CATALYTIC FUEL TANK INERTING APPARATUS FOR AIRCRAFT
Fuel tank inerting systems for aircraft are described. The systems include a fuel tank (202, 302, 402, 502, 602, 702, 802, 902, 1002, 1102, 1202, 1302, 1402), a first reactant source (210, 310, 410, 510, 710, 810, 910, 1310, 1482) fluidly connected to the fuel tank, a second reactant source (220, 320, 420, 520, 620, 720, 820, 920, 1020, 1120, 1484), a catalytic reactor (222, 322, 422, 522, 622, 722, 822, 922, 1022, 1122, 1222, 1322, 1422, 1522, 1622, 1722) arranged to receive a first reactant from the first source and a second reactant from the second source to generate an inert gas that is supplied to the fuel tank to fill a ullage space of the fuel tank, a heat exchanger (232, 332, 432, 532, 832, 932, 1132) arranged between the catalytic reactor and the fuel tank and configured to at least one of cool and condense an output from the catalytic reactor to separate out an inert gas and a byproduct, a reheater (1596, 1696, 1796) arranged between the catalytic reactor and the heat exchanger, and a recirculation loop (1276, 1376, 1590, 1690, 1790) configured to extract air from downstream of the heat exchanger, pass the extracted air through the reheater, and inject reheated air upstream of the catalytic reactor.