Patent ID: 9580184
Date: 2017-02-28
CPC Classifications: B64C,B64D,F02C,Y02T

Claim:
1. A twin-engined rotorcraft comprising: a power plant; a fuel supply installation for supplying fuel to fuel-burning engines of the power plant of the rotorcraft, the power plant supplying mechanical power that is used for driving mechanical power consuming members of the rotorcraft via a mechanical power drive train, the mechanical power consuming members comprising: at least one rotor including at least one main rotor providing the rotorcraft at least with lift; and auxiliary members, the auxiliary members not including any rotor of the rotorcraft that contributes to providing the rotorcraft with at least one of lift, propulsion, and guidance; the power plant comprising: two main fuel-burning engines of individual dimensions making the engines suitable for individually driving the at least one rotor for a predefined duration in the event of one of the main engines failing; and at least one fuel-burning auxiliary power unit of dimensions enabling the at least one auxiliary power unit to drive the auxiliary members while not enabling the at least one auxiliary power unit alone to drive the at least one rotor while the rotorcraft is in flight; wherein the fuel supply installation comprises: mutually distinct main fuel supply assemblies allocated respectively to each of the main engines for feeding each of the main engines individually with fuel, each main fuel supply assembly comprising at least: a main fuel tank and a main fluid flow circuit including at least one main pump, the main fluid flow circuit being a circuit for conveying fuel from a main feeder within the main tank to the main engine with which the corresponding main fuel supply assembly is associated; and a main fuel transfer circuit comprising at least one main transfer pump, the main transfer circuit being a circuit for conveying fuel from the main tank to the main feeder, the main feeder being provided with an overflow returning excess fuel to the main tank; and an auxiliary fuel supply assembly having an auxiliary fluid flow circuit with two auxiliary pumps, the auxiliary fluid flow circuit being a circuit for conveying fuel from each of the main tanks of the main fuel supply assemblies to the at least one auxiliary power unit; and wherein each main tank houses one of the two auxiliary pumps, the auxiliary fluid flow circuit being a circuit for conveying fuel to the at least one auxiliary power unit from each of the main tanks via an auxiliary duct in fluid flow communication jointly with each of the auxiliary pumps respectively housed in the main tanks.