Aircraft including plane equipment heating with a thermodynamic loop having a closed circuit in which heat transfer liquid circulates and the closed circuit loop including an evaporator

• US 10,035,603 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2016
• Issued: 07/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Sarno, Claude, Hodot, Romain
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Harshad R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hopkins, Brandi
• Application Number:
  US15/221,170
• Publication Number:
  US 20170029126A1
• Time in Patent Office: 734 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 10/00 Processes of additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/02 for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 Products made by additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 15/06 Liquid application in general B05
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 15/12 by electric heating electric heating elements in general H05B
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 33/08 of power plant cooling systems cooling of internal-combustion engines per se F01P; cooling of gas-turbine plants or jet-propulsion plants per se F02C, F02K
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 43/02 for indicating aircraft speed or stalling conditions
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 15/0266 with separate evaporating and condensing chambers connected by at least one conduit; Loop-type heat pipes; with multiple or common evaporating or condensing chambers F28D15/043 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 2021/0021 for aircrafts or cosmonautics
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 1/46 Pitot tubes
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 5/165 Arrangements or constructions of Pitot tubes

Abstract

An aircraft provided with at least one piece of aeronautic equipment, the equipment (25) including a part intended to be arranged at a skin (27) of the aircraft and elements for heating the part, characterized in that the heating elements include a thermodynamic loop including a closed circuit in which a heat transfer fluid circulates, the closed circuit including an evaporator (14) associated with functional elements (70) of the aircraft forming a heat source giving off heat during their operation and a zone in which a condensation of the heat transfer fluid can occur in the appendage to heat it, and in that outside the evaporator, the circuit in which the fluid circulates is formed by a tubular channel with an empty section.

Claims

1. An aircraft comprising:

aircraft skin;

a first piece of aeronautic equipment, the first piece of aeronautic equipment comprising a part arranged at the aircraft skin and an appendage; and

a second piece of aeronautic equipment spaced apart from the first piece of aeronautic equipment, the second piece of aeronautic equipment generating heat during operation,

wherein the part of the first piece of aeronautic equipment comprises a thermodynamic loop comprising a closed circuit in which a heat transfer fluid circulates, the closed circuit in which the heat transfer fluid circulates being a tubular channel with an empty section,

wherein the closed circuit comprises an evaporator connected to a condenser by the tubular channel,

wherein the evaporator is located spaced apart from the second piece of aeronautic equipment generating heat so that the heat given off from the second piece of aeronautic equipment heats the evaporator and the heat transfer fluid in the evaporator, the second piece of aeronautic equipment thereby generating heat that is a heat source to the evaporator, and

wherein the condenser is located in the appendage so that a condensation of the heat transfer fluid can occur in the appendage to heat the appendage during the operation of the second piece of aeronautic equipment.

2. The aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the second piece of aeronautic equipment comprises an electronic board that generates the heat during the operation of the second piece of aeronautic equipment.

3. The aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the second piece of aeronautic equipment is an actuator of the aircraft.

4. The aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the second piece of aeronautic equipment comprises a piece of electrical equipment of the aircraft.

5. The aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the tubular channel is configured for the heat transfer fluid to circulate therein by capillarity.

6. The aircraft according to claim 5, further comprising a circulation pump for the heat transfer fluid.

7. The aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the tubular channel forms a single thermodynamic loop outside the evaporator.

8. The aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the tubular channel forms plural thermodynamic loops in which the heat transfer fluid circulates in parallel outside the evaporator.

9. The aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the part is flush with the skin of the aircraft.

10. The aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the appendage is configured to be arranged protruding relative to the skin of the aircraft.

11. The aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the first piece of aeronautic equipment comprises a base fastened on the skin of the aircraft, with the appendage arranged on a first side of the base and the evaporator arranged on a second side of the base, opposite the first side.

12. The aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the first piece of aeronautic equipment comprises an aerodynamic measuring probe.

13. A method for producing the first piece of aeronautic equipment for the aircraft according to claim 1, the method comprising the steps of:

using an additive manufacturing machine, superimposing layers of material one on another to produce the tubular channel with an empty section; and

connecting the tubular channel to the evaporator and to the condenser.

14. A data file stored on non-transitory storage device, the data file being loadable in a memory of a processing unit associated with an additive manufacturing machine able to manufacture an object by superimposing layers of material, the data file comprising data for three-dimensional depiction of the first piece of aeronautic equipment for the aircraft according to claim 1, wherein when the data file is loaded into the memory of, and processed by, said processing unit, causes the manufacture of said first piece of aeronautic equipment by said additive manufacturing machine.

15. The aircraft according to claim 1, wherein,

the first piece of aeronautic equipment further comprises a base fastened on the skin of the aircraft, and

the appendage is arranged on a first side of the base protruding relative to the skin of the aircraft, and

the evaporator is arranged on a second side of the base, opposite the first side.