US 12,134,481 B2
Aircraft thermal management system
Thuvaragan Senthilnathan, Laval (CA); and Chen Kuang, Montreal (CA)
Assigned to Textron Innovations Inc., Providence, RI (US)
Filed by Bell Textron Inc., Fort Worth, TX (US)
Filed on Mar. 4, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/192,478.
Prior Publication US 2022/0281613 A1, Sep. 8, 2022
Int. Cl. B64D 33/08 (2006.01); B64D 13/06 (2006.01); B64D 27/24 (2006.01); B64C 27/82 (2006.01)
CPC B64D 33/08 (2013.01) [B64D 13/06 (2013.01); B64D 27/24 (2013.01); B64C 2027/8209 (2013.01); B64C 2027/8227 (2013.01); B64D 2013/0614 (2013.01); B64D 2013/0644 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An aircraft comprising:
a fuselage comprising one or more fuselage sections;
one or more electric motors configured to drive one or more propulsion systems of the aircraft, wherein the one or more electric motors are configured to generate thermal energy by generating electrical energy in response to a deceleration of the aircraft;
one or more resistors configured to dissipate the thermal energy to air proximate to the one or more resistors based on the electrical energy;
an aircraft thermal management system configured to transfer the thermal energy generated by the one or more electric motors to the one or more fuselage sections and comprising a resistor temperature sensor configured to measure a resistor temperature of the one or more resistors;
a fan configured to circulate the air proximate to the one or more resistors;
wherein the aircraft thermal management system is further configured to control a valve to direct the circulated air received from the fan to an air outlet if a combination of one or more measurements from the resistor temperature sensor and one or more measurements from a cabin temperature sensor indicate that the resistor temperature is greater than a cabin temperature.