Tank with a gas extraction device for storing cryogenic liquid or fuel for spacecraft

US8048211B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• ASTRIUM GMBH · DE

Inventors

• Kei Philipp Behruzi · Bremen, DE
• Gaston Netter · Hambergen, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 4, 2008
• Grant date: Nov 1, 2011
• Expiry date: Dec 23, 2028

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02E60/32
• WIPO field: Mechanical elements
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

A tank arrangement includes a tank for storing a liquid such as fuel or oxidizer for operation of a spacecraft and a pressurized driving gas for conveying the liquid out of the tank, and a gas supply and extraction device. The device includes a housing shell and plural outwardly expanding passage bodies providing openings that communicate the interior space of the tank to the inner reservoir space of the device. A baffle plate shields the outer opening of each passage body. Deflector plates are arranged in each passage body. Capillary plates extend longitudinally along the inner wall of the housing shell. By a capillary effect, the plates separate liquid from gas entering the device, so that the gas can be extracted while the liquid is stored in a reservoir of the device until it is drained back into the tank during an accelerated operation phase of the spacecraft.