Method and apparatus for generating an inert gas on a vehicle

A method of generating inert gas on a vehicle for supplying the inert gas to a fuel tank having a fuel tank vent, said method comprising:

• supplying a flow of gas having a nitrogen component and an oxygen component to a gas separating module;
• separating the flow of gas into a nitrogen-enriched gas flow and an oxygen-enriched gas flow using the gas separating module, wherein the nitrogen-enriched gas flow has an oxygen concentration low enough that the nitrogen-enriched gas flow is generally inert;
• selectively delivering nitrogen-enriched gas from the nitrogen-enriched gas flow to the fuel tank without delivering the nitrogen-enriched gas through the fuel tank vent;
• and
• selectively delivering nitrogen-enriched gas from the nitrogen-enriched gas flow to the fuel tank vent.

A method of generating inert gas on a vehicle for supplying the inert gas to a fuel tank, said method comprising:

• supplying a flow of gas having a nitrogen component and an oxygen component to a gas separating module;
• separating the flow of gas into a nitrogen-enriched gas flow and an oxygen-enriched gas flow using the gas separating module, wherein the nitrogen-enriched gas flow has an oxygen concentration low enough that the nitrogen-enriched gas flow is generally inert;
• and
• delivering the nitrogen-enriched gas flow from the gas separating module to the fuel tank at a plurality of unique flow rates, wherein the flow of gas supplied to the gas separating module has a unique temperature for each unique flow rate of said plurality of unique flow rates.