Patent ID: 7172157

Claim:
An inerting system, comprising: a first air source configured to provide a first air flow; a second air source configured to provide a second air flow; a first heat exchanger fluidly coupled to the first air source and the second air source, and configured to cool the first air flow using the second air flow; a compressor fluidly coupled to the first heat exchanger and configured to compress the cooled first air flow received from the first heat exchanger; a second heat exchanger fluidly coupled to the second air source in parallel to the first heat exchanger, and fluidly coupled to the compressor, where the second heat exchanger is configured to cool the first air flow received from the compressor using the second air flow; an air separation module fluidly coupled to the second heat exchanger and configured to generate a flow of nitrogen-enriched air from the first air flow received from the second heat exchanger; and a turbine fluidly coupled to the air separation module and configured to be powered by the flow of nitrogen-enriched air, where the turbine is configured to drive the compressor to increase the pressure of the first air flow to the air separation module.