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US 9,052,062 B2Granted
Fuel tank with separating membrane
AssigneeAstrium GmbH
InventorsWalter Schwarting, Sylvain Goek
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tank especially suitable for use as a fuel or oxidizer tank in spacecraft is divided into two tank spaces by a membrane. A liquid is stored on one side of the membrane and a pressure gas is stored on the other side of the membrane. The pressure gas is to drive the liquid out of the tank. The membrane is made of a polymer material and is held by a spring ring in a recess on the outer wall of the tank. The spring ring has a substantially C-shaped cross-section to exert elastic spring holding forces on the membrane in the recess.
Claims20
A liquid storage tank for a spacecraft comprising:
- a tank wall that encloses a tank space therein and that has a recess on an inner wall surface thereof bounding said tank space, wherein said recess extends circumferentially around said inner wall surface of said tank wall along a first plane on which said tank wall is circular;
- a membrane of a synthetic polymer material arranged in said tank space so as to divide said tank space into a liquid space and a gas space respectively on opposite sides of said membrane;
- and
- a spring ring that has a ring shape on said first plane, and that is made of a spring metal with a spring characteristic, and that has a substantially C-shaped cross-section on a section plane perpendicular to said first plane, wherein said spring ring is received in said recess and clampingly holds a membrane portion of said membrane in a liquid-tight and pressure-tight sealed manner in said recess with said membrane portion clampingly held between said spring ring and an inner surface of said recess, wherein an open side of said C-shaped cross-section of said spring ring faces inwardly into said tank space.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.