Reciprocating feed system for fluids
AssigneeMcDonnell Douglas Corporation
InventorsMark Eric Lanning, James B. Blackmon, Jr.
Life of this patent
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Abstract
To produce a high pressure stream of fluid, such as propellant, the fluid is transfered from a low pressure reservoir into a plurality of intermediate storage tanks, in which the fluid is pressurized. The fluid is drained from the storage tanks to an outlet in sequence. While one pressurized storage tank in a three pressurized tank system is being drained, the most recently drained one of the storage tanks is being vented, and still another of the storage tanks is being filled or replenished with fluid, as the case may be, from the low pressure reservior.
Claims21
A fluid transport system for transferring fluid from a low pressure reservoir to an outlet at high pressure in a continuous stream, comprising:
- a plurality of storage tanks, each of said storage tanks being capable of confining fluid at high pressure;
- draining means for draining fluid from each of said plurality of storage tanks in sequential order to said outlet, said draining means draining each of said plurality of tanks in sequence such that a continuous stream of fluid is supplied to said outlet at high pressure;
- and
- filling means for supplying fluid from said low pressure reservoir to each of said drained storage tanks in sequential order to fill said respective tanks with said fluid;
- said sequential order of each of said draining means and said filling means being out of phase with each other such that as one storage tank in said plurality is being drained by said draining means, at least another of said storage tanks is being filled by said filling means.
A fluid transport system for transferring fluid from a low pressure reservoir to an outlet at high pressure in a continuous stream, comprising:
- a plurality of storage tanks, each of said storage tanks being capable of confining fluid at high pressure;
- draining means for draining fluid from each of said plurality of storage tanks in sequential order to said outlet, said draining means draining each of said plurality of tanks in sequence such that a continuous stream of fluid is supplied to said outlet at high pressure;
- and
- filling means for supplying fluid from said low pressure reservoir to each of said drained storage tanks in sequential order to fill said respective tanks with said fluid;
- and
- venting means for venting each of said storage tanks in sequential order for releasing pressure and any fluid retained in respective ones of said storage tanks subsequent to draining thereof by said draining means and prior to filling thereof by said filling means;
- said sequential order of each of said draining means, said filling means and said venting means being out of phase with each other such that while one tank in said plurality is being drained, another of said storage tanks is vented, and at least still another one of said storage tanks is being filled.
A method for transferring fluid from a low pressure reservoir to an outlet at high pressure in a continuous stream, the method comprising the steps of:
- confining fluid at high pressure in each of a plurality of storage tanks;
- draining fluid from each of the plurality of storage tanks in sequential order to thereby supply a continuous stream of fluid at high pressure to the outlet;
- and
- supplying fluid from the low pressure reservoir to each of the drained storage tanks in sequential order to fill the respective tanks with the fluid;
- wherein the sequential order in which the storage tanks are drained is out of phase with the sequential order in which the storage tanks are filled such that as one storage tank is being drained, at least another of the storage tanks is being filled.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.