Patent Application
20240096574
This application claims the benefit of European Patent Application Number 22306380.1 filed on Sep. 21, 2022, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by way of reference.
The present invention relates to a cryogenic fuse for opening an electrical circuit. The invention relates more particularly to a cryogenic fuse for power circuits of an electrically propelled aircraft.
Liquid hydrogen is a cryogenic fluid that can be used as an energy source for electricity generation. Thus, for example, it is possible to use a hydrogen fuel cell to power all the flight control and communication systems of an aircraft, as well as the on-board lighting and the power supply of various accessory devices used in the aircraft. Liquid hydrogen can also be used as an energy source for the propulsion of an aircraft, by powering a fuel cell or by direct combustion, which has the advantage of only releasing water into the atmosphere. The use of hydrogen requires distribution systems between one or more production or storage tanks and consuming devices. Thus, pipes are conventionally used to convey liquid hydrogen between a storage tank and a liquid hydrogen consuming device such as, for example, a hydrogen fuel cell.
It is known that there is a need to massively reduce the production of carbon emissions, to safeguard the environment, and electric or hybrid propulsion is showing promise for this. But the conventional systems on board of an aircraft are such that the weight/electrical power ratio is not satisfactory as they are and there is therefore a need to obtain electrical systems making it possible to provide power in relation to their weight to satisfy all the constraints. This is the case for electrical fuses as well as for other aircraft power components.
It is therefore necessary to optimize the electrical power-to-weight ratio of all elements of an aircraft's propulsion system, and in particular those power components through which strong currents flow and which must have a high current breaking capacity. The situation can be improved.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a fuse with a breaking capacity compatible with the current requirements of an electrically propelled aircraft, while having weight and size characteristics compatible with flight constraints.
To this end, it is proposed a cryogenic fuse comprising a superconducting element (of the superconductor type) arranged in a first chamber, which first chamber contains a cryogenic fluid, the cryogenic fuse being configured such that:
The cryogenic fuse according to the invention may comprise the following features, considered alone or in combination:
The invention also relates to a power transmission cable comprising a cryogenic fuse integrated into the cable.
Finally, another object of the invention is an aircraft comprising a cryogenic fuse as described above or comprising a power transmission cable as described above.
The characteristics of the invention mentioned above, as well as others, will appear more clearly on reading the following description of at least one embodiment, said description being made in relation to the attached drawings, among which:
Advantageously, and according to another embodiment, the superconducting fuse 10 can be integrated directly into a cryogenic cable also comprising a first chamber arranged around a superconducting conductor and a second chamber, under vacuum, surrounding said cable first chamber. Such a configuration simplifies manufacturing and assembly operations by limiting the number of connection points between a cryogenic fuse and cryogenic power conductors. It also saves a lot of weight.
Furthermore, as the cryogenic fuse 10 is cooled in the same way as the inner conductor of the cryogenic superconducting cable, the DC resistance of the cryogenic fuse 10 is almost zero. As a result, the efficiency gain is very high compared to a conventional fuse since the power loss in the cryogenic fuse is very low.
In addition, the insulation provided by the vacuum second chamber 15 allows the generation of the arc to be controlled after a fault has occurred and the cryogenic fuse 10 has broken. Thus, no additional system or material is required to dampen the effects of the generated arc.
In one embodiment, the first chamber 13 containing the cryogenic fluid 13c may be connected to a cryogenic fluid supply system of the aircraft, at its opening 13o. According to another embodiment represented in
The fuse rating requirements are very diverse in aircraft systems, and it may be useful to have an adjustable value for the fuse current of a given fuse. Advantageously, the melting current of the cryogenic fuse 10 is controlled by monitoring the temperature of the cryogenic fluid present in the first chamber 13. To that end, the cryogenic fluid supply system of the aircraft, or the dedicated source of cryogenic fluid 120, is connected to a module 122 for controlling the temperature of the cryogenic fluid (represented in
It is thus advantageously possible to modulate the breaking current of a fuse of a specific branch of an aircraft circuit as a function of different flight phases such as, for example, take-off, cruise flight, landing or an emergency situation.
The other features remain unchanged.
Again, the other features remain unchanged.
Any of the three different embodiments in which the breaking initiation zone is respectively obtained by impurities inserted in the superconducting element, by reduction of the section of the superconducting element 11 or by at least one calibrated bend in the superconducting element 11, in the breaking initiation zone 11c, may comprise additional means for controlling and adjusting the melting current or melting time by adjusting the cryogenic fluid temperature, a magnetic field in the breaking initiation zone, or both.
The systems and devices described herein may include a controller or a computing device comprising a processing and a memory which has stored therein computer-executable instructions for implementing the processes described herein. The processing unit may comprise any suitable devices configured to cause a series of steps to be performed so as to implement the method such that instructions, when executed by the computing device or other programmable apparatus, may cause the functions/acts/steps specified in the methods described herein to be executed. The processing unit may comprise, for example, any type of general-purpose microprocessor or microcontroller, a digital signal processing (DSP) processor, a central processing unit (CPU), an integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a reconfigurable processor, other suitably programmed or programmable logic circuits, or any combination thereof.
The memory may be any suitable known or other machine-readable storage medium. The memory may comprise non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. The memory may include a suitable combination of any type of computer memory that is located either internally or externally to the device such as, for example, random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), compact disc read-only memory (CDROM), electro-optical memory, magneto-optical memory, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), and electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM) or the like. The memory may comprise any storage means (e.g., devices) suitable for retrievably storing the computer-executable instructions executable by processing unit.
The methods and systems described herein may be implemented in a high-level procedural or object-oriented programming or scripting language, or a combination thereof, to communicate with or assist in the operation of the controller or computing device. Alternatively, the methods and systems described herein may be implemented in assembly or machine language. The language may be a compiled or interpreted language. Program code for implementing the methods and systems described herein may be stored on the storage media or the device, for example a ROM, a magnetic disk, an optical disc, a flash drive, or any other suitable storage media or device. The program code may be readable by a general or special-purpose programmable computer for configuring and operating the computer when the storage media or device is read by the computer to perform the procedures described herein.
Computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, including modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Typically, the functionality of the modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.
It will be appreciated that the systems and devices and components thereof may utilize communication through any of various network protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, and/or through various wireless communication technologies such as GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi, and WiMAX, is and the various computing devices described herein may be configured to communicate using any of these network protocols or technologies.
While at least one exemplary embodiment of the present invention(s) is disclosed herein, it should be understood that modifications, substitutions and alternatives may be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art and can be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. This disclosure is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the exemplary embodiment(s). In addition, in this disclosure, the terms “comprise” or “comprising” do not exclude other elements or steps, the terms “a” or “one” do not exclude a plural number, and the term “or” means either or both. Furthermore, characteristics or steps which have been described may also be used in combination with other characteristics or steps and in any order unless the disclosure or context suggests otherwise. This disclosure hereby incorporates by reference the complete disclosure of any patent or application from which it claims benefit or priority.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22306380.1 | Sep 2022 | EP | regional |
