The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 29, 1988
Filed:
Mar. 14, 1986
R K Grove, Los Altos, CA (US);
Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
In a liquid-propellant management system for providing substantially gas-free liquid propellant to thrusters of a space vehicle, a storage tank (10) has an opening (11) through which liquid propellant is delivered via a line (13) to the thrusters. A trap (14) is secured within the tank (10) adjacent the opening (11). and an exit port (15) of the trap (14) is aligned with the opening (11) of the tank (10). A liner (16) is secured inside the trap(14) to define a volume between an interior surface portion of the trap (14) and the liner (16), which volume communicates via the exit port (15) and the opening (11) with the line (13). Liquid propellant enters into the trap (14) through an inlet window screen (27), and passes through porous windows (28) in the liner (16) into the volume between the trap (14) and the liner (16). Vanes (19) are secured to the exterior surface of the trap (14) and extend into the interior of the tank (14) and the liner (16). Vanes (19) are secured to the exterior surface of the trap (14) and extend into the interior of the tank (10). An elongate edge of each vane (19) is spaced apart from the interior wall of the tank (10) by a capillary distance. As the tank (10) approaches an empty status, liquid propellant collected on the interior wall of the tank (10) spreads to the capillary spacings between the interior wall of the tank (10) and the elongate edges of the vanes (19). The liquid propellant is pumped by capillary action between the vanes (19) and the interior wall of the tank (10) to the exterior surface of the trap (14).