Fuel Flowrate Control for Aeroengine and Fuel Thermal Management for Airborne System of Aircraft—An Overview

Abstract

Fuel flowrate control system and fuel thermal management are very important for aeroengine and the overall aircraft, and it has been researched for several decades. This survey paper makes a comprehensive and systematic overview on the exiting fuel flowrate regulation methods, thermal load of fuel metering units, fuel-based thermal management, and the fuel tank’s thermal management topology network with drain and recirculation. This paper firstly reviews the mechanism, technical advantages, and technical challenges of the fuel metering unit with flowrate control valve and constant pressure difference valve compensator, flowrate control valve and variable displacement pump-based pressure difference compensator, and motor-based flowrate regulation. Then, the technical characteristics of above fuel flowrate control methods related to thermal management are discussed and compared. Meanwhile, the behaviors of recirculated fuel flow within single tank system and dual tank system are explored. Thirdly, the paper discusses the future directions of fuel flowrate control and thermal management. The survey is significant to the fuel flowrate control and fuel thermal management of the aircraft.

Optimization Research on the Heat Transfer Capacity of an Aircraft Fuel Thermal Management System

“…Despite these developments, in the design process of a TMS [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28], the design parameters of each subsystem and related components typically remain constant throughout the flight, Aerospace 2023, 10, 730 2 of 13 directly impacting the system's cooling capacity being limited throughout mission conditions. Moreover, the existing method of optimizing these system design parameters based on TMS task requirements does not improve the heat dissipation capacity and fuel heat sink efficiency from the system design level.…”

Temperature Dynamic Characteristics Analysis and Thermal Load Dissipation Assessment for Airliner Hydraulic System in a Full Flight Mission Profile

“…The temperature rise also affects the viscosity of the hydraulic oil and makes the viscosity deviate from normal range, which deteriorates the working performance of the hydraulic system and even causes safety accidents. Therefore, in order to control the temperature of the hydraulic system within the allowable range, to absorb the thermal load by fuel oil as heat sink is necessary, lots of related studies have been carried out [5].…”