External Fuel Container Jettison and Venting System
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Solution Overview
Problem
The transportation of flammable liquids to remote sites poses challenges due to potential damage, improper sizing and securing of containers, hazardous venting, and weight-balance issues in aircraft cargo bays, which can lead to safety hazards and operational risks.
Innovation Solution
The system integrates storage containers attached to the aircraft to maintain balance, with vented double-walled cavities and vapor barriers, a fuel jettison subsystem for emergency fuel removal, and a vent system to manage pressure changes, ensuring safe and efficient transportation of flammable liquids.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If fuel containers are transported inside aircraft cargo bays, then bulk flammable liquids can be delivered to remote sites, but the containers are subject to damage during loading and unloading as well as in flight, creating risk of explosion or fire
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the fuel transport function into separate components: an external container mounted on the aircraft exterior, a venting subsystem with separate vent lines, and a jettison subsystem with independent valve control. This segmentation isolates the fuel container from the cargo bay environment, protecting it from damage during loading/unloading while maintaining delivery capability to remote sites.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediary components including a venting subsystem with vent lines that channel vapors away from the aircraft, and a jettison subsystem with controlled valve mechanisms. These intermediaries mediate between the fuel container and the aircraft environment, preventing direct harmful interactions while enabling safe transport to remote locations.
2Quantity of substance
If traditional fuel containers are used in aircraft cargo bays, then bulk flammable liquids can be transported, but improper stowing results in weight-and-balance configuration outside the safe operating envelope
Solution Approach 1:
The external mounting system positions the fuel container at a location on the aircraft exterior that maintains proper weight and balance equilibrium. The container is secured with straps and chains arranged to distribute weight evenly, ensuring the aircraft operates within its safe center of gravity envelope regardless of fuel quantity.
3Stability of the object's composition
If fuel containers are vented into cargo bays, then pressure changes during flight can be accommodated, but aircraft cargo bays are not intrinsically safe environments, creating hazard when fuel containers vent or leak
Solution Approach 1:
The venting subsystem extracts the venting function from the cargo bay environment and relocates it to the external atmosphere. Vent lines channel vapors from the fuel container through conduits that terminate outside the aircraft, separating the pressure equalization process from the cargo bay space and eliminating contamination hazards.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates an inert barrier between the flammable fuel vapors and the aircraft environment through external venting. By directing vapors away from the aircraft structure and cargo bay, the system effectively creates a safe separation zone, preventing vapors from creating hazardous conditions inside the aircraft.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If non-vented fuel containers are used, then cargo bay contamination is avoided, but containers are subjected to expanding and contracting forces during ascent and descent
Solution Approach 1:
The venting function is extracted from the cargo bay and redirected externally through dedicated vent lines. This allows the fuel container to maintain pressure equilibrium with the external atmosphere rather than the cargo bay environment, accommodating pressure changes during flight without compromising structural integrity or creating contamination hazards.
5Ease of operation
If fuel containers are improperly secured in the aircraft, then loading and unloading becomes simpler, but containers can be dislodged during aircraft operation creating safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The container is pre-equipped with mounting features including attachment points for straps and chains, and a structure designed to distribute loads evenly. These preliminary structural preparations enable secure mounting that prevents dislodgement during flight while maintaining ease of loading and unloading operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for airborne transport of flammable liquids with an aircraft. A fuel tank and a reservoir, each for storing flammable liquids, are joined to the aircraft. A fuel jettison subsystem is coupled between an interior portion and an exterior of the reservoir to selectably expel fuel from the reservoir to an exterior portion of the aircraft. The fuel jettison subsystem includes a jettison valve opening formed in the reservoir. A lid selectably closes off the opening. A biasing member urges the lid away from the jettison valve opening. A solenoid retains the lid in the jettison valve opening when unactuated and releases the lid when actuated. A jettison linkage is coupled to the solenoid, the jettison linkage being operable to actuate the solenoid. The lid is urged away from the jettison valve opening by the biasing member when the solenoid is actuated by the jettison linkage.