Sealing bladderless system and method
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsTracy L Tweet, Mark A Shelly
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Abstract
Apparatus and methods are provided to minimize the escape of fuel out of a fuel tank when a tank wall is penetrated by a bullet. In one embodiment, a pressure differential may be maintained between a pressure within a fuel tank cavity and another pressure outside the fuel tank cavity in order to minimize the loss of fuel upon penetration of the fuel tank. In another embodiment, a compressed rubber layer of fuel-reactive rubber may be provided which is adapted to be attached to a fuel tank wall and to swell upon contact with fuel in order to substantially seal a penetrated hole in the fuel tank wall.
Claims15
A fuel tank for a device comprising:
- a fuel holding cavity defined by a tank wall having a fuel-reactive layer disposed against the tank wall;
- wherein a first pressure is disposed outside the fuel holding cavity and the tank wall, a second pressure is disposed within the fuel holding cavity, and a third pressure is disposed within an interstitial cavity of the tank wall and outside the fuel holding cavity;
- wherein at least one of the first pressure or the third pressure is maintained to be higher than the second pressure, and the third pressure is maintained to be equal or less than the first pressure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.