US 12,330,801 B2
Cooling architecture for liquid hydrogen superconducting system
Abbas A. Alahyari, Glastonbury, CT (US)
Assigned to RTX CORPORATION, Farmington, CT (US)
Filed by Raytheon Technologies Corporation, Farmington, CT (US)
Filed on May 30, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/325,279.
Prior Publication US 2024/0400220 A1, Dec. 5, 2024
Int. Cl. B64D 37/34 (2006.01); B64D 33/08 (2006.01); B64D 37/30 (2006.01); F02C 7/224 (2006.01)
CPC B64D 33/08 (2013.01) [B64D 37/30 (2013.01); B64D 37/34 (2013.01); F02C 7/224 (2013.01); F05D 2260/601 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of managing thermal conditions of a superconducting electrical device of an aircraft propulsion system comprising:
driving a cooling fuel flow with a primary fuel flow through an ejector to output a combined fuel flow;
separating the combined fuel flow including the primary fuel flow and the cooling fuel flow in a separator into a first portion routed to a core engine and a second portion for cooling the superconducting electrical device;
cooling the second portion of the combined fuel flow to generate the cooling fuel flow in a preliminary heat exchanger with a portion of the primary fuel flow upstream of the ejector; and
transferring thermal energy from the superconducting electrical device into the cooling flow to maintain the superconducting electrical device within a temperature range.
 
5. An aircraft propulsion system comprising:
a core engine configured to generate an exhaust gas flow;
a cryogenic fuel system including a fuel pump configured to communicate a primary fuel flow to the core engine;
a superconducting electrical device operable at a cryogenic temperature;
a cooling system where a cooling fuel flow is utilized for maintaining the superconducting electrical device at the cryogenic temperature;
an ejector where the primary fuel flow from the fuel system drives the cooling fuel flow through the cooling system to form a combined fuel flow; and
a separator where a first portion of the combined fuel flow from the ejector is routed to the core engine and a second portion of the combined fuel flow is routed back to the cooling system.