Aircraft Fuel System

Requirements of Fuel System

• Fuel tank should be provided with drains and sumps to permit the
removal of the water and dirt which usually accumulate in the bottom
of the tank.
• Tanks must also be vented with a positive pressure venting system to
prevent the development of low pressure which will restrict the flow
of fuel and cause the engine to stop (Vapor lock),
• Fuel tanks must be able to withstand without failure, all loads to
which they may be subjected during the operation
• Baffles should be provide in the if tank if shift in fuel position change
the aircraft balance. Baffles also prevent sloshing which can
contribute to vapor lock.
Component of Aircraft Fuel System
• Storage Tanks,
• Pumps,
• Filters,
• Valves,
• Fuel Lines,
• Metering Devices, And
• Monitoring Devices
Each fuel system must be constructed and arranged to ensure fuel flow at a
rate and pressure established for proper engine and auxiliary power unit
(APU) functioning under each likely operating condition.
Fuel Storage System Requiurements
Each fuel tank must be
• able to withstand, without failure, the loads under likely operating
conditions
• isolated from personnel compartments and protected from hazards due to
unintended temperature influences.
• provide fuel for at least one-half hour of operation at maximum continuous
power or thrust and be capable of jettisoning fuel safely if required for
landing.
• designed to prevent significant loss of stored fuel from any vent system due
to fuel transfer between fuel storage or supply systems, or under likely
operating conditions.
Fuel Storage Refilling or Recharging System
Each fuel storage refilling or recharging system must be designed to
• prevent improper refilling or recharging;
• prevent contamination of the fuel stored during likely operating conditions.
• prevent the occurrence of any hazard to the airplane or to persons during
refilling or recharging
Types of Aviation Fuel
• Reciprocating-engine fuel (also known as gasoline or AVGAS) and
• Turbine-engine fuel (also known as jet fuel or kerosene)

Note
Use only the fuel specified by the manufacturer
Reciprocating Engine Fuel—AVGAS
• AVGAS of any variety is primarily a hydrocarbon compound
• Refined from crude oil by fractional distillation
• AVGAS is very volatile and extremely flammable, with a low flash
point.
• AVGAS is a blend of numerous hydrocarbon compounds, each with
different boiling points and volatility.
• A straight chain of volatile compounds creates a fuel that vaporizes
easily for starting.
Characteristic of Aircraft Fuel
• Volatility- Ability of a substance to changes its state from liquid to
vapor.
• Liquid gasoline delivered to the engine induction system
carburetor must vaporize in the carburetor to burn in the
engine
• Fuel with low volatile vaporizes slowly
• Fuel with high volatile cause detonation and vapor lock.
Characteristic of Aircraft Fuel
• Vapor Lock
• It is a condition in which AVGAS vaporizes in the fuel line or other
components between the fuel tank and the carburetor.
• Vapor lock can be caused by excessively hot fuel, low pressure, or
excessive turbulence of the fuel traveling through the fuel system.
• Aircraft gasoline is refined to have a vapor pressure be between 5.5
pounds per square inch (psi) and 7.0 psi at 100 °F.

• Steps to prevent Vapor lock

• use of boost pumps located in the fuel tank that force pressurized
liquid fuel to the engine is most common.
 Characteristic of Aircraft Fuel
• Carburettor Icing
• As fuel vaporizes, it draws energy from its surroundings to
change state from a liquid to a vapor.
• When fuel vaporizes in the carburetor, water in the fuel-air
mixture can freeze and deposit inside the carburetor and
fuel induction system.
• The fuel discharge nozzle, throttle valve, venturi, or simply
the walls of the induction system all can develop ice
• As the ice builds, it restricts the fuel-air flow and causes loss
of engine power. In severe cases, the engine stops running.
• Carburetor icing is most common at ambient temperatures
of 30–40 °F
• Most aircraft are equipped with carburetor heating to help
eliminate this threat caused by the high volatility of the fuel
and the presence of moisture
Characteristic of Aircraft Fuel
• Detonation
• Detonation is the rapid, uncontrolled explosion of fuel due to high pressure
and temperature in the combustion chamber.
• The fuel-air charge ignites and explodes before the ignition system spark
lights it.
• Detonation of fuel instead sends a shock wave of force against the top of the
piston, which in turn is transferred through the piston to the piston pin, to the
connecting rod, and to the crankshaft.
• A pinging or knocking sound is a sign of detonation. This is often more difficult
to detect in an aircraft than in an automobile due to propeller tip noise.
• Detonation causes an increase in cylinder head temperature.
• Causes of detonation include
• Incorrect fuel, high engine temperature at high power settings (such as
takeoff), preignition of the fuel, extended operations with an extremely lean
mixture, and operation at high revolutions per minute (rpm) with low
airspeed
Characteristic of Aircraft Fuel
Octane & Performance Number Rating
• Octane ratings and performance numbers are given to fuels to describe
their resistance to detonation.
• Fuels with high critical pressure and high octane or performance numbers
have the greatest resistance
• A mixture of two hydrocarbons iso-octane (C8H18) and heptane (C7H16) is
used as referencing system to determine the antidetonation properties of
the fuel.
• When a fuel has the same critical pressure as a reference mixture of these
two hydrocarbons, it is said to have an octane rating that is the same as the
percentage of the isooctane in this reference mixture.
• An 80-octane fuel has the same resistance to detonation as an 80 percent
iso-octane, 20 percent heptane mixture.
• Tetraethyl lead (TEL) is the most common additive that increases the
critical pressure and temperature of a fuel which increase the
antidetonation properties of the fuel
Turbine Engine Fuels
• Turbine engine fuel is designed for use in turbine engines and should never
be mixed with aviation gasoline.
• Turbine engine fuel is known as jet fuel.
• Turbine engine fuels are hydrocarbon compounds of higher viscosity with
much lower volatility and higher boiling points than gasoline
• In the distillation process from crude oil, the kerosene cut from which jet
fuel is made condenses at a higher temperature than the naphtha or
gasoline cuts.
• The hydrocarbon molecules of turbine engine fuels are composed of more
carbon than are in AVGAS
• Turbine engine aircraft operate in cold environments, hence fuel with high
volatility should be used in turbine engine.
Turbine Engine Fuel Types
• Three basic turbine engine fuel are Jet A, Jet A-1 Jet-B.
• Jet A and Jet A-1 are fractionally distilled in the kerosene range.
• Jet A and Jet A-1 has flash point between 110 F and 150 F.
• Jet A freezes at -40 F and Jet A1 freezes at -52.6 F
• Jet B is blend of Kerosene and gasoline. Its volatility and vapor
pressure lie between Jet A and AVGAS.
• Issues in Jet fuel are water, contamination and fuel consuming
microbes.
• Presence of water in jet fuel allows microbes to assemble grow and
live on the fuel.
Aircraft Fuel System
• Gravity Feed System
• Pressure Feed System (Fuel Pump System)
Components of gravity
feed system
• Fuel tank in wing
• Vented Filler Cap
• Drain in fuel tank
• Fuel hoses
• Strainer
• Fuel Valve
• Carburetor
• Fuel Quantity gauge
• Primer pump
Gravity Feed System
• It is used in high wing aircraft. With the tanks above the engine, gravity is used to
deliver the fuel.
• The space above the liquid fuel is vented to maintain atmospheric pressure on the
fuel as the tank empties.
• The two tanks are also vented to each other to ensure equal pressure when both
tanks feed the engine.
• A single screened outlet on each tank feeds lines that connect to either a fuel shutoff
valve or multilocation selector valve
• The shutoff valve has two positions: fuel ON and fuel OFF.
• If installed, the selector valve provides four options:
• fuel shutoff to the engine;
• fuel feed from the right-wing tank only;
• fuel feed from the left fuel tank only;
• fuel feed to the engine from both tanks simultaneously
Components of pressure fuel system
• Engine driven pump
• Pump drain
• Auxiliary Fuel pump with by pass
valve
• Fuel selector valve
• Reservoir tank with reservoir drain
valve
• Left and right fuel bay with vent
• Crossover to connect the left and
right bay.
• Fuel quantity transmitter
• Fuel quantity indicator
• Vented filler cap
• Screen, fuel strainer, Filter screen
• Injector unit (Throttle and mixture
control
• Flow divider
• Fuel flow indicator
pump feed system
Working of pump feed system
• Aircraft with low and mid-wing or high power use a fuel pump system. These
aircraft use one or more pumps for feeding fuel to the engine. Moreover, the fuel
pump system consists of two pumps. These pumps are electric-driven, and the
other is the engine-driven pump. In addition, this system uses a shut-off valve
same as a gravity feed fuel system. The selector valves connect both the tanks.
But, it does not allow to feed the engine with both tanks simultaneously.
However, it works like if fuels get over in one tank, then the pump would
withdraw fuel from the other one.

• Moreover, like the Gravity fuel system, it does not require vents, as there is no
need to maintain pressure between both tanks. Thus, out of two pumps, engine-
driven pumps work as primary pumps. At the same time, electric pumps are
supporting pumps in times of primary pump failure. Moreover, an electric pump
prevents vapor lock when a flight is at a high altitude.
Function of selector value fuel flow system
• Shut of the fuel to the engine
• Fuel feeding into the engine from the right wing
• Fuel feeding into the engine from the left wing
• Fuel feeding into the engine from both wings

Stainer
• It can be installed in fuel tank outlets or integral part of fuel boost pump assembly,
and in fuel tank (coarse ) fuel sump (located at the lowest point in the fuel system
between fuel tank and engine. and it has finer mesh size.
Function of Stainer
• To remove the dirt particle from the fuel
• To drain the water and sediment before the fuel enters the carburetor.
Fuel filter
These are installed in carburetor and other fuel metering units
Function of fuel filter
• To remove all particle larger than 40 micrometers
Function of Primer pump
• To pump the raw fuel that enables the engine to start.
Function of vents
• To maintain the atmospheric pressure.
Vapor Lock
The condition known as vapor lock is caused by fuel vapor and air collecting in various
sections of the fuel system. The fuel system is designed to handle liquid fuel rather than
a gaseous mixture. When a substantial amount of vapor collects. it interferes with the
operation of pumps, valves. and the fuel metering section of the carburetor.
Causes of vapor lock
the low atmospheric pressure of high altitude.
excessive fuel temperature, and
turbulence

Prevention of vapor lock

use boost pump when operating at high altitude
Boost pump produces position pressure to fuel in the lines. Reducing the tendency of
the fuel to vaporize and forcing vapor bubbles through the system and out through the
venting devices
Function of boost pump
It supplies fuel for starting the engine and the engine pump supplies
the fuel for normal operation.
Boost pump also used in high altitude, during takeoff, and landing to
ensure adequate fuel pressure.