (12) without the excessive consumption of bleed air is achieved in an apparatus which includes a fuel recirculating system (34), a first heat exchanger (60) for rejecting heat from selected components (26) of the vehicle (10) to fuel flowing through the fuel recirculating system (34), and a cooling device (32) including a second heat exchanger (100, 202) for rejecting heat from the fuel to the cooling device (32) as the fuel flows through the fuel recirculating system (34).
Claims11
A method for cooling components of a vehicle carrying a combustion engine and a fuel supply for the engine, the method comprising the steps of:
- flowing fuel from the fuel supply through a first fuel recirculating system;
- rejecting heat to the fuel from select components of the vehicle as the fuel flows through the first fuel recirculating system;
- and
- rejecting heat to the engine from the fuel as the fuel flows through the first fuel recirculating system, wherein the step of rejecting heat to the engine from the fuel includes rejecting heat from the fuel to a compression/expansion cooling device as the fuel flows through the first fuel recirculating system.
A method for cooling components of a vehicle carrying a combustion engine and a fuel supply for the engine, the method comprising the steps of:
- flowing fuel from the fuel supply through a first fuel recirculating system;
- rejecting heat to the fuel from selected components of the vehicle as the fuel flows through the recirculating system;
- and
- rejecting heat from the fuel to a compression/expansion cooling device as the fuel flows through the recirculating system, rejecting heat from the compression/expansion cooling device to the engine, without rejecting heat back into the fuel from the compression/expansion cooling device as the fuel flows through the recirculating system.
A system for cooling components of a vehicle carrying a combustion engine and a fuel supply for the engine, the system being carried on the vehicle, the system comprising:
- a first fuel recirculating system;
- first means for rejecting heat from selected components of the vehicle to fuel flowing through the first fuel recirculating system;
- and
- second means for rejecting heat to the engine from the fuel as the fuel flows through the first fuel recirculating system, wherein the second means comprises a compression/expansion cooling device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.