Commercial aircraft on-board inerting system
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsBradford L. Moravec, Royal E. Boggs, Rodney N. Graham, Alan Grim, David A. Adkins, Donald Snow, Jr., Greg A. Haack
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An inerting system (10) for an aircraft (12) includes one or more fuel tank circuits (15) associated with fuel tanks (16). An air source (17) supplies pressurized air. A heat exchanger (56) cools the pressurized air. An air separation module (46) is in fluid communication with the heat exchanger (56) and separates inerting gas from the pressurized air. A controller (40) controls flow of the inerting gas from the air separation module (46) to the fuel tanks (16).
Claims39
An inerting system comprising:
- an air source supplying pressurized air;
- at least one fuel tank circuit associated with at least one fuel tank;
- a heat exchanger cooling said pressurized air;
- at least one air separation module in communication with said heat exchanger and separating inerting gas from said pressurized air;
- a controller controlling flow rate of said inerting gas;
- an ozone converter converting ozone contained within said pressurized air to oxygen;
- and
- a temperature sensor coupled to an air flow line and generating a temperature signal, said controller adjusting ram air flow through said heat exchanger in response to said temperature signal.
An inerting system comprising:
- an air source supplying pressurized air;
- at least one fuel tank circuit associated with at least one fuel tank;
- a heat exchanger cooling said pressurized air;
- at least one air separation module in communication with said heat exchanger and separating inerting gas front said pressurized air, said at least one air separation module at least partially enclosed by at least one shroud that is receiving exhaust air;
- and
- a controller controlling flow rate of said inerting gas.
A method of designing an aircraft inerting system that supplies inerting gas to at least one fuel tank of an aircraft comprising:
- receiving pressurized air;
- cooling said pressurized air;
- separating inerting gas from said pressurized air;
- and
- controlling flow of said inerting gas from at least one air separation module to the at least one fuel tank to maintain oxygen content level in the at least one fuel tank at or below approximately 12% for a majority of flight conditions and to allow said oxygen content level to exceed approximately 12% for a minority of said flight conditions.
An inerting system for an aircraft comprising:
- at least one fuel tank circuit having at least one fuel tank;
- a bleed air source;
- a heat exchanger in fluid communication with and receiving pressurized air from source, said heat exchanger cooling said pressurized air;
- at least one air separation module in fluid communication with said heat exchanger and separating inerting gas from said pressurized air;
- a main check valve fluidically coupled between said at least one air separation module and said at least one fuel tank and preventing reverse flow of said inerting gas;
- an ejector within at least a portion of and using inerting gas flow to significantly mix said inerting gas with other gases in and throughout said at least one fuel tank;
- and
- a controller controlling flow of said inerting gas from said at least one air separation module to said at least one fuel tank to minimize exposure to oxygen content levels greater than approximately 12%.
An aircraft inerting system for an aircraft comprising:
- an air source supplying pressurized air;
- at least one fuel tank;
- an air manipulation and separation circuit having at least one air separation module and separating inerting gas from said pressurized air;
- an ejector within at least a portion of and using motive flow of said inerting gas to mix said inerting gas with other gases in said at least one fuel tank;
- and
- a controller controlling oxygen content level within said at least one fuel tank.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.