Patent Application
20120324905
An auxiliary power unit (“APU”) creates pneumatic power or electrical power to run the air conditioning system, start the main engines and run other accessories on an aircraft. An APU is important to use because the aircraft is not required to use ground power for aircraft air conditioning, to provide electrical power or start the main engines.
APU Fuel Controls Units (FCUs) are typically shaft driven from the APU gearbox and the fuel is metered based on the APU load by a metering device (i.e., servo valve). Some APU FCUs are driven by a variable speed electrical motor that attempts to meter the fuel demanded by the APU by changing the speed of the pump motor.
An example control disclosed herein for providing the fuel to an auxiliary power unit (“APU”) includes a constant speed electrical motor, a first pump driven by the motor; and, a second pump driven by the motor wherein the electric motor, the first pump and the second pump provide fuel at sufficient pressure to start the APU.
According to a further example provided herein a method for providing fuel to an APU includes providing a constant speed electrical motor; providing a first pump driven by the motor; providing a second pump driven by the motor; and driving the electric motor at a constant speed such that the first pump and the second pump provide fuel at sufficient pressure to start and to operate the APU.
These and other features of the present disclosure can be best understood from the following specification and drawings, the following of which is a brief description.
Referring to
Fuel passes from the fuel tank 17 to a boost stage pump 25. The boost stage pump 25 is driven off an APU gearbox (not shown) and pressurizes the fuel and sends it to a fuel filter 30 via lines 35 and 40. After passing through the fuel filter 30, the fuel is delivered to the high pressure pump 45 via line 50. The boost stage pump 25 and the high pressure pump 45 are ganged together by shaft 55. After passing through the high pressure pump 45, the fuel is at a proper pressure for delivery to the nozzles 20. The fuel then passes through a servo valve 60 which is controlled by a controller 65 to meter flow through lines 70 and 75. A valve 67, also controlled by controller 65, is disposed downstream of the servo valve 65 and acts as an emergency shut off. The fuel lines 70 and 75 include a flow divider 90 to apportion fuel to a simplex nozzle 80 or duplex nozzle 85 within the APU 15. The flow divider 90, as is known in the art, uses a ball valve 97 that gives way according to the fuel pressure against the spring 95 to provide fuel to the simplex nozzle 80 or to the duplex nozzle 85.
Fuel passing through the high pressure pump 45 may be diverted if the pressure becomes too high through the pressure relief valve 100, which again is a standard ball valve to recirculate fuel through the fuel filter 30. If the fuel filter 30 becomes clogged and pressure backs up there, fuel may be diverted around the fuel filter 30 through a pressure relief valve 105 via lines 40, 110 and 115.
During start up of the APU 15, the shaft driven FCU 10 needs to generates enough flow capacity with relatively high pressure for good atomization at the nozzles 20. However, when an FCU 10 is physically sized for the start condition, such an FCU 10 will generate considerably more flow capacity than needed when the APU 15 is running at normal operating speed. This excess fuel flow which is typically about 300%-500% of what is needed, is recirculated back to the high pressure pump 45 and the boost stage pump 25 through the pressure relief valve 100 back through lines 35, 40 and 50. The amount of fuel recirculation back into the inlet of the pump increases even more when the APU 15 is operating at no load at high altitude conditions. This in turn may cause fuel overheating that may be difficult to resolve. Shaft driven FCUs also contain seals (not shown) at the gearbox interface. In time due to rubbing action, these seals will wear and can cause external oil and/or fuel leakage that impact the safety and reliability. An FCU 10 with external leakage will then need to be replaced.
Note that the FCU 10 shown in
Further, prior art systems (not shown) have been designed with variable speed electrical motors (not shown) that drive pumps (not shown) such that fuel flow is metered by speeding and slowing the motor driving the pump. However, such systems require expensive motors and sophisticated motor controllers for precise motor speed control with very fast response time to be able to manage the rapid required transient response necessary for an APU.
Referring now to
In contrast, the FCU 210 that uses the constant speed electrical motor 200, the maximum over pumping at the same operating conditions is about 20%. As such, the drain on the APU 15 to drive the electric motor 200 is less than the power required to drive the shaft driven FCUs. The electric motor 200, which is independent of APU speed, provides higher start reliability, better energy efficiency due to little recirculation during full APU speed, and no dynamic seals for enhanced reliability and safety. There is less drag on the APU gearbox during cold starts which increases APU start torque margin.
Although preferred embodiments have been disclosed, a worker of ordinary skill in this art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this disclosure. For that reason, the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this disclosure.
