Aircraft comprising hydrogen storage tanks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11905028-B2
Application number	US-202117562775-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2021
Priority date	Jan 19, 2021
Publication date	Feb 20, 2024
Grant date	Feb 20, 2024

Abstract

An aircraft comprises a hydrogen-fuelled propulsion system, a plurality of like generally cylindrical hydrogen storage tanks and a conveying system arranged to convey hydrogen from the hydrogen storage tanks to the hydrogen-fuelled propulsion system. The aircraft further comprises a fuselage having a cargo bay ( 502 ) including one or more ( 510 A-G) of the plurality of hydrogen storage tanks, the longitudinal axes ( 511 A-G) of the one or more hydrogen storage tanks within the cargo bay extending parallel to the longitudinal axis ( 501 ) of the fuselage and lying in one or more planes ( 595, 597 ) extending across the width dimension of the cargo bay. The hydrogen storage tanks within the cargo bay have a common aspect ratio R in the range 4.2≤R≤25.7, allowing the volume of space with the cargo bay occupied by stored hydrogen to be maximised or approximately maximised.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An aircraft comprising:
a hydrogen-fuelled propulsion system;
a plurality of like hydrogen storage tanks, each of which is generally-cylindrical in shape;
a conveying system arranged to convey hydrogen from the plurality of like hydrogen storage tanks to the hydrogen-fuelled propulsion system; and
a fuselage having a forward cargo bay and a rear cargo bay collectively containing exactly two of the plurality of like hydrogen storage tanks, wherein:
longitudinal axes of the two hydrogen storage tanks are (i) spaced from each other in a width direction of the forward and rear cargo bays, (ii) extend parallel to a central longitudinal axis of the fuselage, and (iii) define a plane extending across a width dimension of the forward and rear cargo bays;
the two hydrogen storage tanks each have a common aspect ratio R in a range of 4.2≤R≤7.7;
the two hydrogen storage tanks are each disposed on a respective lateral side of a vertical plane which includes the central longitudinal axis of the fuselage and longitudinally bisects each of the forward and rear cargo bays;
the two hydrogen storage tanks each have a common diameter d in a range of 1.0 m≤d≤1.1 m; and
the forward and rear cargo bays each include exactly one of the two hydrogen storage tanks.

2. The aircraft according to claim 1 , wherein the conveying system comprises a manifold system providing for one of the two hydrogen storage tanks to be removed from one of the forward and rear cargo bays such that the remaining hydrogen storage tank remains operatively coupled to the hydrogen-fuelled propulsion system.

Assignees

• Rolls Royce Plc

Inventors

• Hillel Malcolm L
• Lambourne Alexis

Classifications

• B64D37/30 Primary

  Fuel systems for specific fuels · CPC title

• B64C1/22

  Other structures integral with fuselages to facilitate loading {, e.g. cargo bays, cranes} · CPC title

• B64D37/04

  Arrangement thereof in or on aircraft · CPC title

• B64D37/06

  Constructional adaptations thereof · CPC title

• F17C1/00

  Pressure vessels, e.g. gas cylinder, gas tank, replaceable cartridge (pressurised apparatus for purposes other than storage, see the relevant subclasses such as A62C, B05B; associated with vehicles, see the appropriate subclass of classes B60 - B64; pressure vessels in general F16J12/00 {; autoclaves B01J3/04; tank vehicles B60P3/22; railway tank wagons for carrying fluent materials B61D5/00; accumulators for supplying fluid under pressure F15B1/04; liquefied gas stoves F24C3/00}) · CPC title