Aircraft Fire-Fighting Distribution Line Drainage Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing fire-fighting system in aircraft propulsion assemblies suffers from extinguishing agent loss through drainage holes at low points in the distribution line, leading to increased reservoir volume and difficulty in integration due to moisture condensation and freezing at high altitudes.
Innovation Solution
A drainage device with a shut-off mechanism that opens and closes based on pressure in the distribution line, preventing the loss of pressurized extinguishing agent by evacuating water and ice-forming condensation while keeping the agent inside, thus maintaining the agent's volume and reducing reservoir size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If drainage holes are arranged at low points to evacuate water, then water evacuation is effective, but extinguishing agent is lost through the holes
Solution Approach 1:
The drainage device employs a dynamic shut-off mechanism that automatically opens and closes based on pressure conditions. At low pressure (ground level), the drain hole remains open for water evacuation. At high pressure (during extinguishing agent discharge), the mechanism automatically closes to prevent agent loss, thus resolving the contradiction between reliable water evacuation and preventing substance loss
Solution Approach 2:
The invention utilizes pressure as a changing parameter to control the state of the drainage device. The shut-off mechanism responds to pressure threshold changes, transitioning between open and closed states. This parameter-based control allows the system to adapt its behavior to different operational phases, eliminating agent loss while maintaining water drainage capability
2Loss of substance
If reservoir volume is increased to compensate for extinguishing agent loss, then agent loss is compensated, but reservoir integration becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the harmful function of continuous drainage and converts it into a selective function. By removing the need for continuous open drainage holes and replacing them with pressure-controlled shut-off mechanisms, the system eliminates unnecessary agent loss, thereby eliminating the need for increased reservoir volume compensation
3Object-affected harmful factors
If drainage holes are used to evacuate water, then water accumulation is prevented, but extinguishing agent volume must be increased
Solution Approach 1:
The dynamic pressure-responsive shut-off mechanism allows the drainage system to selectively evacuate water when needed while preventing extinguishing agent discharge through the same drainage path, thereby preventing water accumulation without increasing agent quantity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively prevents the loss of extinguishing agent, avoiding the need for larger reservoirs and ensuring the fire-fighting system's correct operation by maintaining the agent within the system, even at high altitudes.
Implementation Method 1
the mechanism being able to move under the effect of the pressure prevailing in the distribution line, between a first position in which it opens the fluid passage and a second position in which it closes the fluid passage
Implementation Method 2
A drainage device in the form of a hole is consequently arranged at each low point so as to evacuate, under gravity, the water that could accumulate there
Implementation Method 3
This air contains moisture that condenses and accumulates at the low points, and freezes when the aircraft flies at high altitude
Data Source
AI summary
A propulsion assembly including a turbomachine attached to a pylon, and a fire-fighting system, the turbomachine including fire zones, the fire-fighting system including two reservoirs of pressurized extinguishing agent in the pylon and a distribution line connecting the reservoirs to nozzles. The distribution line includes connected pipes having a low point between the reservoirs and the nozzles, and, for each low point, a fluid drainage device for evacuating fluid. The drainage device includes a fluid passage for fluid evacuation from the distribution line and a mechanism for shutting off the fluid passage, the mechanism movable under effect of distribution line pressure, between a first position where it opens the fluid passage and a second position where it closes the fluid passage, the second position being reached when the pressure in the distribution line is greater than or equal to a predetermined pressure.