Patent ID: 11905028
Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  F  Y | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. An aircraft comprising:
a hydrogen-fuelled propulsion system;
a plurality of like hydrogen storage tanks, each of which is generally-cylindrical in shape;
a conveying system arranged to convey hydrogen from the plurality of like hydrogen storage tanks to the hydrogen-fuelled propulsion system; and
a fuselage having a forward cargo bay and a rear cargo bay collectively containing exactly two of the plurality of like hydrogen storage tanks, wherein:
longitudinal axes of the two hydrogen storage tanks are (i) spaced from each other in a width direction of the forward and rear cargo bays, (ii) extend parallel to a central longitudinal axis of the fuselage, and (iii) define a plane extending across a width dimension of the forward and rear cargo bays;
the two hydrogen storage tanks each have a common aspect ratio R in a range of 4.2≤R≤7.7;
the two hydrogen storage tanks are each disposed on a respective lateral side of a vertical plane which includes the central longitudinal axis of the fuselage and longitudinally bisects each of the forward and rear cargo bays;
the two hydrogen storage tanks each have a common diameter d in a range of 1.0 m≤d≤1.1 m; and
the forward and rear cargo bays each include exactly one of the two hydrogen storage tanks.