Device and method for filling an oil reservoir of an aircraft engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11964779-B2
Application number	US-202017600411-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2020
Priority date	Apr 3, 2019
Publication date	Apr 23, 2024
Grant date	Apr 23, 2024

Abstract

In order to fill a reservoir while avoiding laborious manual filling operations, there is added to the existing device, including a supply duct, a pump and a measuring probe, a stop valve designed to interrupt the filling as soon as the desired level has been reached, which is detected for example by an air intake which controls the closure of the valve. Two level indicators are added and make it possible to ascertain either that optimum filling has been achieved or that a malfunction is present in the system. Application to the systems for oil filling of aircraft engine reservoirs from another reservoir arranged within the aircraft, generally common to all the engines.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An oil tank filling device for filling an oil tank of an aircraft engine, comprising:
a supply duct leading to the oil tank of the aircraft engine and supplied with oil by another tank disposed in an aircraft at a distance from the aircraft engine,
a pump placed on the supply duct, and
a filling processing module, connected to a probe of an oil level in the oil tank and giving height indications of said oil level,
wherein the supply duct comprises a filling shut-off valve located between the pump and the oil tank, the oil tank filling device comprises a device for closing the filling shut-off valve, independent of the probe and the filling processing module, sensitive to oil rising to an optimum fill level of the oil tank, and
wherein the filling processing module comprises a tank overfill indicator and a tank nominal fill indicator, said tank overfill indicator and said tank nominal fill indicator being controlled when the oil reaches an overfill level above the optimum fill level and a nominal fill level below the optimum fill level, respectively, and the optimum fill level is distant from the nominal fill level and the overfill level by differences in level both corresponding to a measurement uncertainty ascribed to the probe.

2. The oil tank filling device according to claim 1 , wherein the probe comprises a magnetic float and electrical switches arranged in tiers at different heights of the oil tank.

3. The oil tank filling device according to claim 1 , wherein the filling processing module comprises a display for an amount of oil to be supplied to the oil tank, based on measurements of the probe.

4. The oil tank filling device according to claim 1 , wherein the supply duct comprises a bypass around the pump equipped with a flap valve allowing only a reverse flow, towards the another tank, to a supply circulation produced by the pump.

5. The oil tank filling device according to claim 1 , comprising a module for automatically controlling the pump based on indications from the filling processing module.

6. An aircraft, comprising at least one oil tank filling device according to claim 1 , wherein the oil tank is an engine tank, and the supply duct originates from another oil tank present in a cabin of the aircraft.

7. The oil tank filling device according to claim 1 , comprising a sensor detecting closures of the filling shut-off valve and an indicator of said closures detected by the sensor.

8. The oil tank filling device according to claim 7 , comprising a sensor processing module, informed by the sensor to shut off the pump when closures of the filling shut-off valve have been detected.

9. The oil tank filling device according to claim 1 , wherein the device for closing the filling shut-off valve comprises an air duct connecting to the oil tank via an outlet port which can be sealed with oil and, at an opposite end, connecting to an inlet with a pressure lower than a pressure in the oil tank, the air duct passing through a first control chamber of the filling shut-off valve, and the shut-off valve contains a shutter of the supply duct, moved by a pressure in the first control chamber between an opening position of the supply duct when the pressure in the first control chamber is exposed to the pressure in the oil tank and a closing position of the supply duct when the pressure in the first control chamber is exposed to only said lower pressure.

10. The oil tank filling device according to claim 9 , wherein said opposite end of the air duct connects to a venturi portion of the supply duct located between the pump and the filling shut-off valve.

11. The oil tank filling device according to claim 9 , wherein the air duct also passes through the shutter of the filling shut-off valve, and is cut off by the shutter when the filling shut-off valve is in the closing position.

12. The oil filling device according to claim 9 , wherein the filling shut-off valve comprises a spring returning the shutter to the opening position.

13. The oil tank filling device according to claim 9 , wherein the filling shut-off valve comprises a second control chamber, opposite to said first control chamber with respect to the shutter, and connected to the supply duct between the pump and the filling shut-off valve by a pressure inlet duct.

14. A method for filling an oil tank equipped with a filling device according to claim 1 , the method comprising:
determining an amount of oil to be delivered to the oil tank based on an initial oil level measurement given by the probe;
delivering said amount; and
checking with the tank overfill indicator and the tank nominal fill indicator whether the oil tank has been filled successfully.

15. The method for filling an oil tank according to claim 14 , wherein said checking is made exclusively based on visual check means belonging to the filling device, said visual check means comprising said tank overfill indicator and said tank nominal fill indicator.

16. The method for filling oil according to claim 14 , wherein the amount of oil to be delivered corresponds to an amount evaluated to reach with certainty the optimum fill level, and comprising an amount theoretically necessary to reach said optimum fill level from the initial oil level measurement, increased by a fixed amount being a function of a measurement uncertainty ascribed to the pump.

17. The method for filling an oil tank according to claim 16 , wherein the amount of oil to be delivered corresponds to an amount evaluated to reach with certainty the overfill level.

18. The method for filling an oil tank according to claim 16 , further comprising automatically shutting off the pump when either the filling shut-off valve is detected as closed or the overfill level is reached.

19. The method for filling oil according to claim 16 , wherein the fixed amount corresponds to a volume corresponding to a difference in level of twice the measurement uncertainty ascribed to the probe.

20. The method for filling oil according to claim 19 , wherein the fixed amount corresponds to four times the measurement uncertainty ascribed to the probe.

Assignees

• Safran Aircraft Engines

Inventors

• Santin Mathieu Jean Jacques
• Dupays Clément
• Waissi Bellal

Classifications

• B64F5/40 Primary

  Maintaining or repairing aircraft · CPC title

• F01M11/04

  Filling or draining lubricant of or from machines or engines · CPC title

• F01M11/12

  concerning lubricant level · CPC title

• G05D9/02

  without auxiliary power · CPC title

• G05D9/12

  characterised by the use of electric means · CPC title