Additively manufactured canister for a nitrogen generation system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11858648-B2
Application number	US-202318150952-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2023
Priority date	May 24, 2019
Publication date	Jan 2, 2024
Grant date	Jan 2, 2024

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of manufacturing an air separation module (ASM) of a nitrogen generation system (NGS), the method providing: determining an at least partially nonlinear shape between opposing ends of a canister, the canister being configured to fit within an installation envelope for the ASM in the NGS and configured to have installed therein an air separating membrane; and additively manufacturing the canister.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An aircraft system comprising:
a fuel tank;
an air separation module (ASM) of a nitrogen generation system (NGS), the ASM in fluid communication with the fuel tank and disposed within an installation envelope in the aircraft; and
the ASM comprising an ASM canister having opposing ends, wherein the ASM canister fits within constraints of an installation envelope for the ASM in the NGS, and the ASM canister having installed therein an air separating membrane,
wherein:
the ASM canister, between the opposing ends, has an arcuate shape, the arcuate shape being a helix shape;
the ASM canister has a circumference C, a diameter D and a height H, and the helix shape of the ASM canister has a helix diameter DH;
a rectified length of the ASM canister is a square root of the sum of the height H squared and the circumference squared, and the circumference of the ASM canister is the diameter of the helix DH times π; and
the rectified length of the ASM canister is greater than a length L of a linear canister sized to fit within the constraints of the installation envelope if the height H of the ASM canister is equal to the length L of the linear canister.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the ASM is formed via additive manufacturing.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:
the ASM canister is formed via an selective laser sintering (SLS) SLS process.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein:
the SLS process includes utilizing thermoplastic to form the ASM canister.

Assignees

• Hamilton Sundstrand Corp

Inventors

• Fennessy Colette Opsahl
• Aceves Kevin P

Classifications

• B01D63/021 Primary

  Manufacturing thereof · CPC title

• B64D37/32 Primary

  Safety measures not otherwise provided for, e.g. preventing explosive conditions · CPC title

• B29C64/153

  using layers of powder being selectively joined, e.g. by selective laser sintering or melting · CPC title

• B01D53/22

  by diffusion (manufacturing semi-permeable membranes B01D67/00; form, structure or properties of semi-permeable membranes B01D69/00; material for semi-permeable membranes B01D71/00) · CPC title

• B01D63/02

  Hollow fibre modules · CPC title