Catalytic fuel tank inerting apparatus for aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018155048-A1
Application number	US-201815880639-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 26, 2018
Priority date	Aug 3, 2016
Publication date	Jun 7, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Fuel tank inerting systems and methods for aircraft are provided. The systems include a fuel tank, a first reactant source fluidly connected to the fuel tank and arranged to receive fuel from the fuel tank, a second reactant source, a catalytic reactor arranged to receive a first and second reactants from the first and second sources, respectively, to generate an inert gas that is supplied to the fuel tank to fill a ullage space of the fuel tank, a heat exchanger arranged between the catalytic reactor and the fuel tank and downstream of the catalytic reactor, the heat exchanger arranged to at least one of condense and cool an output from the catalytic reactor to separate out an inert gas and a byproduct, and a cool air source arranged to supply cool air to the heat exchanger and then the catalytic reactor to provide thermal control of the catalytic reactor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A fuel tank inerting system for an aircraft, the system comprising:
a fuel tank; a first reactant source fluidly connected to the fuel tank, the first source arranged to receive fuel from the fuel tank; a second reactant source; a catalytic reactor arranged to receive a first reactant from the first source and a second reactant from the second source to generate an inert gas that is supplied to the fuel tank to fill a ullage space of the fuel tank; a heat exchanger arranged between the catalytic reactor and the fuel tank and downstream of the catalytic reactor, the heat exchanger arranged to at least one of cool and condense an output from the catalytic reactor to separate out an inert gas and a byproduct; and a cool air source arranged to supply cool air to the heat exchanger and then the catalytic reactor to provide thermal control of the catalytic reactor.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first source is an evaporator container and the second source is at least one of a bleed port of an engine of an aircraft and an aircraft cabin.

3 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a sparging device located within the first reactant source.

4 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a heating duct thermally connected to the catalytic reactor and arranged in thermal communication with the first source to provide heat to the first source to generate the first reactant.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the byproduct is water.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein discharge air from an environmental control system of the aircraft is provided to the heat exchanger to enable cooling of the output from the catalytic reactor.

7 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising an injector pump arranged to receive the first reactant and the second reactant and to supply a mixture of the first reactant and the second reactant to the catalytic reactor.

8 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising an inert gas recycling system located downstream of the catalytic reactor and upstream of the fuel tank, wherein the inert gas recycling system is arranged to direct a portion of the inert gas to the catalytic reactor.

9 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one additional fuel tank, wherein the at least one additional fuel tank is arranged to receive inert gas from the catalytic reactor.

10 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a water separator located between the catalytic reactor and the fuel tank and downstream of the catalytic reactor, the water separator arranged to extract water from the reacted first reactant and second reactant.

11 . Method of supplying inert gas to a fuel tank of an aircraft, the method comprising:
supplying fuel from a fuel tank to a first reactant source; generating a first reactant within the first reactant source; mixing and directly injecting the first reactant and a second reactant supplied from a second reactant source into a catalytic reactor; catalyzing the mixed first reactant and second reactant within the catalytic reactor to generate an inert gas; at least one of cooling and condensing an output from the catalytic reactor to separate out an inert gas and a byproduct with a heat exchanger arranged between the catalytic reactor and the fuel tank; and supplying the inert gas to the fuel tank to fill a ullage space of the fuel tank, wherein a cool air source supplies cool air to the heat exchanger and then the catalytic reactor to provide thermal control of the catalytic reactor.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the first source is an evaporator container and the second source is at least one of a bleed port of an engine of an aircraft and an aircraft cabin.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein generating the first reactant comprises performing sparging within the first reactant source.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising heating the first reactant source with a heating duct thermally connected to the catalytic reactor and arranged in thermal communication with the first source to provide heat to the first source to generate the first reactant.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the byproduct is water.

16 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising supplying discharge air from an environmental control system of the aircraft to the heat exchanger to enable cooling of the output from the catalytic reactor.

17 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising mixing and injecting the first reactant and the second reactant using an injector pump to supply a mixture of the first reactant and the second reactant to the catalytic reactor.

18 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising recycling a portion of the inert gas and supplying the recycled portion to the catalytic reactor.

19 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising supplying the inert gas to at least one additional fuel tank from the catalytic reactor.

20 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising extracting water from the reacted first reactant and second reactant using a water separator located between the catalytic reactor and the fuel tank and downstream of the catalytic reactor.

Assignees

• Hamilton Sundstrand Corp

Inventors

• Surawski Eric

Classifications

• A62C3/08

  in aircraft {(A62C3/0207 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B01J2204/002

  the feeding side being of particular interest · CPC title

• F02M27/02

  by catalysts · CPC title

• B01J4/008

  Feed or outlet control devices · CPC title

• B64D37/32 Primary

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