Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation

James R Doherty

Donald E Army

Eric Surawski

Beakal T Woldemariam

David Anderson, Jr

An air separation module includes a canister having an inlet end and an outlet end arranged along a canister axis, a separator supported within the canister and arranged to separate a compressed air flow received at the air separation module into an oxygen-depleted air flow fraction and an oxygen-enriched air flow fraction, and an inlet cap. The inlet cap is seated about the inlet end of the canister, contains therein a portion of the separator, and has an oxygen-enriched air outlet port fluidly separated from the outlet end of the canister by the separator for diverting the oxygen-enriched air flow fraction to the external environment. Nitrogen generation systems and methods of making air separation modules are also described.

Air separation modules, nitrogen generation systems, and methods of making air separation modules

An air separation module includes a separator, a canister, and a nominal-length end cap. The separator is arranged to separate ambient air into an oxygen-enriched air fraction and a nitrogen-enriched air fraction. The canister supports the separator and has a canister end flange, a canister intermediate flange and a canister end, the canister intermediate flange arranged between the canister end flange and the canister end. The nominal-length end cap is fixed to the canister end flange, and the separator extends between the canister end flange and the canister end. Nitrogen generation systems and methods of generating nitrogen-enriched air flows are also described.

An air separation module includes a canister extending between a first end and an opposite second end, a separator fixed within the canister to separate a compressed air flow into an oxygen-enriched air flow fraction and an oxygen-depleted air flow fraction, and a one-piece cap. The one-piece cap is connected to the first end of the canister and has a filter module mount portion on a side of the one-piece cap opposite the separator to support a filter module with the air separation module. Nitrogen generation systems and methods of making air separation modules are also described.

An air separation module includes a cylindrical canister and a separator. The cylindrical canister has a longitudinal axis, an inlet, an oxygen-depleted air outlet, and a drain portion with an oxygen-enriched air outlet. The separator is arranged within the cylindrical canister to separate a compressed air flow into an oxygen-depleted air flow fraction and an oxygen-enriched air flow fraction, the oxygen-depleted air flow fraction provided to the oxygen-depleted air outlet and the oxygen-enriched air flow fraction to the drain portion of the canister. The drain portion extends tangentially from the cylindrical canister to issue the oxygen-enriched air flow fraction with entrained condensate from the oxygen-enriched air outlet with a tangential flow component. Nitrogen generation systems and methods of removing condensate from air separation modules are also described.

Air separation modules and methods of removing condensate from air separation modules

An air separation module includes a canister, a separator, and a first end cap. The canister has an interior, a first open end in fluid communication with the interior of the canister, and a second end opposite the first open end of the canister. The separator is arranged within the interior of the canister, the separator fluidly coupling the second open end of the canister with the first open end of the canister. The first end cap has a one-piece first end cap body, is fixed to the first open end of the canister and has a first flange portion and a first aircraft-mounting portion. The canister supported by the first aircraft-mounting portion through the first flange portion of the one-piece first end cap body without an intermediate support structure. Nitrogen generation systems and methods of making nitrogen generation systems are also described.

An air separation module includes a canister, a separator, and a perforated plate. The canister has a plenum portion connecting an inlet portion to an outlet portion, extends circumferentially about a canister axis, and has a plenum diameter that is larger than a canister diameter defined by the inlet and outlet portion of the canister. The separator is arranged within the canister and axially spans the plenum portion to separate air received at the inlet end portion into nitrogen-enriched and oxygen-enriched air flows. The perforated plate is seated within the plenum portion, fluidly couples the separator to an oxygen-enriched air outlet port defined by the plenum portion, and has a snap-fit major dimension smaller than the plenum diameter to radially support a portion of the separator axially spanning the plenum portion of the canister. Nitrogen generation systems and methods of making air separation modules are also described.

Air separation modules and methods of making air separation modules

A single housing is utilized to mount both an internal fan, and an external alternate flow passage closed by a check valve. The alternate flow passage is defined between an inner and outer wall of the single housing, while the fan is mounted within the inner wall.

Integrated housing for fan and alternate flow check valve

A hydraulic assembly has a first fluid valve and a second fluid valve. A switching valve having a first fluid input and a second fluid input also has a fluid output. The first fluid input is in fluid communication with the first fluid valve while the second fluid input is in fluid communication with the second fluid valve. The switching valve is configured to switch fluid communication to the fluid output between the first fluid input and the second fluid input. A fluid actuator is in fluid communication with the fluid output. A housing for the switching valve is provided. The housing has a first portion and a second portion. The first portion has a first fluid passage permitting fluid communication between the first fluid valve and the first fluid input and a second fluid passage permitting fluid communication between the second fluid valve and the second fluid input. The first fluid passage has a first opening and the second fluid passage has a second opening. The second portion has a first seal to seal the first opening and a second seal to seal the second opening.

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Feeding Hills, MA, United States of America

James R Doherty