Patent ID: 8196862

Claim:
A powerplant for use in a range of flight conditions, comprising: a power converter configured to produce energy from a fuel and an oxidizer; a cryogenic fuel source for use by the power converter, the fuel source fuel being configured to provide the fuel at a temperature below ambient temperatures over the range of flight conditions; an oxidizer source for use by the power converter, the oxidizer source being configured to provide the oxidizer at a pressure below a desired pressure for use by the power converter; a first compressor configured to compress oxidizer from the oxidizer source for use by the power converter; a fuel heat exchanger configured to heat fuel from the fuel source and cool a first coolant to a first temperature that is below the ambient temperature; and a first-compressor heat exchanger configured to use the first coolant from the fuel heat exchanger at substantially the first temperature to cool the oxidizer intermediate the first compressor and the power converter along a flow path of the oxidizer.