Air refueling drogue
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsSamuel Greenhalgh, Ellis Skott Greenhalgh, Matthew T. Douglass, Ronald H. Garber
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A refueling drogue for rearward deployment from a tanker aircraft into an air stream includes a fuel valve for receiving fuel from the tanker aircraft and controlling a flow of the fuel; a coupling attached to the fuel valve for receiving fuel from the fuel valve; and a plurality of struts, each strut having a proximal end and a distal end wherein each strut is rotatably connected to the coupling at the proximal end and each strut includes a winglet at the distal end.
Claims14
A refueling drogue for rearward deployment from a tanker aircraft into an air stream, comprising:
- a fuel valve for receiving fuel from the tanker aircraft and controlling a flow of the fuel;
- a coupling attached to the fuel valve for receiving fuel from the fuel valve;
- and
- a plurality of struts, each strut having a proximal end and a distal end wherein each strut is rotatably connected to the coupling at the proximal end and each strut includes a winglet at the distal end, the winglet providing a lifting force to open the refueling drogue.
A refueling drogue for rearward deployment from a tanker aircraft into an air stream, comprising:
- a fuel valve for receiving fuel from the tanker aircraft and controlling a flow of the fuel;
- a coupling attached to the fuel valve for receiving fuel from the fuel valve;
- and
- a plurality of struts, each strut having a proximal end and a distal end wherein each strut is rotatably connected to the coupling at the proximal end and each strut includes a winglet at the distal end and further wherein the plurality of struts comprises a set of long struts and a set of short struts.
A refueling drogue for rearward deployment from a tanker aircraft into an air stream, comprising:
- a fuel valve for receiving fuel from the tanker aircraft and controlling a flow of the fuel;
- a coupling attached to the fuel valve for receiving fuel from the fuel valve;
- and
- a plurality of struts, each strut having a proximal end and a distal end wherein each strut is rotatably connected to the coupling at the proximal end, each strut includes a winglet at the distal end, each strut includes an internal surface configured such that the plurality of struts provides a substantially bell-shaped opening, each strut includes an external surface and two side surfaces, a surface area of the side surfaces being substantially greater than a surface area of the internal and external surfaces and wherein each winglet tapers in width from the external surface of the strut to the internal surface of the strut.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.