Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Portable systems or track mounted supply means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-09
2001-04-03
Jacyna, J. Casimer (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Portable systems or track mounted supply means
C141S002000, C141S021000, C141S382000, C169S046000, C169S053000, C417S371000, C417S423300, C417S423900
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209593
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to helicopter tankers used for fighting ground fires and more particularly to the pump system used to draw water through a snorkel into an onboard holding tank from a body of water such as a lake, river, swimming pool, or the like. The disclosure incorporates the electric in-line snorkel pump for helicopter tanker and method of operation disclosed in provisional patent application 60/101,639, filed Sep. 24, 1998, whose priority is claimed for this application.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Erickson Air-Crane Company manufactures a helicopter equipped for aerial fire fighting known as the SK-64 Skycrane Helitanker. See website. A 2,000 gallon tank is fixed to the belly of the helicopter. A fill tube or snorkel extends from the tank and mounts a submersible hydraulic pump at its free end which can be lowered into a body of water for pumping water up the snorkel and into the tank. The snorkel has a 10 inch diameter and a length of about 20 feet or more. About the first 10 feet of the snorkel is required for clearing the landing gear and the remaining length provides clearance between the helicopter and the body of water.
The pump employed is a centrifugal hydraulic pump which is capable of filling the 2,000 gallon tank in less than one minute with a 20 foot lift. The pump weighs about 285 pounds and draws about 20-30 HP of available horsepower from the hydraulic system of the helicopter.
While the Skycrane Helitanker is very effective at fighting ground fires, it has certain disadvantages. The large flow rate and horsepower requirements of the hydraulic pump effectively limit the application of this pumping system to Type 1 (large) military heavy-lift helicopters which have the available hydraulic horsepower to drive the pump. The application of such a hydraulic pump tanker system on smaller military lift helicopters is not known, and understandably so, since they would not have the available hydraulic horsepower capacity needed to drive the pump and would not have the available lift capacity to support the tanker system. The Blackhawk military helicopter, for example, has a lift capacity of about 10,000 pounds.
Another inherent limitation of the Skycrane Helitanker is that is dedicated to lifting and not designed to carry passengers. It would be advantageous to have a firefighting helicopter that, in addition to transporting and spreading water on ground fires, could also transport firefighters to or from the location of the ground fire, particularly while returning with an empty water tank. It would further be desirable to provide a pumping system suited for smaller lift helicopters that would be substantially lighter and would require substantially less horsepower to operate than that of the centrifugal hydraulic pump system of the Skycrane.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A pumping system for a helicopter tanker is provided in which an electric axial flow pump is mounted to the free end of a snorkel extending from an onboard storage tank. The electric pump is one that is capable of delivering 1,000 gpm through a 6 inch diameter snorkel at a head of about 12 feet and operates at about 7.5 horsepower off a 10 kW or less on board generator. The electric axial flow pump of the invention weighs a fraction of the hydraulic centrifugal pump used in the Skycrane application (70 pounds vs. 285 pounds). The lower horsepower requirements make the pump system suitable for use on smaller helicopters which are not able to accommodate the hydraulic centrifugal pump of the Skycrane. For example, a military Blackhawk passenger helicopter equipped with a 1,000 gallon tank and a 6 inch diameter snorkel having a length of about 12 feet and fitted with the 7.5 horsepower electric axial flow pump unit is able to operate off the available 10 horsepower capacity of the helicopter within the 10,000 pound load capacity when loaded with water. The electric axial flow pump does not rob the helicopter of its limited hydraulic resources that are used to operate the helicopter (e.g., turn its rotors). Use of such an electric axial flow pump in the Skycrane application is not known and would be disadvantageous, since such a pump would have great difficulty meeting the 2,000 gpm flow rate requirements in conjunction with a 10 inch diameter snorkel and 20 feet of head.
In addition to the low power and weight advantages, the electric axial flow pump system of the invention is axially balanced with respect to the snorkel, and thus easily supported in-line with the axis of the snorkel. The centrifugal hydraulic pump has its outlet offset axially from the central axis of the pump and requires an added cable to balance the pump axially on the snorkel.
According to a particular feature of the invention, an electrical power cable extends from the helicopter along the outside of the snorkel and passes into a protective shrouding on the pump unit. In use, when the pump is lowered into a body of water, such as a lake, stream, swimming pool, tank or the like, the shrouding protects the cable from being damaged should the pump unit strike a solid object such as a rock or the wall of a tank or pool during filling.
According to yet a further particular feature, the pumping unit has a housing that is at least partly conical or tapered on its exterior to minimize the presence of abrupt shoulders and/or protrusions which might become snagged on objects in or near the body of water during filling.
Still another important advantage of the present pumping system is that it can be installed on smaller lift helicopters of the type designed to carry passengers as well as lift cargo, thereby enabling the helicopter so equipped to serve not only as a fire fighting aircraft, but also for passenger transport.
REFERENCES:
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patent: 3369715 (1968-02-01), Carter
patent: 3434565 (1969-03-01), Bellmer
patent: 3442334 (1969-05-01), Gousetis
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patent: 4793386 (1988-12-01), Sloan
patent: 4979571 (1990-12-01), MacDonald
patent: 5061157 (1991-10-01), Arakawa
patent: 5135055 (1992-08-01), Bisson
patent: 5451016 (1995-09-01), Foy et al.
Carry Manufacturing
Jacyna J. Casimer
Reising Ethington, Barnes, Kisselle, Learman & McCulloch, P.C.
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