An aircraft fuel system comprising: a fuel tank; an outlet (50, fig 7) in the fuel tank for feeding liquid fuel out of the fuel tank; and an expandable gas-container in the fuel tank. The gas-container encloses a mass of gas which is sealed within the gas-container; the gas-container is exposed to ambient pressure and the weight of the head of fuel above the gas-container. A drop in ambient pressure and the weight of fuel during flight of the aircraft causes the gas-container to expand. The expansion of the gas-container causes it to displace the liquid fuel towards the outlet. The mass of gas is a fixed mass of gas - thus the amount of gas in the gas-container does not change as the gas-container expands and its pressure decreases in inverse proportion to the change of volume. The gas-container may comprise a sealed-bladder 60 and may further be filled with a gas containing substantially no oxygen. Alternatively, the gas-container may comprise a flexible diaphragm (10, fig 1) disposed at least partially between a pair of stringers (3, 4, fig 1) in the fuel tank.
Aircraft fuel system
2017-05-31
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | B64D Ausrüstung für Flugzeuge , EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT |
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