Flight Refuelling Limited

Flight Refueling Limited

Flight Refuelling Limited Brook Road

Cobham Mission Systems Wimborne Limited

Christopher Mouskis

James Kemmitt

Ismet Gursul

Adrian Bedford

Georgios Filippos Papaioannou

Richard John Foxwell

Bryan John Edmondson

A reception coupling for air-to-air refuelling has a main body and a fuel passage. A moveable valve member is provided for opening and closing the fuel passage. A chamber is separate from the fuel passage. A portion of the valve member can be accommodated in the chamber as the valve member moves toward an open position, shielding that portion from effects of pressure in the fuel passage.

Reception coupling

A pressure regulator valve arrangement may include first and second regulator valves for closing a fluid passage in the event of over-pressure. The valve members may each have pressure ports for sensing the pressure, and the ports may be located downstream of the valve members to minimize interaction between the valves.

Pressure regulator valve

An air to air refuelling drogue assembly includes a reception coupling and a drogue canopy connected to the reception coupling by connection means which hold the canopy in an operative, drag producing, position relative to the reception coupling during refuelling. The drogue assembly is arranged to controllably fail so as to reduce the drag load produced by the drogue when a drag load on the canopy exceeds a predetermined threshold.

Air-to-air refueling drogue assemblies

A nozzle includes a nozzle body having a nozzle tip for engaging a fuel hose coupling, the tip extending from the body, and a valve sleeve for opening and closing a fuel path between the tip and the body. The tip is mounted within the body on a flexible shaft, so as to accommodate misalignment between the nozzle and the fuel hose coupling. This eliminates the need for a bearing at the end of the shaft, which causes a pressure drop in the nozzle. The shaft is axially slidable in the mounting in a first portion of the nozzle body. The first and second portions of the body are joined with a weak link, which is frangible in the event of excessive load, to release the abutment and allow the nozzle tip to travel towards the body and close the fuel path. Thus a separate shut-off valve is not required. Also a pressure regulator sleeve moves out of the nozzle body towards the nozzle tip in the event of excessive fuel pressure.

Nozzle for a refuelling probe

An adaptor for mounting a refuelling hose and drogue arrangement to a refuelling boom of an aircraft is arranged to provide fluid communication between the boom and a hose of the hose and drogue arrangement. The adaptor is also arranged such that the hose is movable with respect to the boom. The adaptor includes an actuator arranged to produce a biasing force on the hose, and arranged for affecting movement to adjust the position of the hose in relation to the boom.

Aerial refuelling apparatus

A steerable drogue () comprises a steering mechanism () for twisting the canopy support arms () to produce an aerodynamic force in flight which can be used to produce movement of the drogue in a required direction.

Steerable drogue

A drogue assembly includes a probe guide such as a standard small high speed drogue with a first canopy (), and a foldable second canopy () mounted around the first canopy which is biased outwardly, and is foldable inwardly under air pressure loading to overlie the small drogue at low speeds. Thus the drag produced by the drogue varies automatically with airspeed allowing the assembly to be used over a wide range of airspeeds.

Drogue assembly for in-flight refuelling

In a reception coupling and drogue assembly (), light sources () are arranged around the wall () of the probe passage adjacent the opening (). The light sources () each serve to illuminate the opposing part of the drogue, giving good visibility to the pilot of the following aircraft.

Drogue illumination

Apparatus for aerial refuelling comprises a framefor attaching around an aperture in an aircraft floor, and a movable hose drum housingpivotally mounted on the frame. The hose drummay be stowed within the aircraft, and moved into the aperture, for example using screw jacks, for deployment of the drogue. Since the hose is deployed from a position nearer the outside of the aircraft, the hose does not scrape the edge of the aperture even when lying at a shallow angle to the aircraft.

Apparatus for aerial refuelling

A drogue assembly (10) for in flight refueling includes a circumferenal array of triangular support arms which carry a drogue parachute (29) which extends circumferentially around their shorter sides. Each support arm is pivoted and mounted on a pivot pin (19) at its apex for pivotal movement in a radial direction. At least alternate ones of the support arms carry leaf springs which extend into pockets (51) formed in the drogue parachute (29). The leaf springs act on the drogue parachute (29) in opposition to air pressure loading on it in flight so that it tends to increase the chord angle of the drogue parachute (29) from the leading edge. Hence the effective area of the drogue parachute in flight is varied automatically above a certain predetermined minimum which depends on the dimensions of the trailing edge so it is reduced as air speed is increased and vice versa.

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Dorset, United Kingdom

Christopher Mouskis