RU2522763C2 - Spacecraft fuel tank for liquid components storing and delivery - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: transport.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to pneumohydraulic system for fuel components delivery to jet propulsion system of aircraft. The fuel tank includes pressurised body made of two semispheres with input and output nozzles and external mounting elements. Metal diaphragm is placed inside the body and connected with them along perimeter. Its thickness is maximal in equatorial part and gradually decreases towards polar part. In this system, the diaphragm in its equatorial part (6) is made in the form of truncated cone, in its middle part (7) - in the form of toroidal surface, and in the polar part (8) - in the form of spherical surface segment. The final (after re-laying) position of the diaphragm is shown on the drawing by dotted line.

EFFECT: better performance of metal diaphragm due to lowered loads and deformations of the diaphragm in places of its fixation to tank body.

2 cl, 3 dwg

Description

The invention relates to the field of rocket and space technology, in particular to a pneumohydraulic system for supplying fuel components in the control and orientation system of a spacecraft (SC) of liquid and gas displacement systems.

Known devices for storing and supplying liquid components placed on spaceships (see, for example, “Cosmonautics.” Encyclopedia edited by V.P. Glushko, Moscow, Soviet Encyclopedia, 1985, pp. 304-305), containing fuel tanks fuel and oxidizer mounted on the frame in the spacecraft compartment. The supply of fuel components to the consumer in this device is carried out by means of gas pressurization of the fuel tanks and extrusion of the fuel with an elastic membrane in the fuel supply line to the consumer - jet engines of the spacecraft propulsion system.

A device for storing and supplying liquid components is installed in the fuel compartment of a spacecraft (see patent RU 2132804, IPC B64G 1/40, 9/00, 07/10/1999), containing a frame with a boost system and fuel installed on it fuel and oxidizer tanks, including a housing and an internal elastic membrane.

The disadvantage of the above devices is their low reliability and low survivability due to the occurrence of additional stresses in the internal elastic membrane when it is reusable.

A device for storing and supplying liquid components is also known, comprising a frame with a pressurization system and fuel tanks of oxidizer and fuel, including a housing and an internal elastic membrane, characterized in that the internal elastic membrane is made of variable thickness and smoothly decreases from the center of the internal elastic membrane to its periphery right up to the place of attachment of the internal elastic membrane to the fuel tank body, while the internal elastic membrane is made of corrosion-resistant plastic material (see patent for invention RU 2301180 - prototype).

A disadvantage of the known device is that with daily temperature fluctuations, the metal diaphragm bends periodically, and its weak point is the place of attachment of the diaphragm to the tank body, the implementation of the diaphragm of variable thickness gradually decreasing to the center, often leads to its rapid destruction, as well as low reliability and low survivability due to the occurrence of additional stresses in the inner elastic membrane when it is reusable.

The objective of the claimed technical solution is to increase the operational capabilities of the metal membrane, by reducing the load on the membrane in the places of its attachment to the tank body.

The solution to this problem is achieved by the fact that the tank containing a sealed enclosure made of two hemispheres with inlet and outlet fittings and external fasteners located inside the enclosure and hermetically connected along the perimeter of a metal diaphragm of variable thickness, characterized in that the thickness of the aperture is made the largest in its equatorial part and gradually decreasing towards the pole part.

Moreover, the diaphragm in the equatorial part is made in the form of a truncated cone, in the middle part - in the form of a torus surface, and in the pole part - in the form of a segment of a spherical surface

Figure 1 presents a General view of the tank of a fuel spacecraft with a possible position of the metal diaphragm at the beginning of regular operation.

Figure 2 presents a General view of the tank of a fuel spacecraft with a possible position of the metal diaphragm at the end of regular operation.

Figure 3 presents one of the options for the design of the diaphragm with the place of termination of it along the equatorial part of the tank and the thicknesses of the metal diaphragm in sections from the embedment zone to the pole part.

A fuel tank with a metal diaphragm contains a container itself, consisting of two hemispheres 1 and 2 (see Fig. 1 and Fig. 2), an inlet fitting 3, an outlet fitting 4, and a metal diaphragm 5 having a variable thickness, while in the equatorial part 6 it is made conical, in the middle part 7 - toroidal, in the pole part 8 - spherical.

The device operates as follows: before starting operation, one of the fuel components, for example alcohol, is filled into the cavity В through the nozzle 4. To displace the fuel component into the piping system and further into the combustion chamber through the nozzle 3, gas is supplied to the cavity Г under a certain pressure, which transferred to the metal diaphragm 5. The metal diaphragm 5 is shifted towards the fuel cavity B and displaces the fuel through the outlet fitting 4, into the pipelines to the combustion chamber, where it ignites and is created directs pulse for orbital correction or orientation of the spacecraft center of mass (CM). After completion of the orbit adjustment, the increase in gas pressure and fuel consumption cease until the next correction of the spacecraft orbit. The metal diaphragm 5 occupies an intermediate position in the tank (see Fig. 1), while with daily fluctuations in the temperature on board the spacecraft during the orbital motion of the spacecraft and when the spacecraft falls under open sunlight, the fuel expands in cavity B and the metal diaphragm 5 bends (shifts ) towards the cavity G. With the spacecraft entering the Earth’s shadow, the fuel temperature drops, its volume decreases, and the metal diaphragm 5 bends (moves) toward the cavity B due to the pressure in the cavity Г, etc.

Experimental testing of the proposed design of the tank of the fuel spacecraft with a metal diaphragm 5 of variable thickness, the largest in the equatorial part 6 and gradually decreasing to its pole part 8, as well as its characteristic profile (see figure 3) showed the necessary reliability required for the spacecraft during cyclic movement metal diaphragm 5 towards cavity B and back towards cavity G.

The claimed design of the tank of the fuel spacecraft with a displacing metal diaphragm will improve the operational characteristics of the displacing metal diaphragm that works without fatigue fracture in the bend zone (the place of attachment of the metal diaphragm to the tank body).

Claims (2)

1. A fuel tank of a spacecraft for storing and supplying liquid components, comprising a sealed enclosure made of two hemispheres with inlet and outlet fittings and external fasteners, located inside the enclosure and hermetically sealed around the perimeter of a metal diaphragm of variable thickness, characterized in that the thickness of the specified diaphragm is made the largest in its equatorial part and gradually decreases towards the pole part. 2. The tank according to claim 1, characterized in that the diaphragm in the equatorial part is made in the form of a truncated cone, in the middle part - in the form of a torus surface, and in the pole part - in the form of a segment of a spherical surface.

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