First equipment heating device

• US 9,849,993 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2016
• Issued: 12/26/2017
• 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): Thompson, Jewel V
• Application Number:
  US15/220,428
• Publication Number:
  US 20170029121A1
• Time in Patent Office: 517 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: B64F 5/10 Manufacturing or assembling aircraft, e.g. jigs therefor
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 15/02 in which the medium condenses and evaporates, e.g. heat pipes heat pipes used in solar heat collectors F24S10/95; in radiators F28D1/0226; in nuclear reactors G21C15/257
• 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: G01P 5/165 Arrangements or constructions of Pitot tubes

Abstract

An aircraft provided with at least two pieces of aeronautic equipment, a first piece of 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 (80) of the second piece of equipment (81) 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 (14), the circuit in which the fluid circulates is formed by a tubular channel with an empty section.

Claims

1. An aircraft provided with at least two pieces of aeronautic equipment, a first piece of equipment comprising a part intended to be arranged at a skin of the aircraft and means for heating the part, characterized in that the heating means comprise a thermodynamic loop comprising a closed circuit in which a heat transfer fluid circulates, the closed circuit comprising an evaporator associated with functional means of the second piece of equipment 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.

2. The aircraft according to claim 1, characterized in that the functional means of the second piece of equipment of the aircraft forming a heat source are formed by a part or an electronic board thereof.

3. The aircraft according to claim 1, characterized in that the functional means of the second piece of equipment of the aircraft forming a heat source are formed by an actuator thereof.

4. The aircraft according to claim 1, characterized in that the functional means of the second piece of equipment of the aircraft forming a heat source are formed by a part or a piece of electrical equipment thereof.

5. The aircraft according to claim 1, characterized in that the channel is configured for the fluid to circulate therein by capillarity.

6. The aircraft according to claim 5, characterized in that it comprises a circulation pump for the heat transfer fluid.

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

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

9. The aircraft according to claim 1, characterized in that the part is configured to be flush with the skin of the aircraft.

10. The aircraft according to claim 1, characterized in that the part is an appendage configured to be arranged protruding relative to the skin of the aircraft.

11. The aircraft according to claim 10, characterized in that the first piece of equipment comprises a base intended to fasten the piece of equipment on the skin of the aircraft, in that the appendage is arranged on a first side of the base and in that the evaporator is arranged on a second side of the base, opposite the first side.

12. The aircraft according to claim 1, characterized in that the first piece of equipment comprises an aerodynamic measuring probe.

13. A method for producing a first piece of aeronautic equipment for an aircraft according to claim 1, the equipment comprising a body in which the tubular channel with an empty section is produced, the method being characterized in that the body is produced using an additive manufacturing method.

14. A data file stored on storage means and able to be loaded in the memory of a processing unit associated with an additive manufacturing machine able to manufacture an object by superimposing layers of material, characterized in that it comprises data for three-dimensional depiction of the piece of equipment for an aircraft according to claim 1, so as to allow, when it is loaded into memory of, and processed by, said processing unit, the manufacture of said piece of equipment by said additive manufacturing machine.