Contaminant removal for catalytic fuel tank inerting system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10745145-B2
Application number	US-201715849165-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2017
Priority date	Dec 20, 2017
Publication date	Aug 18, 2020
Grant date	Aug 18, 2020

Abstract

A fuel tank inerting system is disclosed. The system includes a fuel tank and a catalytic reactor with an inlet, an outlet, a reactive flow path between the inlet and the outlet, and a catalyst on the reactive flow path. The catalytic reactor is arranged to receive fuel from a fuel flow path in operative communication with the fuel tank and oxygen from an oxygen source, and to catalytically react a mixture of the fuel and oxygen along the reactive flow path to generate an inert gas. An inert gas flow path provides inert gas from the catalytic reactor to the fuel tank. An adsorbent is disposed along the fuel flow path or along the reactive flow path.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel tank inerting system, comprising
a fuel tank;
a mixer arranged to receive fuel from the fuel tank and oxygen from an oxygen source;
a catalytic reactor comprising an inlet, an outlet, a reactive flow path between the inlet and the outlet, and a catalyst on the reactive flow path, said catalytic reactor arranged to receive a mixture of fuel and oxygen from the mixer, and to catalytically react the mixture of the fuel and oxygen along the reactive flow path to generate an inert gas;
an inert gas flow path from the catalytic reactor to the fuel tank; and
an adsorbent disposed along a reactant flow path between the mixer and the catalytic reactor.

2. The fuel tank inerting system of claim 1 , wherein the adsorbent comprises a transition metal oxide.

3. The fuel tank inerting system of claim 2 , wherein the transition metal oxide comprises an oxide of manganese, copper, cobalt, magnesium, nickel, indium, or combinations comprising any of the foregoing.

4. The fuel tank inerting system of claim 1 , wherein the adsorbent comprises a metal organic framework.

5. The fuel tank inerting system of claim 4 , wherein the metal organic framework comprises a transition metal or transition metal oxide.

6. The fuel tank inerting system of claim 5 , wherein the transition metal or oxide of a transition metal is selected from manganese, copper, cobalt, magnesium, nickel, indium, or combinations comprising any of the foregoing.

7. The fuel tank inerting system of claim 1 , further comprising a thermal connection between the adsorbent and a heat source for regenerating the adsorbent.

8. The fuel tank inerting system of claim 1 , further comprising a fluid connection between the adsorbent and an oxidizing source for regenerating the adsorbent.

9. The fuel tank inerting system of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst comprises a noble metal catalyst.

10. A fueled vehicle including the fuel tank inerting system of claim 1 .

Assignees

• Hamilton Sundstrand Corp
• Hamilton Sunstrand Corp

Inventors

• Dardas Zissis A
• Emerson Sean C
• Thibaud Catherine
• Zhu Tianli

Classifications

• B01J20/3425

  of sorbents or filter aids comprising organic materials · CPC title

• B01D53/8678

  Removing components of undefined structure · CPC title

• B01D2257/70

  Organic compounds not provided for in groups B01D2257/00 - B01D2257/602 · CPC title

• B01D53/04

  with stationary adsorbents {(B01D53/025 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B01J20/3433

  of sorbents or filter aids other than those covered by B01J20/3408 - B01J20/3425 · CPC title