Patent ID: 11964773
Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  G  H  Y | IPC B  G  H

Claim 0:
1. A method for transferring electric power, comprising:
establishing an electrical connection between a receiver aircraft and a donor aircraft during flight; and
transferring electric power from the donor aircraft to the receiver aircraft via the electrical connection,
wherein establishing an electrical connection comprises:
deploying a drogue by unwinding a power cable wound on a power cable spool carried by the donor aircraft;
navigating the receiver aircraft to a position where a probe mounted to the receiver aircraft is inserted into the drogue;
clamping the probe to the drogue to establish a clamped state; and
urging electrical conductors of the drogue into electrical contact with electrical conductors of the probe by spring loading in the clamped state to enable the transfer of electrical power from the drogue to the probe.